InuYasha Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Mors Mortis Miko ❯ Escape ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

"That's embarrassing." Sasuke stated dryly when Kagome finally landed near enough to them to be heard.


"Not in the least." Kagome answered with a bark of laughter, not moving from where she had fallen.


She wasn't sure how long she and Kakashi had been sparring, well, how long Kakashi had been throwing her around, but she did know one thing. Her miko powers were gone. And that meant, that she was gone. Her powers were all that she had left. All that was of the old Kagome.

She wondered when they left. Did they gradually diminish over time? Were they taken when Death kissed her? What happened? When exactly, did she become a handicapped miko? Could she even be considered a miko anymore? She was nothing. A walking nothing. She even wondered if she had actually died on that battle field all that time ago, and this was her punishment in hell.

She laughed bitterly before finally sitting up, ignoring the pain in her body, the dirt and debris that fell from her hair, and the disappointment she felt radiating from her onlookers. They had been expecting more of a fight from the supposed killer. But they could crumble into dust for all the attention she paid to them, she was in the middle of a crisis, and was laughing about it.

Despite her best efforts, and long time self discipline, Kagome pulled the shikon jewel from under her shirt and began rolling it around in her hand. It was a semblance of her life now. It, like her friends, was dead now, but no matter the pain on her part, it still had a hold on her. It was dead, but wouldn't let her go. Like Death.

She clenched the jewel in sudden anger. She was going to make him pay.


"I think you've had enough." Kakashi told her after the others had left and they were alone.


"I've long since had enough . . . " Kagome muttered in response as she tucked the Shikon back under her shirt. As enthralled with her thought as she was, she didn't notice Naruto until a pair of blue sandals had stepped into her view.


Looking up at him, she saw that he was looking her dead in the eye as he offered his hand to help her up. It seemed, that after watching her get beat up by his teacher, that all fear he had was now a thing of the past.

She looked at the offered hand and hesitated in thought. There was still one way of testing her powers, but were testing her powers worth the risk of hurting the kid.

She ran the thought through her mind, as best she could, and she reached up for his hand, but before she could grab it, Kakashi had intercepted it and hoisted her up himself.

As she righted herself, she stared suspiciously up into his eye. But all she got in return was a blank expression. She wasn't sure if he had suspicions of her thoughts or not.


"You're not the killer, are you?" Naruto stated after a few seconds, pushing all thought of suspicion out of her mind as she focused on the little ninja.


"Depends." She answered with a shrug, liking to keep herself a mystery.


"Depends on what?" Sasuke asked with a scowl.


"On what he means by killer." She said this with full acknowledgment that they were all staring at her, especially Kakashi who hadn't stopped since he helped her up.


"Are you the guy who slaughtered all those villages?" Naruto suggested with annoyance evident in his voice.


"It wasn't a whole lot of villages slaughtered, but it was a whole lot of village women. Mainly the pretty ones." She ended this in a whisper as she became distracted by the most interesting looking butterfly she ever had the privilege of seeing. It seemed to radiate every color as it moved, but as she focused on it, it seemed to be made of mainly hues of blue.


"I feel like dancing." She whispered loud enough so that everyone heard. "What?" She asked after noticing everyone staring at her.


"Are you the killer or not?" Naruto growled at her, making her laugh at him.


"Well then . . . let me think, no, I'm not."


"So you're not the killer?" Sasuke asked her for confirmation.


"Yes." She answered, turning to face Kakashi who had yet to speak or even look away from her. If he wanted a staring contest then he would get one.


"Just answer the question!" Sasuke yelled at her.


"I already did." She replied as a small smile slipped onto her face, her eyes never leaving Kakashi's one.


"My head hurts." Naruto growled, putting a hand to his head, while Sasuke fumed at Kagome, who was no longer paying him any attention.


"Are you the killer or not?"


"Yes, I'm not the killer."


"Then why were you captured? Why didn't you deny the charges?"


"Because I was at the scene of the last massacre, covered in blood and with a bloody sword in my hand, and no one else was around."


"But why didn't you say you didn't do it?" Naruto demanded of her, not sure why anyone in their right mind would want to be charged with a series of murders, but in his wondering, he answered his own question.


"Because I . . . 'was alone and needed to be surrounded by people' . . .was bored."


"Bored?" Naruto yelled, not believing his ears. "What are you crazy?"


His only answer was for her smile to widen.


"Well if you aren't the killer, then who are you?"


Kagome finally broke eye contact as she rounded on the little ninja with eyes shining with delight. Finally, he had asked the right question.



"Finally! Finally someone asked me who I am! I'm so happy!"



"I already asked you that." Sasuke told her, his voice giving a slight hint of annoyance.



"By someone, I meant the Kit," Kagome answered him with a smile that never reached her eyes, "not the Prince."



"Hey, why is he the Prince and I'm the Kid?" Naruto interrupted the silent battle, as he grabbed Kagome's arm and forced her to look at him.



"I don't know." she answered with a shrug, as her attention was drawn towards the village. "You just are who you are, no one knows but
you."


"That's dumb! What do you mean, 'You don't know', you're the one who gave us the nicknames."



"No, you were already Kit and Prince," she answered as she began to wander off towards the village, "it's your inner-nature, I had no part in this bit of randomness."



"Where do you think you're going?" Sasuke asked, catching her arm just as she was about to run.



"Yeah, you still haven't told us your name." Naruto added.



Kakashi said nothing, only watched in anticipation.



Kagome graced him with a smile, and just as she was about to tell him, her face darkened with anger. She couldn't remember. For a whole moment, she forgot her name, it only lasted a few seconds, but it was long enough.

A sneer appeared on her face as she cursed Death, but the sneer was soon replaced with a genuine smile as she suddenly found herself flanked by mysterious ninja's in masks.


“What’s all this about?” Kakashi asked, finally breaking his silence as two of the masked Ninja disappeared with Jane Doe in their clutches. He directed his question at the remaining one.


“Her presence is required by the Hokage. That is all.” With this parting comment, the ninja disappeared. Leaving confusion and annoyance in his wake.


~___~


She was being tortured.


That was all Kagome could think of. The ninja’s were trying to torture information out of her.


She laughed at their feeble attempt.


She had been locked away for days. Alone in a cold, dank cell with no human contact. The cell only contained a bug infested cot and a filthy toilet. She hadn’t been fed or given water. The only light source came from a single, barred window that was too high to reach. During the day, the cell became unbearably hot, and the cemented walls and floor would sear her with their touch, but at night she would violently shake from the cold as her body would become painfully numb.


And that was all.


That was all they could think of. She laughed again and laughed even harder when she remembered why she was in this predicament.


Miroku had been busy. Three more villages had been attacked while she lay dormant in their village. Now the killings were slowly getting closer to their quiet little nest. They knew she wasn’t the killer now. They had offered apologies before asking her the questions.


The questions that ended her in a torture cellar.



They asked who she was.



She said she was nothing.



They asked her if she knew who the killer was.



She laughed and said yes.



They asked her who it was.



She only laughed harder.



They asked why they were killing.



She laughed hysterically.



They asked if she had anything to do with it.



She sobered up and looked her main interrogator in the eye. He flinched at the contact. She said she had everything to do with it.



The room went into an uproar. More questions were thrown at her left and right.



She didn’t laugh anymore. She merely smiled wildly as she lounged in her chair, looking at the ceiling and ignoring them completely.



She idly wondered how long it would take them to notice she should have died from dehydration and lack of food. She wondered if she stayed quiet if they would forget about her and discover, years later, that she still lived.


She laughed at the thought, staring at the moonlight that streamed through her sole window. For a moment, she thought she saw the silhouette of a man suddenly appear, but it had only been a butterfly, it’s outline displayed in moonlight, as it fluttered in and out.



She was moving even before she had made up her mind. She wanted out.



She didn’t even bother with discretion as she noisily drug the cot under the window. Even with it’s help she was too short to reach the windowsill. But by standing it upright, she just barely grasped the bars before it fell to the floor with a deafening clang. But the deed was done, she now grasped freedom tightly in her hands. The only problem she faced now was getting through the bars.



They were probably five inches or so apart, give or take a few centimeters, and she knew nothing on her body was five inches wide. The only things she could easily get through were her arms and legs, but she needed all of her out.



If she had had any sense, she would have known that act was impossible. If she had been in her right mind, she wouldn’t have even tried. But she didn’t have any sense, and she wasn’t in her right mentality. Kagome had made up her mind, she was going through those bars. Even when she felt her skull cracking, she persisted. Even when she felt her collar bone become dislocated, she kept on. She didn’t pause for a second when her ribs began breaking, nor did she flinch when her pelvis fractured. Except when she fell from the great height, and landed with a thud on the solid ground below, did she finally utter a sound.


She laughed softly to herself, breathing heavily through the pain as her body repaired itself. She laughed, because she was never doing that again…or just until she forgot this experience.



~____~


Life in the village was quite different at night, Kagome realized as she walked down the streets, occasionally peeking through the windows of the village’s sleeping occupants.


Under the cloudless sky, she felt a bit of a skip to her step as she wandered about. So high were her spirits that she randomly broke out into a run. Enjoying the fresh air on her face, she could vividly remember running with Kouga in the middle of the night. She had enjoyed those secret times with her wolf, though she knew that he only ran at half his usual haste to keep up with her.

She had always complained about holding him back, but he had always reassured her that he’d go as slow as a snail as long as they were crawling along together.


She smiled at the memory as she ran blindly through the village. And that’s why she didn’t see the ninja until she had knocked heads with him.


Down they went with a tangle of arms and legs, and as Kagome came up laughing, the ninja didn’t stir aninch.


“Oops.” she called out with a guffaw. Looking around for witnesses, Kagome grabbed the unconscious ninja by his legs and drug him into the nearest alley to hide.


It was her plan to leave the ninja there until someone found him, but just as she made it safely into the shadows, she found that her victimized ninja had arrived early. He was only the first of many, for now the street was suddenly flooded with the moving shadows. And with a quick look around she noticed that they also patrolled the roofs.

Two of she shadows almost saw her as they paused in front of her hiding spot. She silently slid deeper into the shadows as they did a quick surveillance of their surroundings.


“She couldn’t have gotten far.” one said, as the other nodded in agreement. “Let’s go.”


Kagome didn’t start breathing again until the two had departed and she didn’t start moving until the street was cleared. She smiled at the realization. They knew she had escaped and were after her already.


With the last bit of sense that she contained, Kagome thought out her predicament. Her conclusion was that she had to leave the village. Which meant no bonding with Naruto, and no fight with Sasuke. She was put off at the thought, but smiled again as she looked at the unconscious ninja at her feet.


She needed a disguise.


~____~


“So far, so good.” Kagome muttered, running in the shadows of the village, trying to find a way out.


The village was a buzz with silent activity. The ninja’s were everywhere. She couldn’t avoid them, but thankfully, the ninja’s rarely communicated with each other. So far, she had remained inconspicuous, seeing but not being seen. But this was to be short lived, for she was growing bored with just sneaking around.


“I can’t believe they let her escape!”



‘Bingo’ She halted in her tracks as the voice of a certain angry Kit hit her ears. She quickly ducked into a dark alley before she could be spotted.



“You just wait till I get my hands on her. I’ll show them how you keep a prisoner captive.”



She smiled at his bravado as she peeked at them from around the corner. It was just the three of them, Kakashi nowhere to be seen. They stood in a circle, with their backs to each other. If any were to see her, it would be Sasuke.



“Really? Only a few days ago you were scared to death of her.” The Dark Prince goaded, smirking to himself.



“Yeah, well…” Naruto stammered, “I wasn’t afraid of her…I was just cautious.”



“Cautiously afraid.” Sakura managed to add before she burst into giggles and Sasuke to chuckle darkly.



The Kit growled in annoyance. “Shut up! I wasn’t afraid okay?”



“Sure.” they agreed in unison, much to Naruto’s chagrin.



Kagome laughed at their little banter and almost stepped out, but before she could move an inch, her mask was suddenly snatched off of her head. She whirled around in surprised delight, a smile etched onto her face, but as she saw her aggressor, it widened.


“Kakashi! You put them out there as bait.” she accused him.



The masked ninja shrugged nonchalantly. “I figured you’d stop for them.”



“Good figuring!” She congratulate, grabbing him by his shoulders and forcing a kiss on his covered lips. She felt him stiffen in shock, and she smiled against him. Putting a hand up against his face, she quickly broke the kiss and bashed his head up against the wall.



“I knew his perversion would get the best of him.”



Taking her eyes off the injured, groaning ninja at her feet, Kagome turned around to find that the three little ninjas had surrounded her from the back.


Kagome didn’t have time to harass them. She had to get out of the village before Miroku arrived. But she wasn’t going to leave like a sane person. She was going to have fun.


She winked at the kids before she ran off.
“Not this again!” She heard Naruto yell in frustration as they followed.



Kagome didn’t need to be an empath to know that her pursuers were angry. They were a bit faster than last times. Their attacks were more aggressive. She found herself on the defense more often.

She wouldn’t let herself get backed into a corner, when she had to, she would halt in the middle of her flight to defend herself and try to ward them off so she could escape.


She had to admit, the kids were good. They were on her like flies; attacking as a group, instead of individually. This surprised her, for the Lil Prince, seemed the type to take matters into his own hands. Just as she hadn’t been expecting that, she also hadn’t been expecting Naruto to split into three. Sakura, she noticed with satisfaction, while being her representative in this world, was a lot more active than she had been. She laughed aloud as she finally broke from the hold they had on her.


Running for the nearest alley, she bounded upward, bouncing from building to building until she was clear of the roofs. Planning on making them her escape path, she hadn’t counted on the little ninjas being able to jump higher and faster than she. So as Sakura flew up past her, she smiled into the powerful kicked that sent her tumbling across and down the roof, pulling up shingles as she went.


Just as she rolled over the lip of the roof, she grabbed the edge to stop her descent, and kicked off the wall to give herself a more controlled fall. But as she flipped and aimed for a landing on the ground, Sasuke was suddenly their and landed a kick into her spine, sending her flailing and landing on her face.


She was on her feet a second after hitting the ground and blocking a blow Sasuke had aimed at her stomach. But in the moment it took her to block his attack, the others were on her again. She laughed aloud in delight, and all in one fluid motion; she kicked Sakura , backhanded Naruto, and head butted Sasuke out of her way.


Kagome took off running again, idly noticing that she hated herself for enjoying this so much, and attempted to make an escape for the roofs again. This time her attempt was successful. But the little ninjas were on her tail again.


She slipped on a loose piece of tile and fell to her knees, and just as she went down, a kunai flew past the area where her head had just been. The little Bastards were trying to kill her.


“Who threw that? Sasuke?” she yelled in accusation as she jumped to her feet and charged the surprised ninjas.


Sasuke was her target, and on realizing this he set a course for a head on collision with her. He wasn’t going to let her punk him into a defense. They both stopped short of collided. Kagome blocked Sasuke’s first strike while she aimed a left hook at him. Seeing the oncoming fist, Sasuke feigned to the right and ran smack dead into her right hand as she slapped him.


“That’s not nice!” she yelled with a serious expression, shocking them into a slight daze, before she laughed aloud and ran away again.



“I hate this woman!” Sasuke yelled, as he put a hand to his stinging red cheek.



“We don’t have time for this, she’s getting away!” Naruto yelled going after their infuriating captive.



Sasuke let out an annoyed growl before taking up chase again. He didn’t like the fact that Naruto had just taking charge of the pursuit.


Sakura only hesitated a moment, wondering, where Kakashi was, knowing the man hadn’t been unconscious when they left, only dazed. So there was no reason for his absence.



~____~



Kagome jumped off the roof and hid behind the bushes on the backstreets behind the buildings. There she stayed perfectly still as she heard her pursuers pass overhead. While the little ninja’s chased her over town, they had been gradually joined by more ninjas who had spotted their game. She wouldn’t be surprised if the whole squad was in on the chase now.


She would think that the more ninja there were, the harder it would be for her to escape. She had been wrong. Their were to many ninja. She had backtracked, circled around, changed courses, and taken so many random turns that she had once ran alongside her pursuers chasing one of their own. She had gotten lost in the crowd.


Now she sat in the back alleys, resting and planning her next move. Which would be whatever tickled her fancy.



“You’ve got this village in quite an uproar, Little Girl.” a deep, strong voice uttered from behind her.



Kagome’s eyebrows disappeared behind her head as she turned around in surprised delight.


Whatever had popped into Kagome’s head at the sound of the man’s voice was nothing compared to what she actually saw. Sitting behind her, on a large mat surrounded by jars filled with exotic butterfly’s, was just an old man. He looked to be in his mid-sixties, with a mop top of white hair sitting messily on top of his head. His copper skin was covered in wrinkles, and his face seemed to be etched into a permanent smile, where she saw that his teeth were a bit crooked. But the thing that really stuck with her first impression of this man, were his eyes. They were mischievous and bright.


“What’cha doing?” She asked conversationally as she smile pleasantly.



“Selling Barbele butterflies.” The old man answered, picking a jar up and presenting it to her, showing off a rather oddly colored butterfly which seemed to be a mixture purple, brown, and black.



“Why in the middle of the night?” She asked, not being able to help but stare at the strange insect.



“Why not?”



“I don’t know.” she found herself saying, laughing when she did and being joined by the old man, who seemed to be laughing at her and not with her.



“My name is Uncle Cyrus.” the old man announced after a few seconds of laughter.



“Uncle Cyrus?” she asked, wondering if the Uncle part was necessary.



“Yes Uncle Cyrus. Not Cyrus…but Uncle Cyrus. Not Uncle…but Uncle Cyrus. Uncle Cyrus is my name and by it will I only acknowledge.” Throughout his entire explanation, Uncle Cyrus couldn’t keep the chuckle out of his voice, and by the end of it, was having full blown hysterics.



Kagome felt as if her smile would split her face in two.



“Oh my God, Uncle Cyrus!” Kagome declared as she joined in with his lunatic laughter. “I love you!”



They laughed some more.



“You’re insane, Leti!” Uncle Cyrus stated through his laughter.



“So are you…and my name’s not Leti!” Kagome laughed, not caring if anyone heard her, she was enjoying this random moment.



“I know…but do you know how your insubordination and hatred grates of Death’s nerves, Kagome?”



The laughter abruptly stopped as Kagome stared suspiciously at the smiling old man.



“I could care less about the dead man. I‘m glad I get on his nerves. But it‘s nothing compared to what I‘ll do when this is over.” Kagome answered with a sneer. “How do you know these things? Who are you? Really.”



“I’m Uncle Cyrus…and I’m a friend.” Uncle Cyrus answered with a large smile. “And if you want to get out of here before your friend makes it, I’d say your best bet would be directly over that wall.” Pointing behind him, a wall Kagome had yet to notice, Uncle Cyrus smiled furtively at her.



“Yes, but are you a friend of his or mine?” Kagome asked as she turned back to face Uncle Cyrus, only to find that him and his butterfly stand were gone.



“I like him.” Kagome announced to no one as her serious moment was over, and with a titter of joy, she hopped over the wall and into freedom.


~____~



Kagome had no inclination of where she was going once she jumped the wall, but after a few miles of aimless running she heard the call.


‘Kagome.’



SheR 17;d heard him whisper her name before, but this time it was louder, more defined; closer.



“I’m coming, Miroku.” She told him, wondering if he could hear her the way she could hear him.



“You’re not going anywhere but back to the village.”



“You know,” Kagome began, as she began to turn to face the owner of the voice, knowing full well who it was. “You are a persistent little Prince, I’d give you…” But Kagome couldn’t finish that sentence, for as she turned around a kunai became lodged through her throat.


She hadn’t been expecting it and fell to her knees in shock and pain. She felt his hands trembling as he held the offending weapon, hadn’t been expecting it either.


She felt the kunai scrape the back of her neck as he jerkily let go and backed away from her. From her crouched position, she saw that his hand was covered in her blood, and further inspection showed that it continued to flow down her front, and she assumed her back too, if the stickiness was anything to go on.



“You…you were supposed to dodge it.” Sasuke muttered, trying to muster up his resolve.



Kagome smiled at the childlike voice beneath his toughness, ignoring how her blood tasted as it billed up in her mouth. Gritting her teeth, Kagome wrenched the blade from her throat and tossed it to the ground.



“We can’t all be ninjas.” she managed to croak out in a raspy, gurgling voice after her vocals had healed a bit.



“Why aren’t you dead?”



“You know,” she began, her voice slowly getting better. Not giving him a chance to escape, she launched herself at him, successfully pinning him to a tree. “I’ve been wondering the same thing.” she rasped, before giving him a devastating blow to the head, as she head butted him. Effectively rendering him unconscious.


She tossed his body on the ground next to his bloodied kunai, as she stood still with her head facing the sky, with a stream of blood running down her face from a no longer existing wound.


She stood still as her neck wound healed, she stood still as the only sound to be heard was Sasuke’s breathing, and she stood still as her name was called out again. This time from the very forest she stood in. Getting closer. Coming to her, since it seemed she wasn’t coming to him. It was time for a reunion.


And as she took her fist step to intercept her beloved monk…Kagome smiled.