Forbidden Love

Chapter 3- Red Eyes

Sorry it took so long for me to update! Read and Review.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha, and this goes for all the other chapters.

Kagome felt wonderfully comfortable. At first she didn’t realize where she was, being awakened ever so slowly by something touching her leg. She was lying on what felt like a soft cloud, warm and dry. (Although a little draft told her there were no blankets). She stretched her arms before rubbing away the sand in her eyes. She scratched her head. She felt so relaxed and rested. She haven’t had such a good night’s sleep in weeks! Kagome sighed in contentment, her sleepy eyes closing again. Something was moving up and down her right leg, so gently and slowly that she wondered if a pair of butterflies was dancing along her warm skin.
“Ouch…” she murmured vaguely, for she wasn’t fully awake yet and a sharp poke near her ankle had forced her foot to come alive with pain. There was another poke, and the thing that had been soothing her sore leg muscles was now trying to move it. It felt as if hundreds of white hot knives were repeatedly stabbing her foot over and over again. Kagome’s hands waved around, looking for something to hold on to, while she clenched her eyes tight and threw her head back. “Ow… Yamete, ittai...” But whatever it was didn’t stop, keeping her foot firmly in place with something that didn’t feel so gentle anymore. As Kagome fully awoke the pain seemed to intensify. Stinging tears gathered under her closed eyelids.

“I said, YAMETE!” Kagome tried to wrench her right foot away and swing her unrestrained to kick whatever was hurting her, and regretted it instantly. She might as well have cut her own foot off, because the moment she tried to move her hurt- as she realized stupidly- ankle, all the muscles and tendons in it jerked horribly and it seemed as if it was undergoing a seizure. Kagome screamed out loud from the intense pain and sat up in a flash, her weight supported by her hands on the ground behind her. “Don’t-”

Kagome froze, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide with shock, pain, and fear.

Naraku was kneeling on one knee at the foot of her futon, his hands wrapped around a foot that was propped up on a bag filled with something cold. He watched Kagome’s face, pale with agony, fill with confusion and then revulsion as she saw one of her toes sticking out at a wrong angle and the purple-blue, almost black bruise that was formed around her ankle. It was so swollen it was nearly twice the thickness of the other one.

She immediately tensed up, worsening the injury. Naraku took his eyes off hers and concentrated on the appendage in his hands. “Relax, or it’ll hurt more than it has to,” he said, massaging her calf.

‘As if,’ thought Kagome. ‘It’ll be just like him to let me walk around with a broken leg.’

Then she saw one of his large manly hands take her abused toe between his thumb and his index and middle fingers.

Crack

Kagome cried out and automatically tried to move her foot away, but Naraku’s free hand had a firm grip on her shin, holding it in place. She gritted her teeth and gripped the forearm that was holding her down, having nothing else to take it out on. It was an intense moment. Kagome thought it was all over when there was a second crack, as her nails dug unto his skin, for Naraku had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He let go of her and pried his arm away from Kagome’s death grip that threatened to tear it off.

He reached for something and, for the first time, Kagome saw a jumble of different objects sitting on a tray. There were two small, painted jars, finely carved of wood; two rolls of clean bandages; some gauze; a stick that looked like a fat popsicle stick; and a fresh towel.

Naraku took a piece of gauze and opened the green jar. At first it looked like water, but the smell told Kagome it was some thing made from medicinal herbs (after all, she learned about them from Kaede). As he dabbed it on profusely Kagome felt a cool, numb feeling spread through out her muscles. She breathed in deeply and began to mentallyname the herbs, some of which weren’t even from Japan. It felt so good on her aching bones that she relaxed a bit.

Moments later her poor abused appendage was entrapped within thick plaster of a cast. Surprisingly, as soon as he was done Naraku picked up the tray and left Kagome alone. More than delighted to have a chance to escape, Kagome surveyed her surroundings. The room was rectangular with one of the shorter walls completely made of screen doors. The walls were completely bear save the creamy wallpaper, and the only furniture was a three-shelf dresser with a presently unlit lamp sitting on the top and a shoji screen folded next to it, dictating a beautiful painting of blue and purple snowcapped mountains, a cloudy sky, green trees, and storks flying through the sky.

It seemed too easy. Why would Naraku capture Kagome and leave her alone in a relatively nice room? She crawled on her knees and hands over to the door. Locked. Of course. If she didn’t know better, she would have ripped it down and bolted, but she couldn’t walk let alone run in her current condition. It would be a pathetic attempt to escape and it’ll only put Naraku more on the alert. What Kagome needed to do was get out while his lax security gave her the opportunity to do so. Along one of the longer walls were two circular windows with light and dark blue papers on wooden frames, evenly spaced out. ‘Yes! Ha, good bye Naraku. Didn’t think you were that stupid.’

She got on her knees so she could reach one of the windows and easily slid it wide open. Her jaw dropped. Kagome saw that the entire building was built on a little fist of a jagged cliff that jutted out. To her left and right, the walls of Naraku’s new hideout stretched out for about 50 feet with regular intervals of the same circular windows until it angled off following the edges of the cliff. Right beneath her were a sheet of uneven, slippery brown rocks that led to a blue river at the way bottom. It was slightly foggy and the mist covered the ground, but Kagome could tell it was at least a two-hundred feet fall. The opposite cliff was too far off for her to make out what was on it.

Kagome’s stomach fell with harsh disappointment. No wonder Naraku left her alone. There was no way she could get out without getting herself killed. The only way was to walk-no, crawl- out the door. With a groan, she closed the window and turned around, face planting against someone’s stomach as she did so.

“Wise choice, miko. An attempt at escape will only cost you your life,” said Naraku
“You!” Kagome hissed, waddling backwards on her hands and foot
“I?” Naraku raised an eyebrow as he took a step towards her
“……” she merely glared up at him.
He had her back against the wall with another few steps, and placed a low wooden tray before her. She hadn’t realized he’d been holding it, and saw a hot meal set for one. Kagome realized too late that she had been cornered against the wall, and the only way out was to go around Naraku; there was no way she was going anywhere near him, so she crossed her arms and looked away from his piercing gaze.

“Eat,” he said his voice cool and light. “You need your strength.”
“As if you care. What do you want?” Kagome demanded. ‘Isn’t he going to kill me?’
“I certainly do not want you dead from starvation.”
“That’s right, because I’d be no use to you then, hm?”
“How perceptual you are, little miko.”
“My name is Kagome, not little miko. Ka. Go. Me.”
“Your name is of little importance to me, miko.”
Kagome narrowed her eyes. “Why did you bring me here? You should have just left me. If it’s about the jewel shards, you can’t have it.” She reached for the bottle that hung around her neck to find it still there. “You-You… didn’t you…?”
“I have decided to let you hold on to it for now.” He smirked. “I will have the complete jewel soon enough.”
“I’m not letting you have it, and I won’t help you find the others either!”
“I believe I told you to eat your food?”
“No.”
“I do not have to be so generous with my hospitality, miko. Perhaps you’d prefer it if I threw you into a dungeon and kept you locked up?”
“As long as I’m away from you,” she snapped at him.
Naraku laughed. It was an evil, poisonous laugh that sent chills up and down Kagome’s spine. “Tell me, miko. What is it that I have done against you? You’ve got no real reasons to hold grudges, don’t you think?”
“Oh, suuuure. Nothing personal, except you tried to kill me a hundred times, not to mention trying to take over the world! And look at what you’ve done to my friends!” Sarcasm practically dripped from her voice. “Let me go before I purify your sorry ass for good.”
He laughed again. “Surely not. If you have not yet realized it, inside my barriers your powers are of no use.”
“There’s no way-”
“I assure you, as strong as you may be, you cannot use it.” Here he raised an eyebrow, as if daring her to try.

Flushing red from anger, Kagome couldn’t help feel somehow flattered that Naraku considered her strong. There was hope for his enormous ego after all. ‘What am I thinking? Snap out of it!’ She called forth her powers from inside her. It coursed throughout her veins, spreading from the tip of her hair to the ends of her toes. A pink light erupted from her outstretched hands. Kagome aimed it at the smirking hanyou sitting before her, but before she could even start, it died away.

“What?” She repeated over and over again with the same result every single time. She yelled and threw a tantrum in frustration, clawing at the air and wanting to wipe the stupid smug look on Naraku’s stupid face. Puffing, Kagome stretched out her injured leg as much as she could and saw him staring at her, sitting with his legs crossed and his hands hiding behind his sleeves.

“It’s futile. Eat,” he said once again.

‘Who does he think he is?’ Kagome fumed to herself, ‘to order me around like that? Eat little miko, drink little miko, sit little miko, good little miko. Well… at least he’s trying to feed me. He’s being very unNaraku-ish. Why doesn’t he just let me go hungry? He took such good care of my ankle too… may be he’s not that bad after all… Ah! No way, he probably poisoned all the food. Looks kind of good though… Look at all that food…’

“You’re drooling,” said Naraku. He looked very amused.

Kagome’s eyes flashed dangerously. “I’m not hungry,” she said just as her stomach growled. Embarrassed and angry at her stomach’s betrayal, she lowered her reddening face, her bangs hiding her eyes, and crossed her arms again.

A large, masculine hand flew out and cupped her chin, lifting her head and dragging her forward so that she lost her balance. Kagome managed to say “Ah!” before a small amount of rice was forced inside her mouth with silver chopsticks. “Mph.” She slowly chewed the warm, soft food before swallowing. It wasn’t that bad. It didn’t taste poisoned anyhow. Naraku continued to shove food in her mouth, deaf to her muffled curses and ignorant to her protests. He didn’t even spare her a glance until she pulled away with a cry of frustration and snatched the chopsticks from his hand. “Ok, ok!” Kagome wiped her mouth and sent him a cold glare that would have made Sesshoumaru proud. She picked up her rice bowl. “Happy?”

“I have not been happy for a long time.”
Kagome snorted into her food. “Wonder why,” she murmured under her breath. “May be if you weren’t so sadistic and tried to care for someone other than yourself you wouldn’t be so miserable.”
“I never said I was miserable.”
“Whatever you say.” Kagome continued with her meal all the while grumbling under her breath about her poor chin and ankle and what she’d like to do to Naraku, not knowing he could hear her with his excellent hearing. He watched her tracing his lower lip with his pinky finger.

The girl intrigued him like no other. She certainly did resemble the undead priestess, Kikyo, but that was not what interested him; he had left behind his infatuation long ago. May be it was her strange clothes, or her seemingly lack of fear, or her stubbornness at the smallest things. Or could it be her calmness despite her situation, or simply her incredible power she doesn’t know she has?

Kagome ate enough to ensure she wouldn’t be force fed again, and set her bowl down.
Naraku poured a cup of tea and held it out.
“Drink this,” he ordered.
Resentfully, she took the steaming mug and took a sniff. Kagome looked up, her pout disappearing. It was tea she recognized, one of the many Kaede taught her how to make. This particular one worked well at strengthening the bone and muscle. “Thanks…”
He blinked. All in all the air around them relaxed noticeably as Kagome sipped the hot brew. They eyed each other as if they were sizing up and estimating one another. She set down her half full cup.

“Your eyes aren’t red…”
He raised an eyebrow, looking as if he couldn’t care less. “So?”
“I didn’t know. I thought they were always glowing red. I guess it’s just when you’re feeling particularly evil, eh?”
Naraku eyed the half empty mug. Why did that matter? “Don’t waste your breath on something so trivial.”

As Kagome finished her drink she studied his face. His eyes were so very black they looked empty; devoid of any sign of life. It was as if it were the eyes of a dead person. Its darkness threatened to engulf her. So emotionless, uncaring and cruel… Words could not describe it. There was no sparkle to them. The sharp angles of his chin and jaw, straight nose, natural blue eye shadow on each lid, lips thin in a manly way, and hair the color of charcoal made him very handsome, and very mysterious (not to mention evil).

Naraku, on the other hand, had to marvel at her beauty, and admitted to himself that she was no longer the young girl who used to annoy him so much. At 18, Kagome had become a slender woman, with a nicely toned body from all the fighting and hunting for jewel shards she went through over the years. Her inky hair reached just past her shoulders and her almond-shaped brown eyes had life to them. Her oval face held a healthy glow as did the rest of her skin.

It was getting dark. Standing up, Naraku strode over to the dresser and lit the lamp before picking up the food tray and walking out the door with it. “Get some rest.”

Kagome didn’t need telling twice. The tea also made her drowsy, and she got up, stretching and yawning, to make her way over to her futon that was lying to one side of the room, away from the light of the lamp. She lay down, tossed and turned this way and that, closed her eyes, and almost immediately fell asleep.