Abduction
“Are those two gonna do anything else besides standing there all night?” Miroku said while his eyes stayed on the couple under the Goshinboku.

Next to the perverted Houshi stood the blushing Sango and Haruko, their faces turned to the opposite way. Sango has a vein in her left temple, ready to pop. “What would you want them to be doing, Houshi-sama?”

Miroku answered like it’s no big deal that he’s a peeping tom. “You think after six months those two would get more to the point.”

Sango growled and covered Shippo’s eyes. The young kitsune is getting his “training” from Miroku. According to the Houshi, it’s time for the little kitsune to “become a grown youkai”.

Haruko is rather uncomfortable position. “Should we be here spying on them?”

“What if they’re in danger? Or they get into a fight?” Miroku is just coming up with excuses to justify himself. “By keeping tabs on them we can protect them.”

“I guess…” Haruko blushed again. “But wouldn’t Inuyasha hear us?”

“Nah,” Miroku answered carelessly, “can’t you see he’s too focused on Kagome-sama right now?” All this time that he was talking, the Houshi didn’t take his eyes off the couple.

Sango feels like she’s about to blow. “I can’t take this anymore!” She hit the Houshi’s head with her Hiraikotsu, dragged him by the collar, nearly chocking him, and back to the village. “Haruko-san, take Shippo.”

Haruko nodded and picked up the kitsune in her arms and followed Sango back to Kaede’s hut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suddenly Inuyasha heard some rustling in the woods. He sniffed the air. It's those youkai that were following me. Those bastards probably wanted to attack me when my guard is down.

Reluctantly he pushed Kagome away from his chest. Kagome looked up at him in confusion. “What is it, Inuyasha?”

Inuyasha scanned their surroundings cautiously. Ignoring Kagome’s question he sniffed the air again.

“Are we in trouble?” Kagome asked again, holding on to his sleeve, unwilling to let go.

Inuyasha growled while stepping in front of Kagome protectively. “Kaede-baba really needs to learn how to be a miko.” Inuyasha extracted his claws, amber eyes focusing into the deeper part of the forest. “There are too many fucking youkai around."

Kagome cowered behind the hanyou and bent down to pick up the bow she took before she left the hut. “How many are there, Inuyasha?” She asked cautiously.

Inuyasha stiffed again and squints his eyes tighter to scan around the forest in the dark. “Too much” was his answer.

“But Kaede-baachan wouldn’t let wild youkai wonder around the village.” Kagome defended the old miko like her own grandmother.

Inuyasha took a step forward, “Guess someone’s getting old. These guys should be easy too handle… might take some time though. Kagome, stand behind me and watch yourself.”

Inuyasha leapt forward and sliced down a tree, three medium sized youkai heads appeared, all looking very shaken now that Inuyasha is about to turned them into spaghetti. And guess what? So he did.

“Keh, waste of my time.” Inuyasha kept going, sniffing down youkai after youkai and killing them one by one. “Damn it, too much.”

He heard a “swoosh” and turned around to see that a fierce looking long-haired youkai about to pounced on him, but was shot by Kagome’s arrow. He shot the miko a smile of appreciation and turned back to his youkai killing. Kagome shot arrow after arrow to protect the hanyou from unexpected attackers.

Inuyasha retreated to stand next to Kagome, now about five youkai are attacking all at once, one wave after another. After Inuyasha slice down five, five more jumps out of nowhere.

“Kagome!” He yelled, “Go get Miroku and the others, drag the old woman here too.” When Kagome didn’t move, he took a second to spin around 180 degrees to shove her. “Go, damn it!” Then he used the same force to spin back a full circle and sliced a tiger youkai that was aiming for his throat, wasting no motion or energy.

Kagome nodded in surprise and started running back. The only times that they were attacked by so many youkai was when they were battling Naraku. Can it be that Naraku is back? Inuyasha covered her back by killing any youkai that were going after her. He can’t use the Tessaiga because he can’t even see where they were coming from. Besides, by using the Tessaiga blindly, he might damage the Goshinboku.

Kaede’s hut resided beneath the stairs to the village temple. When Kagome ran to the hut, the light was still on. She pushed away the straw door and saw Sango sitting on one side of the wall with Kirara on her lap, and Miroku on the other side, with hand marks on both side of the cheek and a bleeding nose. Haruko is sitting between them, also leaning against a wall, Shippo is fast asleep next to her.

As Kagome entered the hut, panting, drawing in air, everyone rushed up to her with curiosity.

“What happened, Kagome-sama?” Miroku asked with a mischievous expression, “Did Inuyasha do something inappropriate to cause you to run back in such a hurry?”

Kagome is still unable to speak; Sango rolled her eyes at the Houshi, “Not everyone is like you, Houshi-sama.”

Miroku ignored her. “Whatever Inuyasha did must’ve been driven by pure emotion, Kagome-sama, I hope you didn’t hurt him because of it.” His tone was so serious it was weird.

“No…” Kagome gasped again, “no… we were attacked… so many youkai…”

“WHAT!” Everyone exclaimed. Each grabbed their weapon and headed out the door, leaving Shippo still asleep inside the hut.

“Kirara!” The cat youkai transformed and allowed the girls to sit on her. As Kirara was flying away, Kagome yelled to Miroku: “Inuyasha is by the Goshinboku!”

Sango sighed, “He knows.”

Kagome ignored that comment and asked, “Where is Kaede-baachan?”

“I don’t know! She’s been gone all afternoon.”

With Kirara’s speed they reached Inuyasha in no time. But the hanyou has been hurt. His right cheek has three traces of claw scratch; his left forearm is also sliced. But the worst wound has to be the fang that dug deep into his upper right leg. Kagome’s heart twinges at the sight.

“Inuyasha!” She creamed and jumped down before Kirara completely landed. Kagome shot out an arrow and killed three youkai instantly.

The amount of youkai was increasing. Sango, Haruko, and even Kirara went to work, exterminating as many as they can. Soon Miruko arrived, and with his talisman and staff, the job seemed easier.

After Miroku burnt a youkai to a crisp with talisman he ran to Inuyasha, “Why are there so many? Do you know where they’re all coming from?”

Inuyasha gritted his teeth, “Not sure who these guys are. At first I thought they were just after a meal, but guess not!” He grunted again while killing one youkai after another. “But they’re all coming from that direction!” Inuyasha pointed to a space bout twenty feet away from them.

Miroku nodded, “Inuyasha, cover me!” At that the Houshi stopped attacking and focused his energy. Sango and Inuyasha protected him while he chanted. After a minute he opened his eyes once again.

“Minasan! I sense a portal over there!” Miroku yelled in triumph, his eyes lit up and he showed a grin much like Inuyasha’s.

“Youshi!” Inuyasha ignored the fang in his leg and darted toward the direction of the portal. He destroyed the bushes that were in his way. What he saw was a spinning black hole in front of him, floating in midair. Before Inuyasha can react, a youkai’s head appeared and then the body, Inuyasha killed it before it can fully emerge.

“That must be the source.” Haruko gasped. “The jaki…it’s so strong, I’ve never felt anything so evil before.” She shivered.

Sango creamed the last youkai, panting, she asks, “What now, Inuyasha?”

Inuyasha pulled out the fang, some blood burst out. He ignored the pain. “We go in. And we’re gonna find the sonofabitch who set these pathetic youkai on us.”

He turned to face his companions, but focused mainly on Kagome. “I’m going in first, Miroku will follow. If we don’t come back by sunrise, the rest of you will come after us.” He looked onto Kagome, “You’re staying here, don’t come after us, no matter what.”

Before Kagome can even protest, he jumped in. Miroku looked back at them again and sighed. “Don’t listen to him, Kagome-sama, he didn’t mean anything by that. He just wants you safe.” At that Miroku shot a smile at Sango and jumped in as well.

The three girls stared into the portal, not sure what to do. They must’ve waited there for two hours, no one said anything, no one moved a muscle.

Before the first ray of the sun appeared, the black portal started to shrink. The three sleepy girls ran toward it with fear, not sure what to do.

“What now? The guys are not back yet.” Haruko asked.

“If we don’t get them back, the portal might disappear forever.” Sango panicked, she faced Kagome as if waiting for instructions.

Kagome didn’t look at either of her friends; she bent down, ready to jump in.

“Kagome-chan, wait!” Sango yelled and grabbed her friend’s arm. “Inuyasha said not to go after him, no matter what.”

“That baka!” Kagome growled angrily. “He won’t accept help even if he’s dying! He’s hurt and the portal is about to disappear, how can he expect me to remain here?” By now half of the portal has already dissolved.

“But…what if the portal closes and you guys are stuck in there forever.”

“I don’t care!” Kagome takes another leap, again Sango grabs her.

Suddenly a youkai head emerged from the portal, his face looked distorted, as if he was in pain. Then his body emerged as well, but it seemed like his hands were tied behind him. He landed with a thump on the ground, behind him stood Inuyasha, still bloody, but prouder. Miroku came out as well, not hurt at all.

The girls stared at them in surprise. Inuyasha grinned evilly at their faces. “We couldn’t find any youkai in there, this is the only one; caught him when he was wondering around. What a dumb ass.” He laughed.

Before he can react, Kagome dashed toward him and slapped his arm, the one that was injured. Inuyasha yelped in pain. “What did you do that for?!?!”

Kagome glared at him. “What took you so long, we were getting worried, and the portal was closing up!”

“What do you mean, Kagome-sama?” Miroku asked, “We were barely gone for a candle’s length.”

A candle’s length? Understanding Kagome’s questioning face, Miroku explained. “I meant the time it takes for a candle to burn.”

“What?” Kagome yelled, “The sun is almost up! Does it take two hours for a candle to burn?!”

Inuyasha’s first response was “What’s two hours?” Then he realized the problem.

“Time must move differently between here and the inside of the portal!” Haruko suggested. But she also pondered what “two hours” was.

Inuyasha grabbed the captured youkai. “Let’s ask this bastard about the world inside the portal.”

The youkai gritted his teeth. “I’ll never say anything to you, hanyou!”

Wasting no time, Inuyasha kicked him in the stomach, hard. The youkai fell on his face, and moaned in pain. “You will talk.” Inuyasha commanded.

And like that, the interrogation continued for two minutes. The youkai spitted on Inuyasha several times, and got hurt a lot of times, but no answers came out of him. The portal is now the size of an apple.

“The portal’s almost gone, Inuyasha.” Kagome reminded him.

At the sound of her voice, both Inuyasha and the youkai looked up at her. Inuyasha growled. The youkai’s eyes widened and let out an incredibly evil laugh, “You’re a miko, aren’t you, little girl!!!” He continued to laugh, louder and louder. Then he howled toward the portal and yelled, “I’ve found one!!! I’ve found one!!!”

Confused by his actions, no one moved a muscle. Then suddenly a giant youkai jumped out of the portal and dashed toward Kagome at an incredible speed. “Inuyasha!!!” Kagome screamed.

Inuyasha extracted his claws and was about to slice the youkai. But the giant youkai lifted Kagome up and used her as a shield. Afraid that he was going to hurt Kagome, Inuyasha quickly drew back his hands.

The youkai laughed, with Kagome in his arms he jumped back into the portal and was gone in a flash. The portal was finally about to close up completely. “Damn it!” Without thinking Inuyasha jumped in again, the portal closed up behind him. The link was gone.

Thunderstruck, the remaining three stared after where the portal used to be. The only sound was the evil laugh of the youkai, still bleeding on the ground.

Miroku grabbed the youkai, and threatened him. “Tell us where the portal leads to! How can we find our friends!!! Tell us!"

The youkai ignored him and continued laughing. “Long live the lord!” He suddenly started chanting.

Sick and tired of the youkai, Miroku slapped him hard on the face with the back of his hand. Still the youkai went on laughing. His horrid voice spread through the forest.

“I’ve had enough of this guy.” Haruko suddenly spoke up. She walked toward the youkai and grabbed his fur. “Tell us how we can find our friends, or I’ll purify you before you can draw another breath.”

The youkai finally stopped laughing and looked up at Haruko. He gasped. “Another one?! Just how many miko are there in this village?!”

“What do you mean?” Sango interrupted. Then she suddenly gasped. “Have you captured another miko?”

The youkai grinned evilly, confirming Sango’s suspicion. Sango looked at Miroku, terrified. “That means they’ve got Kaede-sama too!”

The youkai laughed once more. “We caught that old crone yesterday afternoon. It was an easy catch.”

Miroku is really pissed off now. “Why are you gathering miko? Who’s your leader? I demand you tell us!”

“He won’t say anything to you.” Suddenly another voice appeared from behind them. It was an arrogant voice, full of pride and an icy coldness.

Next
Back