"Rin!" she called, touching her fingers through the bars. "Are you hurt?"
Rin shook her head, her tears leaving dirty streaks on her face. "I'm fine. I'm so glad you found me!"
Kagome gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "We all came looking for you." She looked around the cages, hoping to find some sort of weakness. "Did they say anything when they took you?"
"No. They were human, so I couldn't do anything to stop them."
Kagome tapped the bars, then the lock. "Don't blame yourself, Rin. Nothing could've stopped them. They're after—"
"You," one of the other girls said, grabbing her hair. "We're all in here because of you!" Women from the surrounding cages echoed the vicious sentiment, and Kagome bowed her head.
"I'm sorry. I have no idea why," she replied.
"Then give yourself up!" another called out. "They'll set us free if you do!" Kagome flinched as the barbs came at her from every angle. Some of the women knew who she was, so whoever had put them there had made sure to mention her name.
A loud clang reverberated off one of the cages, and everyone in the room jumped. Inuyasha's eyes blazed as he lay Tessaiga across his shoulder. "All of you better shut the fuck up, or I'm leavin' ya in these filthy cages." Some of the women shrank away from the bars, but the more vocal ones continued to glare in her direction when he wasn't looking.
"Can you break the locks?" she asked. There would be time to thank him later, even though they had every right to be angry. Whoever was behind the kidnappings had a specific target in mind, and they'd all been caught up in the crosshairs.
"Keh, ain't nothing to it." He sliced through the air, freeing Rin's group first.
It took all of them to pull the door back, and Rin darted between the opening, hugging them both. "Thank you so much!"
Inuyasha patted her back awkwardly. "Ya might wanna let the bastard know yer okay," he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "He's been impossible to live with since ya disappeared."
Rin blinked in confusion, then stiffened as Sesshoumaru stepped into the room. She let out a strangled sob before throwing herself at him. A clawed hand rested on her head, stroking her hair soothingly. "I'm so sorry, Sesshoumaru-sama!"
He met Kagome's gaze over her head. "I do not blame you, Rin."
Inuyasha started toward him, but Kagome held him back, shaking her head. "Not the time."
"But he—"
"We need to free everyone else before whoever put them here comes back," she reminded him, motioning to the other cages. Sesshoumaru was already ushering Rin from the room. On any other day, Kagome would've chastised him for it, but his main concern had been Rin, and she was safe, so she let him go.
The rest of the locks were quickly left in a dented pile on the floor, and Kagome raised her hands to get their attention. "Listen, regardless of how you got here, we need to get you all to safety. Stay in a group. Those with spiritual power, be prepared to use it if necessary." There were twitters of concern, and Kagome rolled her shoulders back. "I know you're scared, but this isn't a time to pick sides. If you want to survive and get back to your homes and loved ones, you have to work together."
They collectively nodded, and Kagome breathed a sigh of relief. Nudging Inuyasha, they lead the woman out of the room, cutting along a different corridor before ushering them into the trees that lined the property. She wasn't taking any chances that someone might show up in the middle of their escape.
"Are the stairs clear?" she asked.
"I can't feel anything." He growled as he looked at the sky. "Sesshoumaru's already gone."
"Let it go," she assured him. "She's the only reason he hung around." The truth stung, but she had bigger things to worry about. She motioned to the group behind her, pointing to the steps. "Be careful going down. And stay alert—for anything." A few of them shot her grateful looks, gripping her hands as they passed by, but most of them focused on getting as far away from their captors as possible.
"I don't get it," Inuyasha muttered. "Why bring them all here and then just leave? We didn't even see the couple of asswipes that brought the last group up here."
"There must be a back entrance," she replied, gazing back at the shrine. It looked far less welcoming than before, and she shuddered to think of what else lay beneath. It didn't feel as pure as before, the holy grounds tainted with the bandits' greed.
"Do you think Sango found—"
The slayers cried out a moment before something crashed through the trees, and Kagome threw up a barrier, ensuring the women's safe passage down the steps. "You jinxed it," she said.
"I didn't jinx shit!" Tessaiga flared to life as he jumped into the fray, but Kagome stayed where she was. None of the women hesitated or looked back, and for once, she was grateful for the lack of extra help. She had no idea how much training they'd had, and she'd rather focus on whatever was set on destroying the courtyard instead of defending innocent bystanders.
Sango's boomerang soared through the air as she jumped out of the way, Kohaku's scythe shooting out in the opposite direction. Another tree fell, the ground shaking at the impact, and Kagome nocked an arrow, standing firm at the top of the stairs. The chatter of the women had died away, and she hoped they had enough forethought to head straight to the next village. She could sense something, but it wasn't a typical youkai, nor was it human. It almost felt like—
Ah-Un landed beside her, hissing in the direction of the fight. "Someone you know?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the growing dust cloud. The beast snorted, heads bobbing as they moved in front of her. "I'll take that as a no." Sango threw her boomerang again, but it rebounded, and Inuyasha snatched her out of the air before she could hit the ground.
She gave him a grateful smile, then darted off to reclaim her weapon. Metal clinked as Kohaku wrapped the chain of his scythe around his hand, regrouping near the stairs.
"What the hell is this?" Inuyasha asked, brandishing his sword.
"Dragon," Kohaku replied. Ah-Un stomped their feet as if to argue the point, and Sango sidled up next to them.
"I've never seen one like this before," she said, and they all tensed as the creature emerged from the trees. Its head was more spider-like than reptilian, sporting several eyes and a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. A horn grew out of the back of each eye, covering a fiery mane that flowed down the back of its neck.
Dark green scales gave way to ebony claws the size of horses that dug into the ground with each massive step. V-shaped stripes led down the front of its chest, glowing with an ethereal light that caused Kagome to take an involuntary step back.
It felt like reiki.
The beast sneered, the same glow emanating from its mouth as it locked eyes with her. "Hello, Shikon Miko. How lovely of you to finally grace me with your presence."
"Not a dragon," the slayer siblings chorused. The beast snapped its jaws, tail whipping back and forth, and Inuyasha didn't ask any more questions, launching himself into the air and going for its head.
The beast didn't move, gloating as Tessaiga ricocheted off its hide. It didn't have any wings, but then again, neither did Ah-Un, so that didn't bode well. Kagome sucked in a breath, then let an arrow fly, but the beast merely opened its mouth and swallowed it whole. The stripes on its chest opened like gills, shimmering with the heat of her power, and her eyes widened.
It absorbed reiki?
She'd never heard of a creature doing that before. Reiki couldn't hurt humans, but anything else was affected in some way, so why not this one? Even Ah-Un felt the sting now and then, though it wouldn't disintegrate them like a youkai. And her arrows were a poignant source of her power.
She nocked another one, ready to test the theory that it had been a fluke, but Inuyasha struck from the rear, diamond shards splitting the ground around the beast's feet. It finally tore its eyes away from her, all five narrowing as it turned on the hanyou. "You have nothing to offer me. Begone." Its chest swelled, and Inuyasha was blasted out of the air, smoke rising from his clothes as he hit a tree with a sickening thud.
To her credit, Sango didn't cry out, but Kagome saw the rage in her eyes as she went after the beast herself. She slathered something on hiraikotsu, a noxious gas rising up in a tornado as it spun around its neck. The beast hissed, the marks on its chest losing their glow as the light within its mouth was snuffed out.
Hiraikotsu flew wide as the beast batted at it with its tail, and Sango gave her tactic too much credit, assuming it was immobilized. The circle of shards was sliced in half, the top pieces sliding away like ice, and lethal claws wrapped around Sango's waist. She wasted no time pulling out her sword, but the blade did little damage against its scales.
"Let her go, ya piece of shit!" Inuyasha yelled, using Tessaiga to push himself to his feet. Sango slashed at its mouth as it inspected her, multiple eyes squinting.
"You are also useless." Nostrils flared, and another round of reiki sent Inuyasha flying. "But you will do in the interim since you deprived me of the rest of my meal." Kagome watched in horror as the beast opened its mouth. She nocked another arrow, but without her power, it bounced off the beast's head.
Sango's name came out as a strangled cry in Inuyasha's mouth, the force of his youki pressing down on them as he struggled to get to her, but the beast's tail pinned him to the ground. The beads around his neck pulsed violently, and Kagome's panic only grew. She'd thought their relationship had only just started, but if his demon side had already accepted her—
Flames hit the beast in its eyes as Kirara zipped through the air, distracting it long enough to pull her mistress to safety. Kagome and Kohaku readied their weapons, unable to take the time to check on their sister and comrade. Kirara set Sango down, and she wrapped her arms around the feral cat, her gratitude muffled in her fur.
The rest of them converged, hitting it from all angles. Ah-Un took to the air, keeping it distracted as it deftly dodged the spouts of reiki that shot out of its mouth. Kagome threw up a barrier to keep it contained, but it shattered like an eggshell under its massive teeth. She tried to pull her power back, but the creature ate it down like candy, the pieces only increasing the glow around its chest.
She braced herself for the blow but was yanked away from behind, Ah-Un grasping both of her shoulders. The diamond shards disintegrated as the beast spun around, snarling in rage. "Enough. You stole my food, Shikon Miko. It is up to you to replace it."
"You had no right to kidnap those women!" Kagome yelled back, holding onto the dragon's necks. "If you were after me, you should've confronted me from the start!"
Its fanged mouth curved up into a smirk. "That happens when you employ others to do the job for you. A meagre description, and they bring me all the dark-haired, foul-mouthed miko in the area." Another blast of reiki had Ah-Un dodging wildly.
Kagome wanted so badly to spill the creature's blood for involving so many innocents, but they'd yet to find a weak spot, and Inuyasha was already injured. She wished Sesshoumaru had stuck around but doubted he'd help even if he had. His concern had been Rin, and that had been dealt with.
They were on their own.
Maybe she could keep it talking long enough for Inuyasha to use the Meidou Zengetsuha. If he could send a significant part of it to the underworld, they'd have a fighting chance. "What do you even want with me, anyway? The jewel is gone!"
The beast watched her with all five eyes, each blinking at a different time. "The trinket may be lost, but its power still beats within your human shell."
Kagome paled, and Ah-Un wasn't able to dodge again, deadly talons wrapping around her body and yanking her away from her saviour. "What are you talking about?" she asked, trying to pry herself out of its grip.
"That may work with your companions, but you'll find I am vastly more capable of putting things together than they are." It brought her closer, the gills on its chest flapping in anticipation. "Your power remains linked to the land, burned into the soil where you used it most. The trail was easy to follow."
That was it then. It was after her power. "I won't give it to you," she ground out, glaring fiercely.
"You say that like you have a choice." Its grin widened, sucking deeply, and Kagome's body seized up. Her mouth opened unwillingly, reiki burning as it flowed out of her and into the waiting maw of her foe. The glow of its gills increased just as it had before, to the point where it was blinding. She struggled to breathe, trying to stop the flow of her power, but nothing worked. She felt like she was being torn apart from the inside, like the very fabric of her soul was being ripped away from her.
The pain of Kikyou coming back was nothing compared to this.
She heard her name, but it was far off, and she tried to close her eyes, to shut off her mind to the intrusion, but all she could feel was the slow drain of her power, her essence, and she eventually slumped forward, the world going black.