InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Broken Horn ❯ Ghost Town ( Chapter 2 )

AN: Sorry for the long wait. This chapter could have gone out last week but I had a little email problem with my beta-reader. But it's all good now.

The Broken Horn

Chapter 2

Ghost Town

It happened immediately. The moment she said, "Yes," she was suddenly jerked unceremoniously forward. Her feet left the ground and she was suddenly speeding forward in a howling wind and swirling color. Her vision was strangely blurred yet she could barely make out Inuyasha's figure. But she could feel his hand tightly holding hers, pulling her onward. Suddenly her feet slammed into the ground; Kagome staggered and fell over.

She looked up. Inuyasha was still standing, though he looked slightly windswept. He looked down at her, raising his eyebrow in a patronizing manner. Then, he threw something in her direction and turned away. It landed near her head with a heavy thud. It was her school bag.

Kagome sat upright and pulled her bag closer. She frowned, unable to recall Inuyasha ever taking her bag. He must've taken it at last minute when I wasn't looking, she thought. She looked up at Inuyasha, about to ask why when -

"That took too long," Inuyasha grumbled to himself. Then he looked at her. "Stay here," he ordered.

Kagome waited for him to explain further, like where they were, why she had to stay, or at least say something more. And did he? Well, if turning around and disappearing around the corner meant, "shut up, be quiet, and don't move from that spot," then, yes, in a way he did.

Kagome looked curiously around her. Well, there weren't many words to describe the place she was in.

Brown. Rocks. Everywhere.

She was in some sort of large cave tunnel. The ground was worn from being walked on by many feet. On the walls were lit torches but they stopped about several meters from where she sat. Beyond that was just darkness.

Kagome popped open a small pocket of her bag, pulled out a pocky stick, and absently sucked on it. As she did, she wondered, how did they get here? Just three minutes ago, she was standing in her room. Maybe one of Inuyasha's demon abilities was speed? But he was a hanyou, that ability would be only half of a full youkai. So how could he take her from her room to what seemed to be near the end of a long tunnel under the time span of two minutes? Kagome looked to where Inuyasha had disappeared to as she wondered.

Kagome gasped and jumped to her feet, her pocky falling wastefully to the ground. Where had Inuyasha disappeared to - had he just abandoned her?!

Kagome's mouth opened and closed soundlessly like a fish, unable to express her outrage in words.

How could he?! Here she was, dumped in an entirely different and unfamiliar place, and he just left her? Courtesy was definitely not a word in this guy's vocabulary.

'Stay here'...like hell she was going to 'stay here.'

Kagome threw her bag over her shoulder and was about to go after Inuyasha when he reappeared before her. With a knapsack hanging from his shoulder, he was tucking something inside his tunic. He blinked at her, surprised to see that she had not obeyed him.

"Where do you think you're going? I told you to stay, didn't I?" he said. Not waiting for her to answer, Inuyasha took a torch from the wall and gave her another order. "Follow me." He proceeded down the tunnel, not sparing her even a hint of a glance.

Kagome clenched and then unclenched her fist. Really now! He wasn't like this before. When he was telling her she deserved so much more, he at least showed some sort of concern towards her. Now? Nada. Zip.

Well, maybe she was judging him too quickly. She had just met him so calling him horrible and rude wouldn't be fair. Besides, he did seem keen to get out of here and she too, didn't want to stay in this strange tunnel, so the best thing would be to get along with him. It looked like she was going to be stuck with him for a while, and first impressions weren't everything -

"Hey, girl, I wanna get out of here, so do you mind picking up your feet?"

'First impressions aren't everything...first impressions aren't everything...'

Kagome schooled a smile on her face. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder and hurried after him. He was just in a hurry to get out. That was all. That was definitely the reason. Once they got out, he would definitely go to the nice and caring person he really was. She was sure of it. Look - he even got her bag for her. He did it so she would have a little piece of home with her. He obviously brought the bag for her sake.

"So what did you bring my bag for?" she asked, wanting to confirm her assumption.

"What? Oh." Inuyasha looked over his shoulder before facing back forward. "Well, I wasn't sure if the thing I needed was you, or something that you had, or something you had that only you could use, so on and so on. But I figured that if it were a thing, then it would probably be something that you would carry with you all the time. And you carry that bag a lot so I brought it along just in case."

So he didn't exactly bring it just for her sake...

Suddenly he stopped and one of his ears twitched. Abruptly, he started to pick up his pace - a pace that she had even more trouble keeping up with.

"Hey, wait!" she said, but he didn't - he walked faster. "Inuyasha! Hey, Inuyasha! Wait!" she said, this time, louder. Suddenly, a small tremor ran through the ground and a few rocks broke free from the walls.

Inuyasha wheeled around. "Keep it down," he hissed. "This tunnel is very old. If you're too loud, it'll collapse and we'll be buried alive. Now hurry up." He waited for her to catch up before he set off again. Kagome had to jog a little bit to stay on his heels.

"Sorry," she said, careful to keep her voice down. Accidentally breathing in some of the dust that had been roiled up from the tremor, Kagome scratched her nose.

"So where are we?"

"We're in a tunnel."

She wanted to hit him. Oh, no wait, she had to sneeze first.

Kagome jumped a little, surprised to hear her sneeze echo throughout the tunnel. Inuyasha stiffened. There was several seconds of silence before a faint rumbling sound could be heard.

Kagome nervously inched closer towards Inuyasha. "Ummm...."

The rumbling grew louder. Kagome let out a small gasp as the ground beneath her began to shake.

Inuyasha wheeled around angrily. "What'd you go sneezing for?" he scowled.

"Hey, I didn't do it on purpose!" she retorted as the rumbling grew even louder. "I didn't know my sneeze would -"

Suddenly Inuyasha grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him. She heard something heavy thud behind her. She turned around and saw a large rock where she was just standing seconds before.

"Come on," Inuyasha said over the loud rumbling as he started running down the tunnel.

Rocks and dirt rained from the ceiling. Kagome covered her head with her arms to protect it. But she was having more trouble keeping with Inuyasha's pace. He was going too fast and she knew he was slowing down for her.

A rock dropped in front of her, one big enough for her to trip over. She was about to fall right into Inuyasha when he whipped around and caught her deftly with his free arm. His head turned to look forward, his expression worried.

"We're not going to make it in time at this pace."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Kagome huffed, starting to get annoyed. "I just can't keep up with -"

Suddenly he turned away from her and crouched down on the shaking ground. "Get on," he shouted.

Kagome blinked, surprised. "What?"

Inuyasha turned his head, looking extremely irritated. "I said, 'get on'! Get on my back, you stupid girl!"

Kagome was hesitant at first before she climbed onto his back. He handed her the torch.

"Hold it high so I can see where the hell I'm going," he told her. Then he sprinted off.

Maybe he wasn't that bad. She was definitely judging him too early. He wasn't that bad of a guy, offering to carry her and all.

Well, that was until she heard his mutter, "Stupid humans. So damn slow."

Hm, she spoke too soon.

But they were going fast. Very fast. Everything was whizzing past in a brown blur as Inuyasha zigzagged through, miraculously avoiding the large rocks that would be fatal if they hit their living targets.

Then Kagome saw moonlight. Her hopes soared

Their exit was near! It was just meters away!

But just as quickly, Kagome's hopes plummeted as she saw the cave opening start to collapse at an alarming rate. They weren't going to make it. Even that this speed they would be a few seconds too late - but then Inuyasha pushed off the ground with a sudden burst of energy, and they shot out of the opening before it caved in completely.

Inuyasha skidded to a halt and they watched as the last bit of cave opening vanished under the last tumble of rocks. The rumbling stopped and the ground ceased to shake. All was quiet.

Inuyasha plucked the still-flaming torch out of Kagome's hand and promptly dropped her to the ground.

"Ow!" With a pained look, Kagome rubbed her rear but Inuyasha paid her no attention.

Kagome was just pushing herself to her feet when Inuyasha threw his knapsack at her. The impact made her fall back again.

"Hold it, will ya?" He said, not really asking. "And don't lose it, girl."

"My name is Kagome," she said.

Inuyasha shrugged, "Whatever."

But Kagome wasn't finished. "And really - if you want me to do something for you, you should at least treat me a bit nice - hey! I'm talking to you!"

Inuyasha turned away and proceeded down the dirt path. He didn't hear her or was simply ignoring her. Most likely the latter.

Kagome fumed. On the first opportunity she got, she was going to throw a bag at him. Both bags. Hard.

Inuyasha turned his head. "Hurry up, woman!"

"It's Kagome!"

"Yeah, whatever. Just hurry up or I'm leaving you behind."

Kagome stood up, brushed the dirt off her jeans, ground a pebble (pretending it was Inuyasha's head) with her foot, and hoisted Inuyasha's sack over her shoulder. Once she reached him, Inuyasha turned and resumed walking down the path. She was about to ask him about their whereabouts when she saw a town not too far away. When they entered it, Kagome saw how dark, old, and very creepy it was.

The buildings were slowly falling apart, windows were cracked or broken, and the cobblestone street was dusty and cold. Signs creaked in the soft wind on their rusty chains. Stores held dusty merchandise. Lampposts held no kindred flames. The town seemed empty. Abandoned.

"This looks like a ghost town," Kagome said softly.

"It is," Inuyasha said.

"Where are we exactly?" She asked.

"We're in Gunon Town. We just came out of...well, what was Afina's Cavern."

Kagome frowned. "I never heard of this place."

"Of course you haven't," Inuyasha said absently. "It's not in your world, now is it?"

"What?" Kagome said sharply.

"I said," Inuyasha looked at her, annoyed that he had to repeat himself, "'Of course you haven't. It's not in your wor -'"

"What do you mean by that?"

"What do you mean 'what do I mean'? I meant exactly what I said."

"S-So you're saying...we're not on Earth?" Her voice was starting to shake.

"No. We're on Gaea. Don't you kn - Oh, wait." Inuyasha blinked, as if he just realized. "Oh, that's right. You don't know."

Kagome's eyes were as wide as saucers. She was shocked beyond comprehension. She - well - this - How could this be?!

"That's not possible!" Kagome said. Her head was swimming. It wasn't logical! She couldn't understand how anything like this could happen!

"I beg to differ," Inuyasha said. "Now that it has happened, it kind of is possible."

"H-How?!"

"Look, I'll explain later, okay?" Inuyasha said, looking irritated. "Let's just concentrate on getting out of here."

He turned around and started to walk down the cobblestone path. He stopped when he realized that the girl was not following. He turned around and much to his irritation, she had not moved from her spot. She stood there looking dazed and lost.

"Hey!" Inuyasha called loudly. "We gotta get moving! So move your ass and -"

"Look, buddy," Kagome said hotly, her face contorting in anger. "I just got dumped into a totally foreign place, shot out of a collapsing cave, and now I've just been told that I'm on an entirely different planet! I need some time to absorb this and cope with it, all right?!"

Inuyasha looked like his temper was teetering off the edge. "Well, you can do it while walking, can't you?" He swung back around so quickly, the flame in his torch almost extinguished.

Kagome wanted a rope. A sash. A shirt. ANYTHING she could use to strangle the bejeezus out of that - that....that jerk!

Kagome let out a shuddering breath. She readjusted the straps on her shoulders and marched angrily after the white-haired bozo.

They walked in silence for a good fifteen minutes and they, well, didn't make much progress. They were deeper inside the town, but they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. It was just cobblestone, broken windows, creaking doors, and more cobblestone.

"Where are we going? Is there a certain place we're looking for?" Kagome asked, completely forgetting their dispute from fifteen minutes ago.

Inuyasha, on the other hand, had not forgotten. He was determined not to utter anything that would please her even a little.

"Hey," Kagome said, pulling on one of his forelocks so he would look at her. "I'm talking to you."

Inuyasha's eye twitched. "Well I don't want to talk to you."

Kagome blinked before narrowing her eyes slightly. "Are you still mad?"

"Well, I - n-no…" He said stubbornly.

"So where are we going?"

Inuyasha pulled out of her grasp and turned away, resuming his walk. "This town has a dock. It's a small one and no one uses it, fortunately for us. I have a ship waiting for me there," He answered.

"Oh, I see, and why aren't we there yet?"

"It's a long walk."

"Oh. Well, then I would like to take a break."

Inuyasha stopped and snarled at her. "You're not in the position to make those kinds of requests."

"Oh really?" Kagome smiled at him pleasantly. She walked away and sat down on a dusty porch.

She certainly was taking advantage of her position. She knew he needed her and wouldn't leave without her. Inuyasha snorted and walked over to her.

Kagome looked at him warily. Inuyasha gave her a brief wry smile before lifting her up and throwing her unceremoniously over onto his shoulder. He took the two bags and swung them over his other shoulder. Kagome shrieked indignantly.

"Let me down!" she screamed as she pounded his back with her small fists. "This is not dignified at all! Let me down, you - you arrogant pig-faced jerk!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, ignored her, and continued his walk. She wouldn't be able to keep it up. Once she got tired, she would quiet down.

After five minutes, Inuyasha started to wonder when this girl would start getting tired. She was starting to pull on his hair and his clothes, and continued to pound his back. Then she pulled one of his ears.

Inuyasha jerked his head violently away. "Bitch!" he hissed. He shook her with the arm that was holding her causing her to yelp.

"Hey! Listen, princess," he said disdainfully. "Right now I'm the only one who can get us out of here. Don't think that you have any authority just because I said I needed your help. I can easily forget about this whole thing and I'll dump you here, and you will be stuck here with no way back home. I make the rules. You obey them. So be a good girl and shut up."

Surprisingly, she said nothing and an odd shiver ran through her body.

Inuyasha smirked. Good. She knew who was boss now.

But that was not the reason.

"Can you feel that?" she whispered.

"What?" Inuyasha snarled. "Didn't I tell you to shut up?!"

Kagome seemed oblivious to his anger. "I have this really creepy feeling that we're being watched."

"This is a ghost town. No one's here."

"But I have this really bad feeling...."

"Then you need to get your feelings fixed. That goes for your hearing too," he added, recalling all those times he had to repeat things for her.

"Hey, I'm being serious."

"It's your imagination," he said bluntly.

He frowned. She felt something, huh… Could it be...?

Inuyasha shrugged it off. It wasn't something he wanted to worry about right now.

"Hey you, pick: 'R' or 'L'," Inuyasha said suddenly. They stopped where the street split into two.

Kagome had an odd look on her face. "Huh?"

He sighed irritably. "I said, 'pick: R or L'. Seriously, are you deaf or something? Because -"

"R" she said reproachfully.

"Righto." He veered right.

They reached another fork in the street. Inuyasha stopped again, looking around mildly.

Kagome narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Are we lost?"

Inuyasha said indignantly. "No." He walked to the curb and dropped her there, ignoring her painful yelp. "Sit here," he told her, "We're taking a break."

"Wait, what?"

Inuyasha walked away from her.

Ah, yes. This again - "shut up, be quiet, and don't move from that spot."

------...........-------

It smelled different.

It looked different.

It felt different.

Yep, he was definitely lost.

Inuyasha dug into his knapsack and took out a small metal box. He popped it open, took out a tiny, clear transmitter, and fixed it carefully in his ear.

"Hey, Metal Boy, you there?" he said.

A familiar voice answered, "You're late."

"I'm lost."

"Figured so." There was a rustle of papers. "Where are you?"

Inuyasha squinted at one of the street signs; it was scratched and dented. "Uh, I think I'm on...Barrel's...no wait, Bernard Drive and..." He turned to look at the other sign. "Pervert - no, Reubert Avenue." He waited silently for a response.

There was a low whistle. "Whoa, you're in pretty deep."

Inuyasha scowled. "Shut up, Miroku, and tell me how to get out of here."

Miroku chuckled. "Right, right."

"You are lost."

Inuyasha wheeled around to see Kagome appear behind him. He glared at her angrily. "Hey, didn't I tell you sit over there?"

"Who are you talking to?" Kagome asked curiously, ignoring his question.

"No one. Now go away."

"Who are you talking to?" Miroku asked sounding very interested. "Is it a girl?"

"Directions, Miroku," Inuyasha said irritably.

"Who's Miroku?"

"No one -"

"Hey, is she asking about me?"

"No. Now give me directions, you idiot."

"Oh, you're talking with that plastic-thingy in your ear, aren't you? Can I talk too?"

"No, you cannot -"

"Hey, let me talk to her."

"Um, Inuyash - mmf!"

Inuyasha clamped his hand over Kagome's face, his palm pressed firmly against her mouth. "Directions. Now." He said to Miroku in a don't-you-dare-get-off-topic voice.

Miroku sighed. "You're no fun. Okay, so from where you are, take a left and then turn right on Jenova. Go straight and then go right on, uh, Farefield Avenue. Then turn...left on Vetra, and then keep straight until you reach the dock."

"How long do you think it'll take?"

"Uh, probably about 35 minutes. You're kind of far from the dock."

Inuyasha swore, oblivious to Kagome's attempts to remove his hand from her face. "We got bit of a walk," he told her, detaching his hand. He took up her wrist again, ignoring her indignant complaints.

They had reached the end of Old Birdie's Road when Inuyasha cocked his head at an illegible sign.

"What do you think it says?" Inuyasha asked, holding the torch higher.

Kagome, who had ceased fuming minutes ago, squinted her eyes. "Barrons? Er, no, I think it says Rockons."

"But we just passed that ten minutes ago!"

"No, we passed Vanard ten minutes ago." Kagome folded her arms across her chest. "Really, you need to -" Suddenly her eyes widened and she whipped around with an alarmed look.

Inuyasha looked down the street where Kagome was looking at. He saw nothing.

"What is it?"

"I -" Kagome frowned. "Nothing. I just thought I felt something."

Inuyasha sniffed. "Smells..." He also frowned. "Strange now." He wrinkled his nose. "Not a very nice smell either." He took Kagome's wrist and tugged her closer to him. "Come on. Let's get out of here. We're twenty minutes away from the dock, I think."

They had only taken a couple steps forwards when something crashed behind them. They both wheeled around. A wooden crate had been knocked off a stack of more crates and it shattered into dozens of wooden splinters. Kagome instinctively took a step closer to Inuyasha, who in turn raised a patronizing eyebrow at her. It was silent again and Inuyasha could not detect anything.

"The wind probably knocked it over," he said even though they had not felt anything even close to a breeze this night. Whatever made the crate fall over had bolted and Inuyasha wanted to leave more than to chase after whatever it was. He looked around them warily.

Then Miroku's voice spoke through his earpiece. "Uh, hey, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha turned away. "What?"

"Um, you know how before you left, we were saying that since Gunon Town was a ghost town, how it would be funny they had Undead things there?"

"Yeah..."

"Yeah, so uh, Daisuke just woke up from his nap and um...he said he detected that Gunon Town was um, loaded with them."

Inuyasha's face contorted angrily. "Oh, for the love of -" Inuyasha cut himself off. He jerked his head up and took a sniff. This scent - it reeked of decomposing flesh and grave dirt.

"Um...Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered urgently. She scooted closer to him; her body was practically pressed against his.

"Wha -?" Inuyasha's eye widened before they narrowed as he smirked at the sight before him. "Now this is more like it..."

Thirty feet away, about twenty disfigured bodies limped and stumbled out from the shadows of the alleys and into the moonlight. Rotting flesh hung from their bones along with shreds of fabric. Many were mutilated or had limbs that were bent awkwardly. A few had their heads attached crookedly or were hanging from a shred of flesh. But all of them had black beady eyes that scanned the street before focusing on the living pair in front of them. Those that looked remotely humanoid had some sort of metal machinery strapped around them.

"What are those things?" Kagome whispered, disgust and fear written on her face.

"Oh yeah, another thing," Miroku piped. "You remember how we were all joking that Gunon Town used to manufacture firearms?"

"Ah, so those metal things are guns then?" Inuyasha said.

"Yea - Oh, you met our buddies already then?"

"Yup." Inuyasha pushed Kagome behind him. "I'll be there in ten minutes," he told Miroku.

"We'll be ready for you and your company," Miroku replied lightly.

The Undead things grinned greedily (or, those who could did) and started towards their prey. Suddenly the ones with machine guns began to fire.

"Oh, shit."

Inuyasha threw the torch at one of the Undead. It smashed into one Undead's skull, setting its whole body ablaze. It screamed and raked its gnarled hands helplessly against the torch. It bumped into one of its fellows and set it too on fire. Inuyasha grabbed Kagome around the waist and leaped away. They broke through the window of an old shop, tumbling to the wooden floors, stirring up dust.

"All right?" He asked Kagome, who nodded unsteadily. She looked awfully frightened and seemed to have trouble processing their current situation through her head. Suddenly bullets whizzed past their heads and Inuyasha shoved Kagome's head down as he ducked his. "Come on," he shouted over the firing.

He scrambled behind the end of a counter and Kagome hid behind the counter opposite of his.

"Dammit," he swore. "I didn't think that they had fingers to use the guns!"

Kagome looked at him incredulously. "Well why do you think they would have guns in the first place?!"

"Well, I thought they were going to throw them at us or something!"

Kagome groaned.

Some stray bullets shattered the glassware on the shelves and the sharp pieces fell to the ground, missing Kagome by only a few inches. She yelped and pressed herself against the counter.

"Toss me the bag!" Inuyasha shouted.

Kagome fumbled with the straps for a moment before she could free one of the bags. She slid it across the floor to Inuyasha. He opened it and dug into it before tossing it away furiously.

"Give me my bag, you moron!"

"What? Oh...sorry..." Kagome said, who was too disoriented to pay attention to which bag she was freeing, and tossed him his bag.

Inuyasha tore open the bag and dug through its contents before banging his head back on the counter. "Fuck! I left the Tessaiga on the ship!"

Kagome began to ask, "What's the Tess -"

Inuyasha whipped out a small pistol. He popped up from the counter and shot three bullets before dropping down again. A split second later, three horrible screeches ripped through the air. Five down. Fifteen more to go.

But he only had seven bullets left and no extras. How could he be so ill prepared!

Inuyasha scowled. He turned and fired six more at the Dead. Two ricocheted off the guns and ripped through the deteriorating bodies in front of the gunners. Each of the ricocheted bullets managed to strike one more target than it should have.

Inuyasha whipped back behind the counter. He managed to take down eight more of the Dead. There should be only two left...and he knew a trick that would take care of them.

Then he heard Kagome shriek. He whipped around to see the razor-sharp shards of a shattered vase about to fall on her. With a cabinet in front of her, the counter behind her, the shelves to her left, and the whizzing bullets to her right, Kagome was trapped.

Kagome flung her arms over her head and braced herself. But the nothing hit her. She peered through her arms, shocked to see Inuyasha hovering over her, his hands pressed against the counter on either side of her. Before she could do anything, there was a violent thud against the shop door.

They were trying to knock down the door, and it didn't sound like just two bodies slamming against it.

Without uttering a word, Inuyasha slipped an arm around Kagome and picked up his dropped pistol, along with the two bags. He leaped over the cabinet and kicked open the back door. He jumped over the back porch - only to be greeted by an enormous group of Undead.

Without hesitation, Inuyasha fired his pistol at a lamppost. It bounced off and tore through the heads of seven corpses who were standing stupidly next to each other.

Kagome frowned slightly. When it plowed through the corpses, for a second she thought she saw a bright light in a form of a cross emit from the bullet. Was it just her imagination?

The others stared dumbfound at their seven fallen comrades before breaking into angry high shrieks and moved threateningly forward.

Kagome made a startled sound and pushed herself closer to Inuyasha. "Inuyasha," she whispered. "What -"

"Go."

Kagome looked up at him. "What?"

He shoved her away from him and tossed the two bags at her. "Run," he said darkly. "Go anywhere."

Kagome gaped at him.

Inuyasha glared at her angrily when he saw she wasn't moving. "Run! If you run into any Undead, just throw at them anything that's in my bag!"

"But, I -"

"Go! I'll hold them off here." He tore a rusty metal pipe from one of the buildings, giving himself a 30-inch weapon. He looked at her. "I'll come back to find you. Now, beat it!"

Kagome took a hesitant step back before she turned and ran off, clutching the bags tightly.

When she disappeared from sight, Inuyasha turned to face his opponents. With a malicious grin, he twirled the metal pipe in his hand. Part of the reason he wanted the girl to leave was because he didn't want her to see this. It was too early for her to start emptying her stomach.

Inuyasha smirked, "Now this is where the fun begins..."

One of the corpses launched itself on Inuyasha. He easily thrust the pipe through its head, ripping rotting muscle and shattering the deformed skull.

-------.............--------

Kagome sank against the brick wall, panting lightly. She was in a small alley but the moon illuminated it so she could clearly see in all directions. She threw the bags carelessly in front of her and leaned her head back.

Kagome was amazed at her luck though. From the moment she left Inuyasha's side, she did not run into any of those Undead things.

Kagome cocked her head as she pondered. Inuyasha called them Undead. So they were some sorts of zombies - revived corpses. Kagome grimaced, feeling slightly nauseous as she remembered the rotting flesh and rancid odor.

Dumped into a new world, lost in a ghost town, chased by mutilated zombies, stuck with an arrogant moronic hanyou - what the hell did she get herself into?

A promise of freedom, huh? Kagome snorted softly. She had yet to see anything of this "freedom" of his. She hugged her knees and rested her chin on them.

"Do you trust me?"

His outstretched hand.

His honest golden eyes bore into hers.

Did she trust him? She had said yes but did she truly mean it? He didn't exactly possess the character traits of person she would like to trust.

He was certainly an arrogant boy, no doubt, and could just be a total insensitive jerk most of the time she had been with him. Moronic was...a bit harsh. He had save her life numerous times tonight and he couldn't have done that if he didn't have at least a hint of concern for her. Of all the dangers they had faced today, he had managed to get her out of them safely. Though, the only person she had to be cautious around was Inuyasha himself.

She...probably just had to wait a little for this "freedom". It wasn't like she was leaving tomorrow or that she didn't have the patience to wait. Though, he did seem like the type of person she would have to do a lot of waiting for.

Like now for example.

...Where was he?

Kagome's brows knit together. What if those zombie things overwhelmed him? That would mean she was stuck here wouldn't it? She didn't know how to get out! But most of all...what if he was hurt? Well, in all honesty, if he got a bruise or a couple of scratches, that would be okay and she would almost say that he deserved it for his horrible behavior. But if he got really injured, then she would be in big trouble. If Inuyasha couldn't fend off those zombies, how could she? Frankly, she would rather stick with Inuyasha than be stuck in this place.

And…fine, yes, she admitted it. She was a teensy bit worried about him. Just a little. Practically negligible. And she considered this almost a miracle taking into account the mess he had just pulled her into.

But yes, she did trust him - but only a little and only because she had to. If she didn't follow him then she wouldn't have any other place go to now would she?

Kagome frowned slightly. That idiot…

A voice called out from behind her. "There you are!" Inuyasha appeared, looking annoyed and frustrated. "I've been looking all over you! When I told you to go, I didn't mean 'go far away'! Well, then again, you do have a hearing problem so I guess that's… what? Did something happen? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Kagome put a hand over her rapidly beating heart. He scared the bejeezus out of her! Appearing out of nowhere like that - she thought she almost had a heart attack!

"Don't do that!" she hissed.

He blinked. "Do what?" he asked, though not expecting her to answer as he slumped down in front of her. "Anyways, I took care of the Undead. I doubt they'll be bothering us anytime soon." He reached over his back and he grimaced in pain as he yanked something from it. He flung it carelessly aside and reached over his back again to repeat the process of grimacing, yanking, and tossing.

Kagome's eyes narrowed slightly as she examined the pieces that were being thrown aside. They were pieces - shards of what must have been a porcelain vase. Their ends were stained with Inuyasha's blood. Then, Kagome's eyes rocketed wide in shock, immediately recognizing the flower-printed pieces. Her eyes flew to Inuyasha.

They were the pieces of the vase that had exploded in the shelf above her - the vase that was going to fall on her. The vase that Inuyasha had protected her from.

She had not thought about where those pieces had gone. She was shocked, too disoriented to think clearly. But now she knew where they were - they were now protruding out of Inuyasha's back.

A tidal wave of guilt washed over her. She wished she had done something - just something so that Inuyasha didn't have to do that. So that he didn't have to feel the need to protect her like that. It wasn't right for a jerk like him to be hurt because of her.

Kagome looked away from Inuyasha, who was struggling to get to a shard that was out of his reach.

Wanting to be of good use, she moved behind him. "Here," she said in a quiet, guilty voice. She wrapped her hand carefully around the piece and gently pulled it out. She proceeded to the next one and the one after it. Surprisingly, Inuyasha did not protest and just sat still in silence.

------………-------

"Stop it."

"I'm not doing anything."

"You're staring at my back again!"

"Well, I really think you should let me have -"

"It's fine! I heal fast, okay? So just leave it alone - Ow! Don't touch it!" Inuyasha slapped Kagome's hand away. "I say leave it alone and you touch it. What's wrong with you?"

Kagome rubbed her offended hand and glared at him. "How can you say that it's fine when it really hurts?"

Now he was getting really annoyed. "Because it wasn't hurting before you put your filthy little hands all over it!"

"How rude!" Kagome put her hands on her hips. "I'm just showing some concern and you throw a hissy fit! Is this how you usually show your gratitude to other people?"

"Oh, believe me, what I'm feeling right now isn't even close to gratitude!" Inuyasha whirled around and stomped off.

"Hey, slow down! Are you trying to leave me behind or something?"

Oh how tempted he was.

Inuyasha took a sniff. "The dock's close. I can smell the sea." He sped up. "Hurry up. I don't want to spend another minute in this damn place."

Soon, he did reach the dock. It was empty excluding the remains of small boats. The old dock creaked under his weight. He inhaled deeply, taking in the welcoming and refreshing scent of the sea. He smiled. Home.

A few moments later, he heard Kagome arrive. She was panting slightly and glaring daggers into his back. Inuyasha ignored her and walked further in.

A short distance from the end of the dock, Inuyasha saw with delight his -

"Oh, so is that your boat?" Kagome asked.

"Ship," Inuyasha snapped.

"Oh. Right."

Kagome frowned slightly. The boat - er, ship wasn't exactly what she had imagined. She had expected it to be bigger, more majestic - looking; like those big ships she had seen in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. This one was definitely smaller and it didn't look all that special. It didn't look like something that someone would be extremely proud of, which was what Inuyasha seemed to be at the moment.

Suddenly a cold chill seemed to spread throughout her bones. It was that bad feeling again.

"Um, Inuyasha," she said softly, desperately hoping that she was wrong. "I think…they're somewhere around here…again."

But it seemed she didn't have to tell him for him to know. Inuyasha was frowning and sniffing again.

He groaned. "Aw man…"

Suddenly a line of bullets tore at the wooden dock, causing it to rain with pieces of wood. Kagome stumbled out of way and the bullets whizzed past her. She felt Inuyasha's big hand close around her wrist and she was yanked up to her feet. Inuyasha ran down the dock, pulling Kagome behind him.

"I thought you said you took care of them!" Kagome shouted over the loud guns.

"I did! I -"

Inuyasha cut himself off when he realized that they were nearing the dock's end. "Hey, how far do you think it is from the end of the dock to the ship?"

Kagome looked over his shoulder. "Um, I don't know…er, I think 10 - 15 meters!"

Inuyasha smirked. "Piece of cake."

He swept Kagome into his arms and raced down the dock at an almost neck-breaking speed. Just as he reached the edge, he took a flying leap and they sailed through the air. The water beneath them sprouted small columns of water into the air from the rain of bullets.

Kagome clutched Inuyasha's neck nervously. She felt terrified but excited at the same time. The wind was blowing in her face and hair and - it was almost like she was flying. It was the most amazing feeling. But that feeling quickly disappeared when Kagome looked behind them.

Dozens of the Undead were lining up crookedly on the shore. Most of them had some kind of firearm and were already shooting. The others had crudely made spears or harpoons and were throwing them. With their mutilated limbs and crooked heads, it was difficult for them to aim or throw properly. They were clumsy and not conformed, and they seemed fearful of the water. They stood quite a distance from the small waves, and those on the dock were standing as close as they could to each other, and as far away from the edge.

Spears missed Kagome and Inuyasha completely and splashed into the sea. The corpses with guns had a better chance of hitting their targets, but uncoordinated as they were, they didn't. But with sudden stroke of luck, a spear soared high into the dark sky and when it fell, Kagome and Inuyasha were directly in its path.

Kagome cried out in alarm, seeing the spear's blunt point only inches from her face. At the moment Kagome opened her mouth, Inuyasha whirled around in midair and kicked the spear away. But that left Inuyasha little time to prepare himself for landing, resulting in the pair of them crashing into the ship's deck. Inuyasha managed to break their fall but Kagome tumbled off hard onto the wooden floor.

Kagome groaned painfully, her back aching. She heard the footsteps of heavy boots near her head, temporarily forgetting her pain. She peeked her eyes open to see a teenage boy with a friendly face.

"Ah, you must be Inuyasha's company." He smiled. "Welcome aboard the Fortis Libertas, miss."

AN: School will be starting next week and I'm entering my 11th year. Since 11th grade will be the hardest, I'm going to be spending more time studying and getting ready for my SATs. Ugh. So updates will be slow. Er. Very slow. Well, slower than usual. I'll try to write a little every once in awhile like during the holidays or something. But other than that, I won't be having a lot of time on my hands. It's quite a shame considering that BH is just starting and that's really my fault. But oh well. That's the way it is. Well, enjoy this chapter. 'Cos who knows when the next update will be. T-T