Chapter 22: Ambushed!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha!

Once the men left, Sango stood up with a stretch before walking to the kitchen and looking in the refrigerator and pantry. "Looks like we're going to have to go grocery shopping," she said with a sigh, "are you up for that?"

"I think I can manage." Kagome said with a smile, she was just happy that she would be able to get out of the house even if just for a little while and only just to run an errand.

"Great!" Sango said with a smile as she grabbed her car keys and wallet before walking out the door with Kagome following her.

"Okay, you are going to use your arms and hands by getting the light things off the shelves, I'll worry about the heavier things." Sango said seeing a great opportunity for Kagome to do some arm therapy.

"Sounds good to me." Kagome said as she stretched her arms out, she knew that something as simple as shopping would be like a workout for her.

While still sitting in the car in the parking lot of the grocery store, Sango had written out a list of stuff that they needed that Kagome would be able to lift off the shelves and place into the cart before handing Kagome the list, she sent Miroku a quick text as to where they were then exited the car with Kagome following after her while going over the list.

Once inside, they each grabbed a cart since they were getting quite a few items, and one cart just wouldn't be enough for everything they needed.

Once they were done and headed toward the cashier, Sango looked over at Kagome and smiled. "How are your arms feeling?"

"They're a little sore but I'm okay." Kagome said as she stretched out her arms some to relieve some the slight ache.

Sango nodded. "Do you think you'll be able to place some of the things onto the conveyor belt?"

"Sure, I could do that." Kagome said as she started piling the food onto the conveyor belt.

Once everything was bagged up and paid for, Sango told Kagome to get into the car, when she saw her rubbing her arms when she though she wasn't being watched, as she went about putting the groceries into the trunk of her car.

As they drove up on their driveway, they saw that the men bet them home and was waiting on the porch so they could help pack in the groceries.

Inuyasha watched as Sango looked at Kagome, told her something before stepping out of the car. He then watched as Kagome heaved a sigh but nodded as she too got out of the car. She walked up the porch step and Inuyasha cocked a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Sango banished me from helping since she thinks that I overdid it with helping her shop, she's probably right though, my arms are starting to really hurt." Kagome said as she rubbed her arms some more.

Inuyasha dipped his head down to place his lips by her ear before whispering, "I'll massage them for you after I help bring in the food."

Kagome's breath hitched in her throat as her heart thundered in her chest and a shiver of desire ran up and down her spine at the way his breath fanned on her skin, she nodded dumbly as she walked the rest of the way back into the house.

Inuyasha chuckled as he straightened back up as he started down the stairs to help bring in the bags.

Once all the food was brought in and put away, Inuyasha walked into the living room where Kagome was sitting on the couch scrolling through the television channels. He walked behind the couch before dipping his head down again, so his lips were by her ear before whispering for her to come with him causing another shiver to go up and down her spine.

Kagome looked up at him with a smile before putting the remote down on the coffee table and standing up to follow after him.

"Take off your shirt." Inuyasha instructed once the door to his room was shut.

Kagome's heart thundered in her chest as she complied by jerking the shirt off and throwing it onto the floor, leaving herself in a black lacy bra.

"Good, now lay down on the bed on your stomach." Inuyasha ordered as he pointed to the bed.

Kagome swallowed thickly at the command in Inuyasha's voice as she hurriedly did as he asked.

Inuyasha smirked as he moved to crawl over her back as he placed his lips by her ear once again. "You're such a good girl, always do as I tell you too."

Another delicious shiver ran down her spin as she moaned low in her throat, Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief, he wasn't sure if saying that would send her into a flashback or not - however, he had to see and make sure because he didn't want to stop giving her that praise, though, if it did make her go into a flashback he'd have to figure out another praise to give to her. He was happy that it seemed that he could still use the praise 'good girl'. Inuyasha leaned up with his knees on either side of her hips and his butt sat on her thighs as he reached over to grab some hand lotion off his nightstand. He squirted a generous amount on his hand before placing it back on the table and rubbing his hands together, he then began to massage one Kagome's arm eliciting a deep hum of appreciation.

He grabbed Kagome by her upper arm before he started moving his fingers in deep soothing circular motions that went up and down her arm several times before he moved down to her hand and massaging that as well.

"Mmm." Kagome hummed as he worked his magic fingers into her skin of her arm.

After a few more minutes of massaging her arm and hand again, Inuyasha felt Kagome's muscles in her arm fully relax so he moved to do the same treatment to her other arm. Once that arm was fully relaxed, he moved to remove her bra so he could massage her shoulders and back, he worked to make sure her muscles were relaxed as much as possible.

Once he was sure Kagome was relaxed as she could be, Inuyasha laid down beside her before scooping her up into his arms and laying her head on his chest as he turned his television on some random movie. As the movie started, he held on tighter to her as he ran the tip of his claws up and down her naked back causing another hum of appreciation to sound out around him.

Kagome wrapped her arm around Inuyasha's waist and held on tight as she watched the movie with him, as the ending credits rolled across the screen, Inuyasha went to pick up the remote to watch another movie when there was a knock on the door.

"Dinner is done." Sango called through the door before walking away.

Kagome sighed as she sat up and slowly stretched out her arms as she stood up, Inuyasha also stood up before taking off his shirt and handing it to her for her to put it on - he had a wifebeater on under the shirt.

"Thank you." Kagome mumbled as she shrugged on the shirt before taking his hand so he could lead her to the dining room.

"You're welcome." Inuyasha said as he leaned down to press a kiss to her temple.

*X*

The next day, Inuyasha and Miroku pulled up to Sal's house to have their meeting with him.

After being let in by the butler, Inuyasha and Miroku made their way towards Sal's office before knocking on that door.

"Come in, come in." Came Sal's monotonous voice from behind the door.

Inuyasha and Miroku walked before taking their seats in the chairs that were placed right in front of Sal's desk.

"How goes it, Sal?" Inuyasha asked him in his cool icy voice.

"Straight to business, huh Phantom?" Sal asked with a raised eyebrow as he straightened his back a little taller.

"Naturally." Inuyasha replied in the same icy tone as his eyes narrowed some.

"Indeed." Sal muttered narrowing his own eyes. "So, what brings you here?"

"Oh, I think you know what brings me here, Sal, cut the fucking shit!" Inuyasha's voice dripped ice and danger as he spoke.

"I assure you that I have no idea why you're here." Sal gritted through his teeth.

"Is that so?" Inuyasha asked as he leaned back against the seat and propped his ankle on his knee as he stared Sal down.

"Yes, that's so!"

"Hmm." Inuyasha hummed. "The other bosses had already come to me with information of someone going to them in hopes of them teaming up with him to take me down." He said with venom dripping from every word, he took great pleasure when he saw the sweat begin to bean on the man's forehead. "The only one who didn't come to me was you, I wonder why that is."

"No one has come to me." Sal said as he stiffened.

"Hmm, really?" Miroku asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Why did you tense up just now if you haven't had a visit from someone?" He asked as he pointed a finger a Sal. "Do you want to know what I think?" He asked though, he didn't give Sal enough time to answer before he continued to speak. "I think that someone did come to you with an offer so good that you couldn't pass up, am I right?"

"No, you are not right," Sal clenched his jaw tightly, "no one has shown up at my house!"

Inuyasha watched as a bead of sweat ran down Sal's temple as his hands slightly shook, he knew that he was lying so he stood up before taking his gun out and pointing it at Sal. "You're a horrible liar." He said as he cocked his gun, however, before he could pull the trigger - Sal's lips turned up into a sinister grin as he stood up and slammed his hands down on his desk.

"You think you're the almighty top dog, don't you?" Sal asked with a sickening laugh. "Even if you kill me right here right now, it won't change a damn thing that's going to happen to you. You're going to get ripped apart, you and your little gang that you have. I heard that you got married recently, sorry I couldn't make it to the wedding - I've been busy as you know. But I wonder if she'll come to me when you die in order to save her life, I could always use a sex slave - is she pretty?"

A savage growl ripped from Inuyasha's throat, however, before shots started to come through the wall and they all took cover to avoid getting shot.

"Damn it!" Inuyasha growled as he moved behind the desk, dragging Miroku with him.

They waited there several minutes before the shots finally stopped. "Shit." Miroku muttered making Inuyasha look at him as Miroku took his hand away from his side, Inuyasha growled at the sight of blood that covered Miroku's hand.

Inuyasha slung Miroku's arm over his shoulder so he could support his weight as they ran to get out of the house before more shots fired out, however, as they exited out of the back door, they realized that they were surrounded by men that all had their guns pointed at them.

"Sal must've told them that we'd be here today, we've been ambushed!" Inuyasha growled as he moved to crouch behind the wall.

"What's the plan?" Miroku asked as he continued to put pressure on his wound.

"We don't have enough bullets on us, so the plan is to take as many out with our guns then take the rest out with our fists." Inuyasha answered before looking at Miroku. "You gonna be okay long enough to take them out?"

"Yeah," Miroku said as he got his gun ready, "it's just a graze, Sango will be able to stitch it up once we get back."

"There's about fifty men out there, if not more." Inuyasha said.

"Oh, then the odds are in our favor." Miroku joked with a laugh.

"They are always in our favor." Inuyasha chuckled before standing and looking back at Miroku. "Don't die." He said before going back outside to start the attack.

"You, too." Miroku chuckled before running outside behind Inuyasha to join him in battle.

Shots ran all around them as they fired back, they took out about ten men before they threw the now empty pistol to the ground before getting their back up pistols out and continued to fire at the enemy.

With about twenty guys down, Inuyasha and Miroku discarded their empty pistols before putting their fists up to face off the last thirty men. Inuyasha used his speed to his advantage as he disarmed several of the men before ended their lives for even daring to try and take them down.

Miroku was able to disarm his first opponent, taking his gun and shooting the man between the eyes before going on to take shots at the other men.

A bullet whipped passed Inuyasha's face, nicking him on the cheek and severing several strands of hair, he looked at the shooter before using his speed and grabbing the man by the throat with a growl. "Was that bullet meant for me." He asked in his icy tone as he squeezed the man's neck harder.

The man dropped his gun before trying to claw at Inuyasha's hands in hopes that he'd let him go. He started to splutter as he tried to gasp for breath, however, with Inuyasha's hand clenched around his throat, the hopes of breathing again was an impossibility.

Inuyasha growled louder as quickly bent to grab the gun the man had dropped before swinging it out to the side and shooting a man that was trying to sneak up on him before moving the gun directly behind him and shooting, killing another man that was trying to sneak behind him. The man that he held by the throat eyes rolled back and he went limp, Inuyasha scoffed before dropping the now lifeless body before moving on and shooting more of the attackers.

Miroku threw down the empty gun before moving to disarm the next man, stealing his gun as well before shooting the man with his own gun. He then went about shooting the other men that were still coming at him.

Before they knew it, all the ambushers were taken out.

"Keh, armatures." Inuyasha scoffed as he threw down the gun he was holding before looking over at Miroku to make sure he didn't have any new injuries. "You okay?"

"Yeah, they didn't know how to shoot properly so I didn't get shot again." Miroku said after assessing his body to make sure there wasn't any new bullet holes.

"Yeah, you're right." Inuyasha said as he started for his car with Miroku following him. "It seems Naraku wasn't able to get the team he really wanted together."

"Yeah, but now he's got Sal on his side, Sal's got connections with some pretty powerful people." Miroku mused out loud. "Should we go in and finish the job and end his life?"

Inuyasha thought about but then shook his head. "Naw, we're not sure if he's called more people, so for all we know there's more coming this way. We better get going, we'll deal with Sal later by making a surprise visit, so he doesn't have time to call for back up. Plus, we have to get your side stitched up." He said as he started for his car, they had about a five-hour drive back home - Inuyasha knew that Miroku would lose too much blood in that time period, so he took out his phone and dialed a number.

Miroku didn't say anything but nodded in agreement as he followed Inuyasha to the car so they could go home.

"Hey Sango, I need you to start this way so you can meet us half-way." Inuyasha started but paused as Sango said something. "We were ambushed, and Miro's been shot and needs to be stitched up, he'll lose too much blood if we drive the full five-hours home." He paused while Sango talked. "He's fine, it's just a graze." He stopped talking again as he listened. "No, I don't need stitches - a bullet did graze my cheek but it's not bad enough to require stitches." He listened again. "Okay, meet you there." He said before ending the call.

Inuyasha reached in the backseat to grab a towel he kept in the car for this very reason before handing it to Miroku so he could put more pressure on his wound.

A couple hours later, Inuyasha pulled into the place of an old, abandoned schools parking lot and saw that Sango and Kagome were already waiting outside of the car for them. Once he parked and stepped out of the car, he saw as Kagome started running his way before wrapping her arms around his waist when she made it to him.

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked with worry laced in her voice as she buried her head in his chest.

Inuyasha sighed as he wrapped his arms around Kagome and buried his nose in her hair before taking a deep inhale of her scent and answering. "Yes, I'm fine." He said as he placed a kiss on top of her head.

Kagome looked up to look in Inuyasha's eyes before reaching up to run her fingertips right under the cut the bullet made on his cheek.

Inuyasha reached up and gently grabbed Kagome's hand before bringing it to his lips and kissing the bend of her wrist. "I'm okay, I promise." He said as he placed her hand back on his cheek.

Their moment was shattered when Miroku's pained gasp left his throat as Sango cleaned his wound.

"How does it look?" Inuyasha asked as he laced his fingers with Kagome's before walking over to where Miroku sat on the hood of Sango's car.

"It's a little more than just a graze, but the bullet isn't embedded in him so that's good." Sango said as she continued to clean the gash in Miroku's side. "It'll leave a nice scar." She commented before grabbing her needle with the stitches attached to it before making her first stitch causing Miroku to jump slightly and wince, however, he quickly got used to the pain and was able to stay still for the remainder of the time it took for Sango to stitch his side up.

Kagome walked over to watch as Sango stitched Miroku up thinking that it might be a good thing for her to learn in case of an emergency in which both him and Miroku were hurt and needed to be stitched up.

"Done." Sango said a few minutes later as she put the supplies away. "How are you feeling?" She asked Miroku.

"I'll be okay," Miroku said as he rubbed his head, "just a little lightheaded right now - it'll pass soon though."

Sango nodded as she put the first aid kit back into her trunk.

"You see?" Kagome said when she heard Miroku say that he was lightheaded. "Sango should've been with you, Miroku's lost too much blood because she had to stay home with me!" She said with tears in her eyes. "It's all my fault that he lost too much blood."

"I'm okay, really, Kagome." Miroku said reassuringly. "And it's not your fault, not even a little bit." He said as he shook his head.

Inuyasha let out a sigh when he saw the doubt still clouding in Kagome's eyes, he grabbed the front of her shirt before pulling her closer so he could dip his head down to look right into her eyes. "He's right, it's not your fault so stop blaming yourself, okay?"

"But-"

Inuyasha let out another sigh as he dipped his head in further and captured Kagome's lips with his own, lodging her words in her throat. "This is not your fault." He said with authority laced in his voice, and of course, it made Kagome's heart race and had her weak at the knees.

Kagome looked down with a sigh as she bit her bottom lip.

Inuyasha hooked her chin with his finger as he brought her face back up to look at him again. "Did you hear me?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." Kagome said as she looked back in his eyes.

Inuyasha moved his hand to cup her cheek, he rubbed the pad of his thumb gently across her cheekbone. "You're important as well, Kagome, it's time you realize that everyone here cares about both your physical wellbeing as well at your mental health as well. We will do anything and everything for you, so if that means Sango has to stay home with you until you are fully healed, she will without even a second thought. You are not standing in the way of anyone doing their job and you are not burdening anyone for having to stay behind with you, do you understand?"

"Yes." Kagome sighed as she brought her hand up to grab ahold of Inuyasha's wrist to keep his hand on her cheek for as long as possible.

"Good girl." Inuyasha said before bringing her back in for another hard kiss. "Let's go home." He said as he pulled away to grab her hand to lead Kagome to his car as he watched Sango and Miroku hop in hers. He opened the car door for Kagome and shut it when she was inside, he then got in the driver seat and started on their way home.

Hope you enjoy this chapter! Until next time, bye!