InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ OUTLAWS ❯ Riders on the Storm ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

yay to the persons who reviewed! i like you.....so..not understanding lack of reviews...but thats ok. ill keep writing. heh heh....did you know that when you type Naraku in word it wants to make it maraca? Highly amusing…. naraku the maraca! ::snrk::

disclaimer! - i would own inu-yasha....but i am not rumiko takahashi, now am i?

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OUTLAWS - 2

The sound of the roughly opened door banging against the wall startled both Kagome and Inu-yasha into movement. Kagome whirled about and pressed her back against the cell bars, and Inu-yasha sprung up from his place on the floor to get closer to the action.

"Well what do we have here?" The man in front sneered. The two behind him, one with a faded blue bandana around his neck, the other a red one, kept their pistols trained on Inu-yasha and Kagome, despite the fact that Kagome had no weapons and Inu-yasha was behind bars and armed with a fork. The other two, each with a rifle, had their backs turned to face outside, making sure to keep unwanted interruptions from interrupting. "Did the half-breed finally make some new friends?" The leader gave Inu-yasha a mocking sympathetic look, which earned him a growl.

"Bastards. What do you want?" Inu-yasha gripped the two bars on either side of him with a force strong enough to crush them if there hadn't been a magic seal.

"This doesn't concern you. Only your pretty visitor." The leader nodded his head in Kagome's direction. He gave her a sickly smile, and then slowly began to advance. When he reached the sheriff's desk he planted his hands on the paper littered surface and leaned across to peer at Kagome. "You have it don't you. Right there in your hand." He smiled once more before his face turned menacing. "Give it to me. Give me the map."

This statement sent alarms and red lights flashing though Inu-yasha's mind. "You have it?" Kagome spun to look at Inu-yasha. His eyes darted to her hand, where low and behold, a piece of crumpled paper was clutched between her fingers. "You do have it! It's mine! Give it to me!" Kagome backed away from the cell, and unfortunately toward the desk. When the leader made a grab for her, she jumped away just in time, and made her way to the corner of the jailhouse for refuge.

"Why is this so important to you?" Kagome was now on the verge of tears with fright and confusion. "You know what?" She held the paper up for all of them to see it, the blue ink shimmering in the dank room, but for her eyes only. "I'm not gonna let any of you have it!" And with that Kagome ripped the map into two pieces, then four, eight, and sixteen. She gathered the pieces in her hand and thrust them out the window. The other six people in the room stood gaping at her.

"What the hell did you do?!" Came Inu-yasha's indignant response.

"I ripped it up! Are you blind?" Kagome snapped. With her gazed fixed on Inu-yasha, the gang leader had begun creeping towards her, hoping to grab the paper out of her hand before she released the scraps of paper. Unfortunately for him, Inu-yasha spotted him.

"The hells do you think you're doing?! It's my map, and you're not getting it!" Agitated at his helplessness, Inu-yasha did the only offensive thing he could, and threw his fork at him, which struck him right between the eyes. Too bad it wasn't the pointy end.

"Bastard! That hurt!" The leader fired a shot at Inu-yasha, missing intentionally, rubbing his forehead where the fork had hit him. Throughout all this, Kagome had already released the scraps of paper (hoping they wouldn't hurt her when she found out), and was now making her way across the room by scooting behind the sheriff's desk. The act of sneaking was a hard thing to do in this room, and she was spotted also. "Don't move, girl. I'm not done with you. Now where's the map?"

Kagome froze. "Out the window." She squeaked and timidly pointed in the general direction.

"Why you...!" In an instant, the man had knocked over the desk and pinned Kagome to the cell bars by his grip on her neck. "You little bitch! You know how long it'll take to find all those pieces?"

Kagome struggled against his grip. "There's.…only....sixteen." She managed gasp out.

"So?! That's not the point! They'll have blown away by now!" The leader tightened his grip and hoisted her up, so her feet were no longer touching the ground. Her hands flew to her throat, trying to pry is grisly fingers off. An odd thought flashed through her head; it would be a shame if she got blood on this dress.

All this while, an idea had forming itself in Inu-yasha's mind. Right before him was an opportunity he could use to his advantage. Use to escape. The first would be to distract Mr. Big and Ugly. Then persuade the girl to get the keys. It was flawless. Unless, of course, something went wrong.

Setting his plan into motion, Inu-yasha snuck over to the window, and was successful, having had much practice in this area. He peered outside and many people running here and there. A fire was dying out in Kaede's hotel, which Inu-yasha was surprised he hadn't noticed earlier. Must be upwind. Luckily for Inu-yasha, a young man ran right past his window, close enough for Inu-yasha to reach out and grab him by the collar.

The man yelped in surprise; it wasn't everyday you found yourself suddenly dangling in the air, and his hands flew to his chest in an attempt to release himself. "L-let me go!"

Inu-yasha smirked. He might have enjoyed tormenting the boy on any other day, but today was his first chance for escape in a long while. "Hey kid. Shut up and listen. There's a bunch of armed idiots in here on the verge of killing some damsel in distress. Save her and you might get a reward or something."

The young man's eye's widened at the statement. The word "reward" had grabbed his attention so well that the word "armed" was completely disregarded. Inu-yasha dropped him and he sped off down the street, yelling for help and ammunition as he went.

Inu-yasha smirked at his own genius. Step one was completed flawlessly. Now for step two.

He turned back to survey the scene inside the jailhouse. That girl was still pinned up against the bars, and the man holding her had no intention of letting go. Two of his lackeys were pillaging the sheriff's desk for any valuables, and the remaining two continued to watch the door. One of the men watching the door suddenly fired into the street and yelled back to his leader.

"You gotta get over here! Some kids got some guns and are shootin' at us!" Just as he said this, three shots sounded, one hitting the door to the left of the man who just spoke, the second ricocheted off of a cell bar, and the third went through the hat of the leader.

Slowly, deliberately, the leader loosened his grip on Kagome so that she sank to the floor, breathing hard, and raised his hand to his hat. He pulled it off his head and stared at the smoking bullet hole now in its side. His teeth clenched and his eyebrows drew together and he wrung the hat with both his hands. "I. Liked. That. Hat." He managed to grit out before whirling about and whipping his gun out to face the group assembled outside the door.

Satisfied at the clanking of spurs as the leader walked away, Inu-yasha sat down on the ground next to Kagome, who was still trying to get her wits together, and leaned against the cell bars in a nonchalant way.

"Listen, girl. I've got a deal for ya'. You get me outta here, and I'll get you outta here. Safe." Inu-yasha tried to sound like he didn't really need the girl's help, but the truth was that he did, and he was relieved when he voice didn't tremble. Everything was working out perfectly.

"Why should I help you?" Kagome managed to gasp out.

"Cause I'm the only one in here that hasn't tried to kill you. AND I'm the only one that will bother to help you out."

Kagome thought for a minute. Her mind was still fuzzy from lack of oxygen, and there were blue lights dancing before her eyes. She pressed her palms against her closed eyes in an effort to make them disappear, but they only seemed to get clearer. Some shots rang out from the street, startling her. Looking up, she saw that the five men blocked the front door and all the windows were barred. Sighing, she resigned herself.

"Fine. What do you want me to do?" Kagome stood and crossed her arms.

"Keys. In the sheriff's desk." Inu-yasha answered eagerly. Almost too eagerly. He mentally chided himself. He couldn't sound desperate or this may not work.

Kagome shuffled over to the overturned desk and quickly found the keys in a drawer that had been yanked out and tossed aside. The large metal ring was surprisingly cool in her hand. She kept her fingers clamped around the keys to keep them from jingling and she walked the few steps to the cell.

"Which key?" Kagome let go of the keys and held up the key ring level to Inu-yasha's face so he could see them all.

"The big iron one." Inu-yasha was nearly twitching with anticipation, and Kagome got the strange impression of a puppy wagging its tail. Kagome inserted the key into the lock and turned.

The dull thud of the lock turning, as well as the creak of the large iron door swinging open, was heard by all during a convenient lull in the action.

Attention finally drawn away from the gunfight, the leader turned his head to a sight he did not expect to see. The girl had released that…that…thing! "Why you…" He growled, reloading his pistol as he stalked towards the two in thudding steps. He shoved the last bullet in place, snapped the gun together and took off the safety in one smooth motion, then aimed right at Kagome's head.

"Get down!" There were many things Inu-yasha was, but a liar wasn't one of them. The girl was going to get out of here safely. He had shoved her down so that when the man fired, Inu-yasha took the bullet in the arm and Kagome was safely in the dirt. He winced slightly at the sting, but the pain was nothing compared to the sheer elation he felt for being free again.

Fear suddenly came over the man, and he stumbled backwards. He quickly emptied the remaining five shots, but only hit air. He teetered off balance on his right leg, and when Inu-yasha punched him square in the face he went sprawling to the ground, unconscious.

As much as Inu-yasha wanted beat up the rest of gang, his main priority was still escape. This in mind, he went to the window that Kagome had previously dropped the shredded map out of and rather effortlessly ripped the bars out of it.

By this time Kagome had managed to pick herself up off the ground and assess the situation. Boy ripping metal bars out of window. Gunfight right outside the door. Unconscious man. Her dress was dirty.

"Hey! You got my dress dirty!" Kagome mock-whispered indignantly once she had made her way to the boy.

"I said safe, not clean. You want out or not?" But before she could reply he had already scooped her up in his arms and leapt out the window.

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When Kagome's senses had finally processed the recent events, she was far outside the small town of Jidai and sitting on some hay in a cargo car of the train she had come in on next to a complete stranger she had met in a jailhouse. Speaking of said stranger, he was currently leaning against the wall across from her and on a bale of hay. His arms were crossed and he was looking down and away and for a moment Kagome was under the impression that he was sleeping. And impression that was quickly changed when she noticed the fingers he was tapping against his arm and the twitching ears on his head. She wondered about those ears. Specifically why he had those ears. Anyways, the point was that this train was a long ways away from a hotel with her aunt where she was supposed to be.

"Why am I here?" Cut straight to the important part. She already knew where she was. No reason to ask.

The boy looked up at her and smirked. "Why wouldn't you be?"

Kagome sputtered. "Because I'm supposed to stay with Kaede! Not galavanting off with some guy I met in jail!" She paused for a moment. "That came out REALLY wrong."

"Well I couldn't just leave you."

Kagome strongly resisted the urge to be touched by what sounded like a caring statement. "Why not?"

"You're an acomplice now."

Kagome froze. "W-wha...?"

"Yeah." And he proceeded to rattle off crimes that he had commited and that Kagome would now be associated because she freed him. "Well, there's the obvious, jailbreak. Then there's vandalism, assault, whatever that thing is where you light buildings on fire, theft, and murder."

Kagome visibly paled. "Oh...God..." Wait. Murder?! Oh no... "W-who are you?!"

The boy blinked. "You mean you didn't know?"

"No of course I--Wait...you can't be! You're kidding me! You're the guy that killed my cousin? You're Inu-yasha?"

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Four hours later, things hadn't changed much, except for the fact that Kagome refused to speak kindly to Inu-yasha, they were now sitting even farther away from one another, and they were both starving. Kagome's anger flared when she heard a sigh from Inu-yasha and something that sounded like "I'm starving."

"It was your bright idea to run off without any food or money! And why the hell did you take me?" The straw pricked the palms of her hands as she clenched them into fists.

"Because, you're an acom--"

"I know that!" Kagome shouted, standing up.

Inu-yasha copied the action. "Then why'd ya ask?!"

"Oh...you're such a jerk!" She hmph-ed and crossed her arms.

"You're not exactly high society yourself." Inu-yasha crossed his arms as well and couldn't resist sticking his tongue out at her.

"I take it back! You're not a jerk, you're a stupid childish jerk!"

"Bitch!"

"Jerk!"

"Bi--!"

Kagome was about to yell again, but Inu-yasha cut himself short before standing still and straight. The only thing moving were those little white ears, and they moved every direction before settling on tuning in to a spot behind Inu-yasha. She was about to ask what was happening when he dashed across the car to yank her down to the floor. Kagome landed on her hip with a small 'oof' of pain.

"Shut up and don't move." Inu-yasha hissed as he worked on covering the two of them up with loose straw. He had just barely finished when Kagome heard a light tap of footsteps and the squeak of floorboards over the din of the train. They grew lounder when a door opened, the one connecting this car to the rest of the train, and drew steadily closer to where they lay. She worried that the person could see the two off them but her fears quickly vanished when the footsteps headed off to her right and away from their hiding place.

When the door opened and closed for a second time Kagome breathed a sigh of relief and began to sit up, but Inu-yasha pushed her back down and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Not yet."

Her eyes widened in surprise, but when Inu-yasha remained still and silent also, she looked at him with confusion. Okay, so he's a jerk. But at least he's not a perverted jerk. That's good, right? Kagome quickly realized why Inu-yasha hadn't let move yet. The footsteps resumed, this time accompanied with a sigh and a mutter. Then the door opened and closed a third time and Inu-yasha finally let her up.

"Stupid girl! They always try that! Haven't you ever tried to trick someone?" He glared at her and she glared back. After a good five minutes he spoke again. "So that means 'no'?"

"Yes!" Kagome shouted.

"Yes, you've tricked someone?"

"No!"

"No, you've tricked someone and refuse to admit it?"

"Y- No!"

"A-hah!"

"You jerk!"

Inu-yasha's stomach growled. Kagome sighed. They sat down on their respective sides of the car and let the unspoken agreement to cease fire until they were fed hang in the air.

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So there it is. I tried to make it longer than usual....but it was hard!!! It really really was! I don't know how long I can keep it up...I mean look how long it took me to get this second chapter written....although that was partially due to my computer being completely broken and without internet access....so yah.

ill work really hard on the next chapter! but two seems to be my unlucky number....