InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Prisoner, My Prisoner ❯ Finished With You ( Chapter 13 )

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

Author: profiler120profiler120@hotmail.com
Rating: PG/PG-13 Romance/General [AU]
Notes:

Kagome sighed, unhappily. Becoming a wandering miko had been an easy decision to make. Living it had proved to be something else and she found the existence to be miserable. It had been almost two months now, the pain had lessened as her hardships increased and she'd been moving on rather quickly. She dared not stay in one area too long even though she'd been using a name different than her own. Every so often she gave her true name and allowed herself to be called "Kagome" once more.
She was currently residing in a run-down little village near a forest. The little place was now rebuilding, apparently ravaged by the war. She intended to leave the next morning, not wishing to be a burden upon the already taxed people here. Yet they accepted her warmly and she had done whatever she could to see to the sick and the injured, assisting their local miko as much as possible in repayment for their kindness.
Yet her mind wandered. Back to a time where the injured were cared for by others. Where she had to do nothing but 'be'. To a time when she'd had a handsome man wanting her attention. The thought always made her frown. She missed him. Sesshoumaru.
But thinking of people and wishing you could see them never brought them back. She pushed the thoughts away.
Aside from their current status of poverty, it was a nice little village. The resident miko's name was Miya, and she was pleasant enough all though she was not very talkative. Other than helping Miya Kagome wandered around the village, helping where she could. She planned tonight to leave while they slept, it would not do her good to hang around here. The residents were so charitiable they might try to convince her to stay and she didn't want that.
No matter how much she told herself she wanted somewhere to belong she never allowed any one place to satisfy her. She wouldn't be happy with those that surrounded her or treated her kindly. She cut herself off from happiness in order to wander - to think out her life. The more she wandered, the more she thought, the more lost she found herself. It seemed to be an everlasting journey to nowhere and now she couldn't even find the way back - had there ever been one.
She looked up from doing the wash at the sound of hooves. Horses, she thought glancing toward where she heard the sound from. A pair of horses came into view, one white, one black. It wasn't really an odd occurence, men on horses, unless it was a poor village like this one that couldn't afford horses.
Her eyes darted to the riders and immediately she paled. White hair.
She was tempted to dive to the ground and hide but she feared such any action would draw attention to her. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha. What were they doing here? Better yet, why did she want to hide if she'd been wanting to see him all this time? Quietly she stood, abandoning the clothes she was soaking in an old cooking pot and retreated to the back of the small dwelling.
Her heart was pounding hard in her chest. How could he affect her so greatly?
Had she been spotted? She retreated further back into shadow of the hut at her nearest side. What was he doing here? He shouldn't be here. But if he saw her...
So what if he saw her she thought, but the very thought made her tremble. She didn't want him to see her, but she just as desperately didn't want him to ride away without knowing she was there first. But then if he left and knew she was there, wouldn't that be worse? Leaving her behind? Like... like she'd left him, she thought suddenly sullen.
She had left. She had no right to want to see him. None at all.
She was pushing away from the wall when she heard it - a shrill female scream followed by a shout of her own name.
"KAGOME!"
She turned.
"Kagome! Kagome! Someone find Kagome!"
The female voice seemed to be that of Miya, the miko of the village. What could have caused the normally calm young woman such panic? Kagome ran around, into the crowd toward where she saw her, straight past the horses.
"Miya?" she called out.
The woman turned, twirling to face her, her long almond braid swinging behind her. "He's badly hurt, I need your assistance."
Kagome turned her eyes down and gasped.
"Miroku!"
A few men hoisted the injured and heavily bleeding man to a healing hut and the two miko's followed after. Kagome kept her eyes trained straight on the men ahead of her even though she could feel his eyes following. Although both trained in the art Kagome was much more proficient in the art of spiritual healing through energy transfers. Miya didn't seem to have the energy for the skill. It was an hour before either of them thought he was even close to being stabilized and Kagome was tired. Miya left ahead of her - unable to stop the young pale haired man from charging into the room.
"How is he? Kagome! When did you get here?"
She smiled weakly. "Hello Inuyasha. Miroku is okay for now. He's not doing so well. What happened?"
Inuyasha huffed. "That bastard Kouga got him with a spear - right through his chest."
"Kouga, huh?"
He nodded shifting and then looking back at her. "Yeah, him and that bitch, Ayame."
"Ayame?"
"You know her... the red head? She was at the castle for a while. She's from a tribe related to Kouga's but her family wasn't engaged in the war. Her father did some trading with mine, or something like that. That's why she was up there...Anway, where the hell have you been? Sesshoumaru's been all freaking mopey and stuff."
Just then the screen across the door was knocked straight off it's hangers as the elder brother appeared, glaring at Inuyasha. Kagome turned her eyes to the man. Had he be listening outside the door?
"Is he going to live?"
He didn't even look at her. Kagome glanced back at the patient by whom she was kneeling. "I hope so."
She heard movement and turned to see Inuyasha shuffle out, the half hanging dark green bamboo screen swaying slightly. The room suddenly didn't seem so private, she thought, but Miroku wouldn't mind. Not in his condition anyway.
Sesshoumaru was still standing - she didn't want to know if he was looking at her.
"Higurashi."
She stiffened, sitting straighter and shifting to look at him. She felt her own skin go pale. "Please don't... please don't call me that."
Several moments of silence passed between them before it was broken again.
"Kagome."
She glanced back just to see him raise an arm and then something flying toward her. She reached to catch it although her instincts told her to flinch away from it, trying not to get hit. It landed in her hands and she stared down at it quizzically. A carved block? She glanced at the bottom and gasped.
"This is my father's letter seal."
"Your mother sold it hoping it would bring her enough money and chaos to aid in her escape from your father. Apparently it was in the possession of Onigumo, Kouga and eventually Goshinki although much more information than that was unavaiable. One could only guess the mess the loss of the seal caused Naraku."
"Oh." What else could she say? Because her own mother had been selfish again she'd been hurt. She frowned and tore her thoughts away from her mother. Why bother thinking of her? There wasn't anything she could tag to her that was positive.
He stepped in further. "Where did you go?"
She looked up. "I was going down to where my father was - from the rooftop but... someone came up behind me and I was knocked out and removed from the castle on my father's orders. Since then I've just been wandering around."
He glanced down at her, eyes intense. "So, this then? You gave me up for a life of wandering and poverty?"
She swallowed nervously. "'Gave you up'?"
He frowned. "Do not play naive. I made my interest clear."
She couldn't stop the smile even though she brought her hand up to hide it.
It was dim within the cell. The floor was hard and cold, the door locked and guarded. Two women sat on the floor, hands bound in rope behind their backs, legs stretched out in front of them.
"This is disgusting."
Kikyo looked up, frowning at her mother seated at her side. "We're prisoners."
"Where is Kagome?" Kaguara frowned, peering around the dark rectangular room once more.
Kikyo scowled at the question knowing it did not originate from any maternal concern. She regretted the animus between her mother and sister. It was her father, Naraku, that had caused the discord. Kagura, unhappy and cynical about life and her life in particular was resentful of Kagome's unconditional love for her father, a man whom she personally detested.
"Quiet wench! You are not permitted to give inquiries." The guard snapped just outside the door.
"I doubt she's here. Not anymore." Kikyo turned her head away staring at the prison wall.
"Why not? She kept ending up here before." Kagura replied bitterly. She'd thought her days as a prisoner were over, apparently they were not.
"Even if she was, do you actually think she would be inclined to help us? After everything we've done? We both deserve to be cast off."
Kagura merely "hmphed" and looked away, glancing at her tattered garments.
"Especially considering what your selling father's seal led to. Inuyasha told me all about how they found her. Leave Kagome alone."
Kagome trailed slowly behind him, wondering at the first time they'd been outside the Citadel walls and walking casually together. Without him chasing her down she thought with a small smile.
"It's nice out here.. wild and free, don't you think?"
He glanced at her, but didn't reply. The woodland around them was fresh and peaceful.
"Y-You're angry with me then?" she paused briefly. "I didn't know what to do. When I woke up it was night time."
"So you started walking around?" He sounded unconvinced she was telling the truth. As though trying to get her to admit she'd purposely avoided him.
"I wasn't about to stay with my *mother*...."
He turned suddenly. "Your mother..."
"Yeah..." She looked away, a frown on her lips.
"Your mother and sister are at the Citadel. Captured. Yesterday."
He turned away, but she called back.
"Ses-Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"What?"
"Um... You... You were hurt in the battle?"
He turned fully to her, approaching slowly letting her see his empty kimono sleeve. She thought of him before her captured family? Really, what was wrong with her these days?
Her eyes fell over the missing appenage worriedly.
"Your arm..."
"Goshinki cut it off." He stated it so matter-of-factly. As though it were but a minor thing, she thought.
She stared, biting her lip. "Are you all right?"
"Fine," he replied sounding bitter. Naturally Sesshoumaru wouldn't be happy about her inquiries. He was probably sensitive about the missing limb, she shouldn't have asked. She turned her attention to other things.
"My mother - captured?" She glanced off toward the village. "Is that what you'll do to me as well? Send me back to the Citadel in manacles?"
She glanced back at his silence. He met her gaze steadily. "I'm finished with you."
It wasn't spat at her in disgust but it felt like it had been. He was finished with her. He was tired of all the efforts he had to give on her behalf, and who wouldn't be? She looked away, forcing a small smile. She couldn't frown although she did inside. Frowned at her place in life, frowned at her unhappiness, frowned at everything in her life at the moment.
Nothing was going her way. She had doubts it ever would again. So she just nodded and began to walk away.
"Miroku should be recover okay. I'm sure Miya will take care of him as best as she can."
"What of you?" he asked, his voice close indicating he must be walking along behind her.
"I'm leaving in the morning."
It was an outright lie. She was leaving tonight . She wasn't hanging around here any longer than absolutely necessary, especially with Sesshoumaru in the village.
He didn't ask where she was going and it disappointed her. He was finished with her, she reminded herself. She just didn't like it. But that's the way her life was now. She was alone.
She enjoyed it, to a point. She was bound to no one and nothing. She came as she wanted, and she left the same. No one held her back - but there was no one for her to stay with. No home to retire to, no one waiting for her at the end of the day, just wide open emptiness. She was alone, but she finally had the freedom she'd wanted.
Question was - was it worth it?
She'd intended to just wander off in the night but found she was unable to do so. Rather, as she stood in the open night air with her bag of meager possessions her feet were suddenly heavy. With a discontented sigh she turned back heading for the one place that would alleviate her guilt.
Miya's hut.
She wouldn't leave without explaining. Not when Miroku's life hung in the balance. If Miya was unable to cope on her own, she would stay. Otherwise, she was gone.
She followed her way back into the village, navigating the dark, dusty alleys. Just as she was coming around to where she would be near the center lane a figure stepped threatningly out from the shadows.
Kagome fell back a step cautiously, a hand on her bow. Who was this?
"Well there you are. I've been looking for you."
Kagome frowned recognizing the tone of that annoying girl Ayame.
"What do you want?" She asked, more tired than anything else. Who was this girl to get in her face?
"Who do you think you are? That you, a Higurashi, would be worthy of Sesshoumaru?"
Kagome turned away, fighting the hurtful anger that suddenly sprouted inside her. Her name, 'a Higurashi' thrown back at her like some vengeful slap in the face. As though the very word 'Higurashi' was the worst of insults. It was sneered and spat at and always looked down upon. "Not that it's any of your business I have no plans to ever see him again. So get lost."
She began walking, but Ayame wasn't about to let it go, but her new direction of thought threw Kagome a bit.
"What right do you have to just walk all over him? He deserves better than to have his fragile heart broken by someone like you."
That was too far, she decided, whirling around to face her. "I've had enough! What *right* do you have to assume anything about me because of my name?! You don't like me, fine ! Stay away from me! As for Sesshoumaru, back off! I didn't ask for your opinion and I don't care what it is!"
The other woman looked a bit stunned, and Kagome gave her no chance to respond as she stalked off just as people were beginning trickle out of their huts to see what the commotion was about.
From behind her the shadows shifted and Ayame turned with a gasp.
"S-Sesshoumaru!"
"What is this 'fragile heart' business?" he growled moving toward her menacingly. "I've warned you Ayame not to interfere. Stay away from Kagome.". .
Kagome stomped, further and further away. The darkness swallowed her whole. Tears sprouted in the corners in her eyes. Hot, angry, hurtful tears.
Why didn't things ever get any better?
"Oi!"
Her head snapped up at the shout. She glanced around puzzled, and then she heard it again. Was someone calling her from the trees or was she walking into a conversation of others? She stopped, staring, peering into the formless depths of the darkness around her. Where was it? Where was the voice coming from?
There was a rustle and a shift. Kagome stepped back losing her footing and tumbling to the ground. In front of her a heavily shadowed figure loomed.
"Oi! Long time no see!"
She fisted a palmful of dirt in her hand, ready to fling it at her unexpected visitor. The voice was a bit familiar. She felt trepidation slide down her spine.
He kneeled down, bringing his face closer to her.
"Remember me yet?"
She blinked. Kouga?
She frowned. Kouga, that most definintely wasn't good.
"You always wander around the woods? I heard Naraku was killed some time ago, Onigumo hasn't stopped raving about it yet."
He paused, staring at her.
"You hurt or something?"
"No." She replied quietly.
"Well, get up. Let's head out."
Annoyance overrode her fear and anger at seeing him. Kouga. Kouga who had so seriously wounded Miroku and kidnapped her and dropped her into the hands of Onigumo. How dare he declare she was going anywhere with him? The last time she'd been beaten and nearly raped by that madman he worked for.
"I'm not going anywhere." She retorted, voice steely. "Especially with you."
She couldn't see his face, but she could see how his frame tensed. She was then surprised when he chuckled at her.
"I'd forgotten how headstrong you are - but then, that's what I like about you."
She yelped, startled. She couldn't judge movement or speed in the darkness. Before she could attempt to counter he head her by her wrists, from behind her. She could almost feel him grinning. Here she was on the brink of being a prisoner again. Anger long simmering finally reached a full rolling boil.
Then something stopped her in her tracks. Onigumo, of course!
She smiled grimly into the darkness, loosening her resistence. Onigumo still lived, and the startlingly powerful urge she had to remedy that shook her.
As she was led away she briefly realized her rescuer had cast her off. Sesshoumaru wouldn't be coming. Kouga was spineless when it came to Onigumo. She was completely alone this time - and if she messed up she'd have no time or opportunity to escape.
As the shadows closed around her she wondered if all the preceding events had darkened her heart and if this was what her father had planned for her all along. * * *
Sesshoumaru glanced up through the steam of his tea. Miroku was grimacing in pain again, he had been periodically in his sleep. This time, he roused, eyes fluttering open.
"Kagome-sama... I thought I..."
"She's not here." Sesshoumaru replied, not wishing to think of the female he'd been unable to forget. The thought slid dryly down his throat.
Miroku's eyes focused on his, but it seemed to take some effort. "She was here though... that warmth... I was certain it could only be her."
Warm. Yes. He remembered being wrapped in the soothing tendrils of her power. The memory had dulled however leaving him to mourn the loss of feeling.
He wasn't sure why he was sitting with the monk. Maybe because his thoughts seemed more desolate when he was alone and the monk was out cold so he didn't have to actually talk to anyone. Very rarely he could sit in companionable silence. Only now the monk was awake.
To one side of him the newly repaired screen door was pushed aside and Ayame entered, illuminated by the small hut fire. He looked back to the crackling flame, annoyed with her presence already.
He could see her shifting uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye.
"What?" He barked.
Miroku, he noted had closed his eyes once more, but Sesshoumaru believed he was feigning sleep.
"About earlier..." She trailed off, but he knew what she meant. 'About Kagome'.
"Leave me."
He had no desire to speak with her, never had. She had just showed up one day and began chattering at him and occasionally popped up. He realized she was attracted to him, most females were, but he believed she *loved* another. Ayame was merely annoyingly possessive of something that wasn't hers... Him .
Despite her petty jealousy toward Kagome, he thought Ayame to be in love with Kouga. He did not know if it was a fact nor did he care enough to find out.
"But..."
"There is nothing to say, so go."
She clearly did have something to say, he merely didn't want to hear it. Apparently fed up with him, she huffed.
"Oh get off it! I've never seen something so pathetic. Imagine - the great Sesshoumaru - moping over a woman."
"You have a furtive imagination."
"I'm just saying what I see!" she protested.
"You don't see anything." He shot back.
"Whatever. If she really means that much, why don't you just go after her? With the direction she went off in she's bound to meet up with Kouga before long, which almost guarantees she'll be heading up to Onigumo's."
Sesshoumaru looked up. Whether or not he intended to lay claim to Kagome - Onigumo had been slotted to die. It was one of his dearest wishes.
He stole a glance at Miroku. The monk's eyes flickered open as though he sensed his gaze upon him.
"Kagome-sama..." he murmured weakly.
Should he go after her? He'd once stated she was not worth the effort of invading Onigumo's held territories. Now the circumstances were a bit different. The guiding force that was Naraku was gone now. On his own however, Onigumo was two shakes from being insane.
Ayame was still speaking but he'd long ceased listening to her prattle. She sensed this and tore off, leaving him alone with the monk once more.
"Are you going to save her?"
Save. Another thing he'd said he wanted. Did he want it anymore? That image of Kagome rounding out his life and providing Rin a mother seemed elusive now.
Did he want to save her anymore?
He glanced to the small square window and stared out into the darkened sky. Where was she now? Had she met with Kouga? Perhaps she was still lurking around the village?Did he care?
Staring out into the inky darkness he remembered the golden sparkle of her bracelet at the bottom of the garden pool. Indeed, he thought. Did he care?
* * * *
Dawn met Sesshoumaru uneasily. He had spent little of the night sleeping. He had been hounded by his memory and indecision. Kagome could not be simply forgotten, no matter how much he desired it.
He turned his eyes to the sky recalling the previous few days. He'd been out scouting with his brother, the monk and his men. He'd been settled atop his horse looking down over a desecreated village when he'd heard the frantic shouts.
His men had rode into the clearing as though being chased by screaming banshees and chaos had followed. It became aparent one of the scouting groups, the one the monk led, had been ambushed by Kouga's band.
Half the men were immediately roused to fight while others wished to pull back and leave the area. They were, after all, only supposed to be scouting.
Sesshoumaru had decided treatment was best and they'd stopped at the first village they came across. The one, amazingly, that contained her. Kagome.
The woman who plagued him.
Ayame, troublemaker that she was, had likely fled the previous evening. She was not around now bugging him, so he concluded she must be gone. He sighed heavily. . .
Kagome woke as her body was roughly jarred. She blinked realizing it was dawn and she was laying in the back of a wooden cart on a bedding of straw. She looked up to see the tall black horse pulling the cart and realized she was not alone. Others were in the cart with her. Where on earth was she?!
Only females were in the cart with her, all asleep. She peered around staring out into what appeared to be a deserted village. What had happened here? Where was Kouga?
There was a singular man riding the horse. She could naught of him but the drab brown colored fur he wore around his shoulders and dark colored hair covered by a triangular straw cap.
She started to move when a hand clamped down on her ankle startling her. The small girl next to her, she realized.
"Don't move." She whispered.
"Why?"
"If they know we're awake they'll make us walk."
"What's going on?" Kagome whispered, turning and closing her eyes to feign sleep.
"We're sacrifices."
"Sacrifices?" Kagome replied. "Sacrifices for what?"
"Onigumo. Don't you know? He collects young village girls in exchange for leaving the villages unravished."
Kagome felt her heart plummet. Kouga had dropped her off in a sacrifice cart? She swore beneath her breath. When she met that guy again he was in for a serious, serious set down. One that involved physical pain!
She determined to bide her time until she got to Onigumo. For a moment she realized her bow was gone before she determined she didn't need the weapon. Her miko powers would save her. Her miko powers would aide her in killing Onigumo.
Thoughts full of vengeance, her mind wandered. . .
Kouga yawned, stretching. Around him the others roused as well, slowly coming to from their sleep.
"Eh... where's Kagome?" Kouga asked absently noting the fur wrap he'd draped her in was empty on the ground beside him.
"I think she went to go to the bathroom. Off that way," one of his men pointed out.
Kouga grunted in reply and ordered them to fetch breakfast. Only half an hour later, she wasn't back. He stood, cursing.
"Where the bloody hell is she?!" he roared. "Find her!"
They fanned out but within the span of four hours had found nothing except a beaten old path through the woods often used by cart traveling merchants. There were some light footprints in the dirt and some lines from the cart wheels that led off down the path but nothing promising.
Kouga cursed again.
"Follow the path. See where it goes." Kouga ordered.
"Kouga!" He turned as someone shouted across the woodland. Two of his younger members were running full speed toward him wildly holding up something.
Still several feet away, Kouga recognized the object. Her clothes. K-Kagome's clothes! He stared at the cloth as it was brought to him. Torn and destroyed but not bloody, he felt his heart speed up. What was this?
She hadn't done this to her own clothes, that much he knew. So, someone must have done it *for* her. He cursed violently.
"I think the hunters were this way, Onigumo's women gatherers." Kouga turned to view one of the older men, a wide leisurely yawn stretching his mouth open. "I heard the sound of a cart and the voices of girls and a whip, but it could be coincidential."
Kouga felt his spirits drop. If the hunters had her then there was no way he could get her back. Hell, he wasn't certain why he'd brought her along anyway only that he wasn't leaving the pretty young thing alone.
He growled. . .
Kagome frowned staring at the crumbling building. There was no way this decrpit place could belong to Onigumo, and yet... Here she was.
She followed meekly in line with the others heading down the corridor. She peered around tracing her eyes up the wood paneled walls and shoji lined halls. The females in front and behind her were all dressed the same in simple white yukata's. No decoration donned them, their hair was long and fell around their shoulders. Their feet were bare as they padded along the chilled floor.
Ahead of them they were led by the same man with the straw hat. He didn't say anything, but a whip was held threatningly in his hand. No one spoke. Everyone merely shuffled along silently.
One by one they were pushed over the threshold of a barred door, its thick wooden surface promising no one would escape. She sat down with the others. No one but them was inside. The room had been empty before they were tossed inside.
"What now?" Kagome asked, breaking the silence.
"Onigumo ..."
The girl who replied was small and had dark, shiny hair that was short and cropped up around her ears. She looked young, Kagome noted.
Very young.
"Onigumo?" Kagome whispered, feeling the dread slide down her spine like something slimy and cold.
"I heard from my village elder that Onigumo will collect us... but she wouldn't say what would happen after that."
"Did she say what this place was?"
"The pen."
"The pen?" Kagome repeated in awe. Like some barn for women? She scowled.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and dropped her chin. For now she would just have to wait like the rest of them. She didn't want Onigumo to know she was here just yet.. .
Sesshoumaru stared down at the chalked faced monk again sleeping. He hadn't gone after her. He was still here. Hours had passed and he had yet to move from the boundary of the village. Should he go?
It was no longer a question with merit but an empty echo in his head that didn't seem to mean anything. It just resonated over and over, but it no longer moved him.
No woman was worth so much of his trouble. If his devotion to her was causing such boldness that Ayame and perhaps others would dare to make such an issue of it, it could not continue.
She was on her own.
He would not come after her again.

He lifted his head when he heard a commotion from outside the hut and then a shrill female scream.
"Kouga!"
Kouga? He stood reaching for his sword.
Good, he needed something to kill, he thought absently.
He swept open the screen and peered out only to find Ayame draped at Kouga's side. The latter of which was staring straight at him with a glare.
"Oi! You seen Kagome?"
Sesshoumaru felt his blood chill.
"I have not." He replied icily, reaching for the sword at his waist. Kouga noticed and stepped back a pace.
A cloud of dust was suddenly struck up as a handful Kouga's men appeared.
"Oi, Kouga! We found the trail! They said the hunters were traveling through the forest up toward the black river."
"The black river? What's up there?" Everyone turned to see the small statured village miko appear. What had her name been? He didn't remember.
"Onigumo's territories lie along the black river." Ayame spoke up. "My father told me he dumps his sacrificial girls into the frigid waters for sport... er... something like that. I don't remember the details."
Kouga frowned. "There's no way we can go up there."
Sesshoumaru stared. "Kagome was with you?"
Kouga shifted. "She was. Picked her up last night but she was gone this morning."
"Found her clothes too!" One of Kouga's men chipped in and held up the tattered garments as proof.
Ayame gasped.
"Leave," Sesshoumaru growled. "Consider yourself spared."
"B-but, Sesshoumaru-sama, aren't you going after Kagome? You are in love with her, aren't you?"
Sesshoumaru was seriously suddenly tempted to see how sharp his sword was and to test it on Ayame. Namely that big mouth of hers.
He turned his back to them, stalking toward the hut he'd come out of.
"No." He answered just before stepping inside, shutting them out.
The miko's voice caught him however and kept him planted just on the other side of the screen.
"I will go for her."
The group seemed to collectively gasp. "Kagome has been exceedingly helpful to me. I would like to return the favor."
The young woman didn't allow anyone to say anything else as she suddenly walked away. What did she, lone female, expect to accomplish? That woman was not on Kagome's level of power - she barely seemed to register as anything more than a miko with medicinal herb training. * * *
The slightest of movements jarred her back to reality. Beside her one of the girls had rested their head on her shoulder. A young girl - probably just over twelve, Kagome thought staring down at her dark head. Poor thing...
She still didn't know what would become of them. What was the point of rounding up women and holding them in this glorified barn?
She sighed heavily when there came a thumping and a rattle as the door was pulled open. A guard three times her size stepped in holding a large circular half barrel - one typically used for animals she noted with a frown.
He sat the pot down and turned and walked out. She barely had time to see the bowl was full of fluffy white rice until the females sharing the room with her pounced on it like wild beasts.
Kagome made no move toward it. Neither did the girl on her shoulder. How miserable.
What would Kikyo do, she wondered. Probably pull some awesome supernatural stunt that made her look all powerful and having every female in the place swaying in wonder.
Kikyo always did have a flare for being dramatic and powerful all at the same time. Unfortunately she always ended up looking like she was struggling the entire time and when she succeded she always felt she just got lucky.
She frowned.
She could get out of this. No problem. She wasn't so sure she could get *them* out of this. Aside from that, she wasn't sure she wanted to get out. It was the plan to come after Onigumo, only there was presently no sign of him. How long was she supposed to wait around for him to show?
Not only that but... this was kind of scary. She didn't feel like a hunter. Not really. She felt like a small, trapped female waiting to be fed to some giant beast.
She sighed heavily.
"Do you think we're going to die?"
The girl's voice was low and afraid. The poor thing, Kagome thought again. She must be so frightened.
"No." Kagome replied suddenly deciding.
Onigumo would have to wait. This girl - all these girls - they were going home. *Then* she would get Onigumo and make sure no other girls were ripped from their families.
Kagome gently pushed her away and stood. What was the best way to break out of here?
She could always use the 'mystical bow' trick but that used large amounts of energy and healing Miroku had been no easy task. In fact, she was still tired from that.
She could try melting the wall with raw miko power but - also not an easy task. So... that meant she had to play up her womanly arts. Another thing she wasn't all that good at.
Without warning she let out a high pitched scream and tried to break into a sob. This would be easier if she had someone to help, maybe pick a fight or something.
She waited and wailed and made all sorts of noise. The others looked at her baffled, but no guard came to the door.
Kagome turned off the cinematics and stared puzzled at the door. Perhaps? Maybe there was no guard? She moved toward the door and listened. No sound.
She tried, but the door was definintely locked.
Repressing a sigh - she realized she'd have no choice. It was miko power time, or they were staying in their pen. She only hoped she didn't knock herself flat in the effort. There was no one here to rescue her this time and there was no way she could count on any of these women to help her.
Chapter 13]