InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hijacked Honeymoon ❯ Chapter 4

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Kidnapping Kagome Higurashi less than an hour before she said "I do" wasn't special operative Sesshomaru Chikarou's idea of a manly mission. But his assignment was clear: safeguard the bride-to-be until the threat against her and the United States was put to rest. Keeping his hands off the vulnerable beauty was another matter altogether.
Kagome was supposed to be marrying her fianc�, not running from him. But if Sesshomaru was right, her espoused was more interested in her funeral than her wedding. Now she was on the run with a sexy, enigmatic agent whose touch made her question her true feelings. If she and Sesshomaru survived, could a marriage be in her future after all?
I don�t own Inuyasha ok only the characters the I made up and the story line. This fic takes place in the US.

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.06.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.9K | Visits: 874 | Status: Work In Progress

Hijacked honeymoon

Chapter 4

Kagome concentrated on putting as much distance between herself and her kidnappers as possible. She didn't understand why they had let her go, but prayed that the downed chopper had caused them to give up their initial plans for her. Perhaps they were set on fleeing before the authorities arrived to check out the aircraft—that was assuming anyone knew the aircraft had gone down. Between the storm and the isolated area, she couldn't count on any witnesses. As usual, she'd have to rely on herself.

Kagome considered losing the gown, but the prospect or running through the woods in her underwear, her tender flesh exposed to mosquitoes and who knew what kind of bugs was even less appealing then hauling the oversize shirt over muddy ground. However, she did stop to remove her slip and crinoline, tossing the useless clothing aside. Unfortunately, the action didn't lighten her load too much. The mud at her hemline added to the weight of the soggy dress, but she kept trudging, then had to stop again when her heel caught in a hole and she tripped.

She removed her white satin shoes in the hope of altering them. Using all her strength she attempted to break the heel like she'd seen in a movie. But either her shoes were made better them the ones in the movie, or she lacked the necessary force. Going barefoot wasn't a good option. Not in the mud where she couldn't see exactly where her feet where going. She's lived in Alabama long enough to know that a downpour such as this brought out the snakes from their normal hiding places.

If she wasn't careful, she could walk right into a swamp. Although she'd traveled at no more then a fast walk, her heart sped as if she'd completed a sprint. She was lost in a forest of oak and hickory, with a possible killer on her trail, wearing the most ridiculous clothing.

Think positive.

She wasn't dead. Not even hurt. And she'd escaped from her captors. All she had to do was find a road, a cabin, a hunter and she could be back in civilization within the hour. Wishing she'd paid more attention to their location while she'd still been in the air, she put the heels back on and tried to decide which directing to go.

As she glanced left, right and back over her shoulder, she couldn't miss Sesshomaru's massive silhouette outlined against the dying flames of the chopper. Damn. She should have known a man like him wouldn't give up a mission after a setback. Jack was nowhere to be seen, and she didn't know if having only Sesshomaru to contend with made her feel better or worse.

There was no point in trying to outrun him, so she turned and faced him. Hoping he hadn't decided to kill her off, she stooped and picked up a good-sized branch and held it at her side. No way could she win a physical fight with this man, but that didn't mean she'd cave.

“How far can you walk in those shoes?” Sesshomaru asked, his voice gentle.

She didn't allow the kindness in his tone to dull her vigilance. Alone in the woods, she could shout and no one would hear her. This man could do whatever he wanted to her, so no sympathetic tone would alleviate her distress.

If he intended to head farther from the crash site to kill her and hide the body, she didn't intend to help him. Unsure of his reason for asking the question, she hesitated, then answered vaguely. “Between my heels and this dress, I don't know how far I can go.”

“Let me see the shoes.” He held out his hand.

“Why?”

“Because I saw you attempting to break off the heels. You didn't have the proper equipment to do the job. I do.”

She frowned at him, unsure what he meant, but some of her fear lessened. “What equipment?”

“Look, we haven't had time to talk, but I won't harm you. Will you freak if I use my pocket-knife to cut off the heel of your shoes?”

He didn't reach for her. Or his knife. He stood still, giving her time to think. And she realized if he had just pulled out the knife, she would have freaked. But know that he'd given her time to understand his intentions, she realized that if he wanted to kill her, he could do so as easily with his bare hands as a knife.

Praying he wasn't some sicko who liked to inflict pain on women before killing them, she kicked off one shoe, then the other. Still gripping the branch, she used her free hand to toss over her shoes.

“Lets see what I can do.” He picked up her shoes, then leaned back against a thick oak, as of deliberately trying to appear nonthreatening. Reaching into a pocket, he removed and opened a wicked looking pocket-knife, held up her shoe and sliced the satin across the heel. “I work for a group of ex-military and CIA types hired by the U.S. Government.”

“And you specialize in the bride abduction?” The words popped out before she'd thought better. Whenever she was scared, and she was good and frightened, she turned sarcastic, not always the wisest of decisions.

He grinned at her cynical remark. “Actually, extracting you was my first bride hijacking.”

He sounded sincere, but the meticulous manner in which he carved her shoe had her convinced of one thing—the man knew how to use a knife. It was almost as if the tool was an extension of his mind. The cuts were sharp, sure, controlled. His hands strong and clever.

If he'd been hired by the government that would explain the use of the helicopter, the military precision of the operation and his disciplined nature. However, she wasn't some Little-Miss-Innocent who'd believe whatever he told her. She tightened her grip on the branch. “You have any proof of what you're telling me.

“Professionals don't carry ID.”

She recalled Hogo's badge. “FBI agents do.”

“Not the ones working undercover.” With one last deft slice, he flicked off the heel, then examined the bottom, rubbing his thumb over the surface. He must of found a few rough spots because he turned the shoe back over and carved off a few tiny pieces. As if comprehending her reluctance to come closer to him, he tossed her shoe back and began to work on the other. “Here, see if that works better.”

She wriggled her foot into her right shoe and tested her balance. “Thanks.”

“No problem. You aren't going to like the next part.”

“I didn't like the last part, where I missed my wedding, or when the helicopter crashed, either.” She sighed. “So why did you abduct me?”

“For your own protection.”

“Excuse me?” As far as the stories went, his was growing more bizarre by the moment. “I was going to church, to my wedding, where my friends and neighbours intended to share the beginnings of a celebration of my new life as a half of a couple. And you want me to believe I needed protection? From whom? Mf friends and neighbours?”

“This is the part you won't like.”

She tried to blow a lock of hair from her eyes in exasperation. But her hair was too wet to budge. So she shoved it aside and ignored the icy trickle down her neck. “Tell me.”

“You need protection from the groom.”

“Hogo? That's ridiculous. He's an FBI agent.” She expected Sesshomaru to retract his accusation, come up with some other line that might be more believable. He didn't.

“Another government group has had you fiancé under surveillance for quite some time. Apparently, he's a double agent.”

“He's an accountant.”

“No, he isn't. Hogo lied to you.” Sesshomaru looked up from the shoe and speared her with those level gold eyes. “He's an undercover operative…”

“Working in Alabama? Why?” The whole story sounded ridiculous.

Sesshomaru held up the second shoe and then sliced a neat cut at the heel joint. “Hogo's plan was to take you out of the country on your honeymoon. I believe you intended to go to Egypt?”

She didn't like how easily Sesshomaru could make an innocent-sounding honeymoon sound suspicious. “So?”

Sesshomaru tossed her the other shoe. She moved the stick to her free hand and slipped the shoe on, the motion automatic. Meanwhile, her thoughts raced like a runaway train. Stodgy, dependable Hogo a double agent? She no more believed him capable of that level of deception then she believed Sesshomaru was telling her everything he knew.

“Hogo wanted to take you out of the country so he and his terrorist buddies could hold you hostage.”

“Oh. Come on,” she protested. Terrorists? Hogo? But she'd wanted to go to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. Hogo had insisted on spending the money for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. At the time his gesture had seemed romantic, but because Hogo lived frugally and they'd been saving for a down payment on a house, she'd asked him if he'd won the lottery.

As if reading her mind, Sesshomaru asked, “Whose idea was it to visit Egypt?”

“Maybe Hogo likes adventure. That hardly makes him a double agent. Or in league with terrorists.”

“Doesn't an accountant wanting an adventure seem a tad contradictory to you?” Sesshomaru prodded.

“Perhaps he wanted to make up for his boring work by going somewhere exotic. I thought the idea romantic.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. And even if he's what you say—which I don't believe—even if he wanted me to leave the country with him, you haven't explained why.” She held up a hand, wondering what Hogo had done and how he'd felt when she hadn't shown up. Had he gotten drunk? Had he cried? Cursed? Was he frantic with worry that someone terrible must have happened to her? Even as she and Sesshomaru spoke, was Hogo using all his influence at the FBI to find her? She simply didn't know. “And don't tell me I'm not going to like this part. I don't like standing in the rain. I don't like being her with you. and I don't like…”

“What do you know about you father?”

“My father?”

The sudden change in the subject threw her off-kilter. She tried not to think about the man who hadn't even stuck around long enough to know if his baby was a boy or a girl. Or how much she'd missed having a dad like the other kids. Or how her mother had never said a bad word against the man who'd left her to raise a baby by herself or allowed Kagome to speak ill of him, either.

From habit she kept the bitterness from her tone. “My father abandoned my mother when I was an infant.”

She knew next to nothing about the man, except that her mother had claimed he was a brilliant scientist. One who'd preferred his laboratory to his wife or child. Her father's IQ didn't matter one iota to Kagome. Especially since she suspected his emotional intelligence had been no higher then a jackass's. What else could she think? No less then a year after Ni-Ru Higurashi had married her mother and gotten her pregnant, he'd taken off parts unknown.

“Could we do two things at once?” Sesshomaru asked.

“What?”

“While we have this discussion, with your permission, I'd like to modify your dress.” At the thought of him becoming her personal tailor, she almost smiled. Then he held up his knife. “I won't cut you, I promise. But you can't traipse around the woods in that dress. Between the water and the mud, that material must weigh fifty pounds.”

As he approached with the knife, she forced her feet to remain still. Although she told herself he wouldn't have bothered to fix her shoes if he now intended to stab her, her heart began to hammer. “What are you proposing?”

“At least let me slice off the material dragging the ground.”

His words made sense. She kept tripping over the long hemline, but she sensed he wasn't done making suggestions. “And?”

“If I cut out the excess material in the skirt, I can fashion you some loose slacks.”

“I'll do it myself.” She held out her hand for the knife.

“I don't think so.”

“Why not?” she challenged him with her tone.

“If you know how to use the knife, you might attack me. If you don't know what you're doing, you could hurt yourself.”

She raised her eyebrow. “And you're an expert at altering bride attire?”

“Oh, I'm good at all kinds of things.”

“Do it, hotshot.” If he inadvertently helped her to flee by lighting her load, she'd accept. “And while you're at it, don't forget to tell me what my father as to do with…me.”

Sesshomaru bent and hacked off the hem of her dress. “Ni-Ru Higurashi claims to be inventing an automobile engine that's fuelled by hydrogen.”

She so didn't care. “Isn't that nice.”

“Our government believes his project could lower our country's reliance on imported oil.”

“And?” she had no idea what her father had to do with her and wondered if Sesshomaru was deliberately stringing her along for some ulterior motive of his own.

“Spread your legs, please.”

She closed her eyes, did as he asked and reminded herself that in the deepening darkness, he could see less of her then is she'd worn a swimsuit on the beach. Except they weren't on a beach. The man was kneeling between her legs with a knife mere inches from her flesh, and she shivered.

“Could you drop that branch and hold the material tight? I don't want to risk nicking you.”

So he'd noticed her makeshift club. She had to remember that Sesshomaru was very observant. She supposed in his line of work, whether that was a kidnapper or a mercenary hired by the government, the difference between living and dying might depend on the little details. Dropping the branch, she clenched the material at her thighs and drew it tight.

“What does my father's invention have to do with my own situation?”

Carefully, he inserted the knifepoint midway between her legs, about eight inches above her knees. With a clean gash downward, he ripped open her dress, cutting out a triangle with the point up and the majority of the material removed from the hemline.

“Turn around.”

She did as he asked, and he repeated the procedure at the back of the dress. He'd left wide sections to wrap around her legs. In swift, sure movements, he cut holes on her dress along the inside of her legs. Then, using the extra material from the hem, he threaded it through the holes. Considering they were standing in the pouring rain and he was working with drenched material, she was surprised by his success. As promised, she now wore loose pants that weighed a whole lot less then her dress.

“You make a better tailor then a conversationalist.”

“Under the circumstances, I'd think you'd understand I was a mite distracted. Just because I'm not going to attack you doesn't mean I don't appreciate the sight of a great pair of legs.”

The not-going-to-attack-her comment did little to reassure. The compliment annoyed her and reminded her that Hogo never gave her a compliment like that. For once, she bit down in her temper and steered the subject back where she wanted it to go. “You still haven't explained…”

At the sound of an approaching aircraft, she opened her eyes and looked up. Between the treetops, twin searchlights beamed over the forest. And stopped, centering on a clearing mere yards from where they stood.

Kagome's hopes rose “We're rescued.”

She stepped toward the light, but Sesshomaru grabbed her shoulder, his fingers tightening, halting her forward momentum. “Don't.”

“Someone must have seen us go down.” Excited, she tried to twist past him. “That's the Forest Service looking for us.”

“Maybe.” His grip remained firm, imprisoning her in the shadows.

“See the insignia on the chopper?”

“Maybe the FBI appropriated it. We can't take the risk.”

She'd rather depend on the FBI then the stranger holding her captive in the forest. But her survival instincts kicked in. Since she couldn't argue him out of the notion of remaining hidden, she tried to appear as if she didn't resent his decision.

“Okay,” she agreed, hopping her sudden capitulation didn't seem suspicious. Although Sesshomaru hadn't hurt her, his story made no sense. No way did she believe his wild accusations about Hogo. Yet she also knew that he could easily prevent her from reaching the clearing.

“They will land and advance directly to the burning chopper. When they don't find bodies, they'll call in the dogs to track us. The wet ground will work in our favor. Meanwhile, we'll head in the other direction.” Sesshomaru gave her a gentle shove.

“Okay, I'm going.” But she walked slowly, picking her moment. And after the chopper landed and cut off the engine, she opened her mouth to scream.