Be there for me

Ok, time to update the warnings for the story. Lemons are now a definite warning, along with torture of various kinds, and character death(s). Ok, you have been warned. Enjoy!





Chapter 7





The flash of light illuminating the inside of the shrine faded away as a yellow backpack soared through the air to land into the ground next to the well. Pulling herself up the rope ladder and out of the well herself, Kagome let out a yawn as she entered her own era.



'First things first. Saying hi to everyone, then getting some real food to eat. Then I'll lie down and take a nice looong nap.' thought Kagome as she skipped across the courtyard. She came to a stop next to a laundry basket sitting on the ground outside of the backdoor.



'Odd, mom doesn't usually leave her laundry laying about like this. Something else must have come up.' she thought as she gently pulled apart the screen door and entered into the kitchen. Closing her eyes, allowing her nose to take into the scent of the room, she called out, "Mom, Grandpa, Souta, I'm home!". Curiously enough, she didn't hear anyone react to her mentioning their names. Feeling suprised, she opened her eyes.



The first thing she saw was the dreadly familiar pike sticking out into the middle of the room. She dropped her pack in shock as she saw what the pike was pinning to the wall of the kitchen.



"Bu....Buyo....no....oh..no..." whispered Kagome as she took in the sight of the dead cat being pinned to the wall. Now shocked completly into submission, she let her gaze wander around the kitchen, and then spotted the blood writing on the walls. Whether the blood belong to the cat or not she didn't know, but it was there, none the less. It read;



"Unless you want your family to share this cat's fate, come to us willingly and become Naraku's slave. If you do so, your family will be spared. Hakudoshi."



Kagome felt herself backing up, and hit the rear wall. Her eyes brimming with unshead tears of sadness and dismay, she slid down into a sitting position, and brung her knees up against her chest, wrapping her arms around them. What moments ago had been her most protected safe haven in her world had now become one of the most unsafe areas there. Sitting in a dark corner, with her family prisoner of her most mortal enemy, Kagome began to weep.



* * *



He slid the sheathed Tensiega into his sash, before adding Tokijin, the sword with no sheath, into his sash as well. With this, Lord Sesshomaru's preparations were finished and he was ready to resume the hunt for Naraku. Only this time, Rin, Jaken, and Ah-un were staying behind. After nearly losing them the last time, he did not want to risk them getting hurt again. Besides, they were too much of a distraction to him, and he would be able to concentrate better with them absent. Case in point being Jaken coming up to him to have a little chit chat.



"Milord, may I inquire as to how you intend to track down Naraku?" the toad asked, suprising Sesshomaru somewhat with this question. He had expected rather than the imp would beg him again for permission to come along, although the last time he had asked that, he had replied that he would test Tokijin and Tensiega on him once again if he asked the same question over, making his answer a very definitive "no" and a "drop the subject" at the same time.



Sesshomaru had given thought of how to track down Naraku. Originally he had been planning on using scent to find him, but had decided on a different course instead. He knew from previous experiences and talks with others that Naraku carried with him many jewel shards, and that one of his servants, Kohaku, also had a jewel shard on his back, keeping him alive. He figured that if he could enlist the aid of someone who could detect and sense jewel shards, and track them accuratley, that he could find and kill the demon vermin a lot faster than by other means.



Unfortunatly, there were only two people that he knew of that could track sacred jewel shards. The undead miko wench that held Inuyasha's heart, the priestess Kikyo, and the other miko wench, Kagome, who's heart laid in Inuyasha's control, something that he abused often enough to cause her distress. He doubted that he would be able to sway Kikyo to his side, so that just left Kagome to try and subvert to help him. He knew that on previous occasions that he had tried to kill, and her him, but hopefully the recent encounter between them would help to settle the tensions and provide enough leverage for a convincing case. If not, then he would just take her by force.



"Milord?" inquired Jaken again, with a little impatience seeping into his voice as he awaited Sesshomaru's reply. He got in the form of a footprint in his face, the toad lying knocked out on the ground.



"Lord Sesshomaru?" a soft, tinny, and female voice asked from behind him. He turned his head slightly to take in the gaze of the twelve year old sitting on top of Ah-un, a bouqet of flowers sitting in her lap.



"Good luck, milord." she offered him. Sesshomaru nodded his head once, and levitated himself into the air. Moments later he was encased within a ball of shining light, disappearing over the horizon.



* * *



Kagome pulled herself up the rope ladder and exited the well, once again within the realm of the feudel area. After weeping for sometime for her lost family, she had fled the house, leaving her pack, even her weapons behind. She just wanted to get away from that scene as quickly as she could. But she was a lost soul now, devoid largely of emotions. So much had happened that her brain and heart had just shut down on her, and her face was totally blank right now, save for the dried tears that clung to her cheeks, and her red eyes.



So totally focused on nothing but her thoughts, swirling through her head at the speed of light, that she didn't notice the whirlwind coming upon her until she was engulfed within it. She shielded her eyes with her arms as it dissipated, revealing a very familiar form in it's place.



"Koga...." Kagome whispered, almost as in disbelief. Of all the people she expected to encounter once she had come back through the well, whether it be Inuyasha and the gang, Sesshomaru and his people, or Naraku's henchmen waiting to try and kidnap her again, the wolf demon was very low on that list. His presence here was a total suprise.



"Kagome, you look....well...." said the wolf demon as he took in her sight. She looked slightly pale for one thing, and once she lowered her arms, he noticed her red eyes and tear stained cheeks. 'So, once again that mutt had done something to make her cry' thought Koga. He moved to stand directly in front of Kagome, less than a foot from her form. Not unexpectedly, she threw herself into him, hugging him and burying her face into his chest and fur.



"Oh Koga..." wailed Kagome as he could feel more tears springing forth from her eyes and staining his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, and just held her tight to him, letting her let go of her pent up emotions, whispering soothing words into her ear. She went on weeping for sometime, and then stopped, letting go of him at the same time, and looked up into his face.



He gazed down at her big beautiful red eyes, swollen from all the tears that they must of shed recently. He gazed into her face for a long time, then looked away, back towards where the village was located at. Kagome looked like she needed something from him, and he was starting to feel very uncomfortable standing with her here like this.



"Kagome, we should get you back to the village. Your friends are probably worried about you by now, and it's getting late." said Koga. Kagome tried to back away from him then, out of his grasp, and shook her head adamantly at his suggestion.



"No, I don't want to go back there, at least not yet. Inuyasha....he...." started Kagome, before lowering her head as she felt more tears beginning to build behind her eyes. Forcing them away, she looked back up at him. "Koga, can you take me to your home, to the wolf demon den?" she asked, suprising the hell out of him. He looked back down to her, and he couldn't stop a smile from spreading ear to ear. Although he felt stupid as hell grinning like this, it seemed to be just the right medicine for Kagome, for she smiled slightly as well.



"All right. Hop on my back, and hold on tight." said Koga. Kagome complied, wrapping her arms around his neck, and letting his arms take hold of her legs around his waist. Moments later, they were off, and Kagome felt the joy of running so fast as a billowing tornado of dust and debris billowed around behind them.



* * *



Sesshomaru arrived at the well moments after the duo departed, coming out of his shining silver ball, and landing on the ground. He immediatly scented the air, and noticed both Kagome's scent, and that of the wolf demon. The former he could detect the faint traces of tears, similar to the one's that he noticed on her face when they first met earlier yesterday. Of the wolf demon, his scent just reeked the place. That wolf really needed to bathe more often, thought Sesshomaru.



As if the absence of the miko wasn't bad enough, things were about get worse. For moments later, Inuyasha leapt into the clearing, seeing Sesshomaru standing alone by the well.



"Sesshomaru, what are you doing here, and where the hell is Kagome?" yelled the hanyou, his lack of manners when addressing him completely evident as always. The lord turned his attention from his scenting to gaze at the half demon of a brother of his, and decided to answer him with words instead of fists, like he should have.



"I have no idea where the miko is, half brother. You would know that more than me. As for what I am doing here, it is none of your buisness." stated the lord of the western lands. His patience was already starting to run thin, and he would not brook interference from this one much longer.



"None of my buisness my ass. If your here to see Kagome, it is my buisness. Now if you'll excuse me." said Inuyasha, as he leapt past Sesshomaru and entered the well. There was a flash of light, and he was gone. He was suprised that the hanyou had ended the meeting so abruptly, but he could never understand half breeds anyways. But Inuyasha had apparently be so focused on the confrontation that he had forgotten to scent the air. Kagome was not in the modern era, but apparently was traveling with the wolf demon, or been abducted by him.



Once again gathering himself within his brightly lit cocoon of energy, Sesshomaru took off in the direction that the scent lead him in, heading towards the northern lands.



* * *



"Mrs Higurashi, so nice to meet you at last." purred Naraku as the three people that Hakudoshi had brougth back were standing before him. He looked all three of them over very intently. The young one, his name was Souta, was crying, and was being comforted by the mother, who was looking at him with a mixture of fear and outrage. Like mother, like daughter he supposed. The grandpa figure stood stiffly and idly, still being victimized by the poision Hakudoshi had injected into him. Whatever powder it was that the old man had tried to throw on Naraku's servant, it caused him to sneeze still.



The three of them would be his guests until he no longer needed him, at which time they would be disposed of properly. He had no need of the old man or the woman, but the boy could be trained to become Kohaku's servant, and would make an excellent demon-slayer, as soon as his baby fat was burned away and his body trained accordingly.



"What do you want with us?" the mother demanded from him in a shaky voice.



"It's not what I want from you. You are merely the bait. What I want, is your daughter, to come to me of her own free will." stated Naraku in a bone chilling voice before his laughter filled the room. The mother's eyes were filled with total worry now, not for her as Naraku knew, but for her first born, her precious Kagome. He decided that now would be the ideal time to split them up.



"Kohaku." said Naraku, beckoning his servant to come forward. "See that the three of them are placed within their respective cells. Make sure that they cannot communicate between one another. And make sure that they stay well fed and taken care of." added the demon. The boy came forward, and with the scythe in his clothing being an adequate notion for them to comply, led them off to their cells.



'The pieces are falling into place now. Soon I will be the most powerful demon in the world. I just need to wrap up a few loose ends now.' thought Naraku. He glanced behind him where his minions had been gathered, and summoned two of them forward.



"Hakudoshi. Kagura. I have saimyoshi scouring the northern lands. It is time for a certain wolf demon to lose the jewel shards embedded in his legs." ordered Naraku with a smile splaying his features. The two nodded, and moved of to complete their duties, leaving him free to sit back and contemplate what all he would like to do to Kagome once he finally got ahold of her.