AUTHORS' NOTE: GETTING BETTER AT WRITING ONE SHOTS [ I HOPE] . I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN TO PARTICIPATE INT HE HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE SO, I GAVE IT MY BEST SHOT. THE EVER PHENOMINAL WICCAN BETA'D THIS FOR ME AND I THANK HER PROFUSELY. SHE IS SO GREAT FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME!!!!
HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!
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Kagome could feel her heart pounding mercilessly in her chest as she panted for breath, and she could not slow it down; she felt as if she would pass out from lack of oxygen and that terrified her. It was dark, very dark, in fact. She could see nothing, not even her own hand in front of her face. She hated the dark; it scared her and gave her such a feeling of dread. Anything could happen in the dark, anything at all.
She felt her way along the wall to try to find a way out; a door, a window… something. Unfortunately, though, there was absolutely nothing. She wondered just how she had come to be in that place, the last thing she remembered was walking home from a costume party with her friend Hojo and discussing for the thousandth time why she was not attracted to him. He was a sweet guy and all, but not what she was looking for in a boyfriend.
It was then her mind began to wonder… did Hojo do this to her? Could he have become angry at her for turning him down so much that he snapped and took her captive, planning to do something horrible to her in retaliation? It was possible, it had happened before; nice, upstanding guys becoming so obsessed with a woman that they suddenly tweaked out and did something wretched and vile.
She swallowed hard, her throat hurt terribly. How, how had she wound up a prisoner, virtually at the mercy of some unknown maniac? Kagome whimpered pathetically, overwhelmed by her fear and wishing to god she could just find a way out. Who knew what her captor had planned for her, what sick and twisted perversion to which he intended to force her to submit?
She continued her desperate search in vain, knowing the entire time that there was no way out for her, not until her captor was finished with her. Hot tears escaped her eyes, trailing down her cheeks and wetting her costume. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying to calm her frazzled, chaotic nerves. Why would anyone do something like this to her? She was a good, decent girl - despite her naughty costume. It had been her friend Yuka’s idea, gushing on and on about her looking so hot, and how she would definitely attract a boyfriend by the night’s end.
She had not wanted to leave her house in the way-too-short, barely-able-to-be-called-a-dress costume, and angel wings. Though, once she saw the reaction of some of the guys at the party, she could not help but be flattered. Of course, now she was paying for her daring outfit and her sinful pride in how she looked in it. It had to have something to do with why she was in the situation she was in, it just had to. Normally, guys did not even give her a second look, hell - she rarely got a first one, come to think of it.
The girl tripped over her own feet and almost fell but she caught herself; her startled gasp swallowed up by the darkness. Kagome wrapped her arms around herself for comfort, sinking down to the floor and pressing her back to the wall, a frightened sob escaping her. How long did the maniac intend to keep her locked up?
As she softly sobbed and hung her head, unable to stop herself, she heard a dark, menacing voice rumble out in the blackness that surrounded her. Merely the tone sent chills through her, down to her very soul, gripping tight and refusing to let her go.
“There is no escape.” It was definitely a male’s voice, although she could tell the man was using an electronic synthesizer to alter it; and she felt her fear escalate as she listened to him, realizing it was a possibility that she did, in fact, know the individual that had imprisoned her. ”Are you... afraid?”
She did not answer; she couldn’t, even if she had wanted to. Her voice was paralyzed while her heart began to sink with the realization that she was, more than likely, never going to leave that place - not alive, at least.
“I can smell your fear girl… you are afraid. The sweet angel is terrified.” His chuckle echoed off the walls and seemed to surround her, enveloping her in an unseen grip of cruel torment. He was taking pleasure in torturing her, delighting in her fear, and he let it be heard in his voice.
“P-Please… why are you doing this to me?” she cried, thinking he would take pity on her and maybe let her go.
“Mmmm, yes, that’s wonderful. Plead for freedom, it sounds so sweet.” The sick, twisted bastard began laughing at her then; a loud booming laugh that made her cover her ears and shut her eyes tight.
“Wha-What are you going to do to me?” she whispered.
“That has yet to be determined… luckily, I have all the time in the world to make my… decision.”
Kagome’s eyes snapped open upon hearing his words, her head moving from side to side, “No... NO!” Her hands gripped her head, her fingers tangling into her long raven hair.
“YESSSSS!” Then, the voice went silent; not another sound could be heard from her captor.
The poor, frightened girl rocked back and forth, seeking comfort in any way she could. Why, oh why, had she agreed to leave with Hojo instead of staying there until Yuka was ready to leave? If she had stayed there, the psycho would not have had the opportunity to kidnap her and stick her in that dark lonely place. The silence was deafening, truly terrifying in its own right; making her even more scared than she already was. It made her experience overwhelming anxiety as she waited to find out what would be done to her.
She never thought something so horrible would ever happen to her, not to her. She was always so careful; she never went anywhere alone at night, always was aware of her surroundings, and she stayed away from dark alleys... then, there was the fact that she carried mace in her purse. How had he taken her and without her remembering it? Everything seemed to be pointing to the guy she had been walking with, and nothing to dispute it. It was so out of character for the guy, though, she was certain that, if he was some sort of sick deviant, she would have noticed some kind of sign. She still thought he had snapped from the constant rejection of his affections.
Time dragged by and she gathered up the resolve to start her blind search again, just to try to occupy herself and not attempt to keep track of how long she remained prisoner. As she felt her way around the room once more, the voice spoke again and startled her, making her turn quickly in the direction from which it seemed to come and press her back to the wall.
“Why waste your energy, sweet angel? There is no way out for you.”
She took a deep breath and summoned any remaining courage she possessed, speaking in a clear and even tone, “Hojo, this is not like you. You aren’t this type of person. Let me go and I promise I won’t have you arrested for kidnapping.”
The voice hesitated, and she thought she might have made some progress with the guy, only to have that notion shot to hell when the booming laughter sounded once more, her shaking resuming almost instantly. “The one you call Hojo… yesss, his screams of terror as he ran off were very entertaining.”
Her eyes widened in the darkness, not believing what she was hearing. It wasn’t Hojo? Then... who was it? Damn it! Now there was probably no way she could convince the guy to release her and she would remain there for however long it took for the degenerate to tire of her. She wandered around in the darkness, her eyes straining to see through the blackness. “Tell me why,” she demanded.
A deep chuckle was the only response to her weak demand.
“I want to know why... why you are doing this? I have a right to know. You abduct me... frighten me, hold me prisoner, and refuse to let me go. I deserve to know...” Her voice shook but she managed to stand her ground.
“So, you want to know, do you? You feel the need to know why you have been placed in this… amusing and entertaining predicament?” He seemed on the verge of revealing his reasons for what she was going through.
Her heart began to race once again, her anxiousness increasing with every second that passed. Her mind became a swirling mass of possibilities. If it was because of something the guy felt she had done to wrong him, she may be able to apologize and convince him she had meant no harm. If there was something reasonable he wanted from her, she would more than likely do it - just to get out of that dark, small room. “Are... are you going to tell me why?” She had grown impatient and had to know.
The silence had her wandering around again until she came to a wall and she rested back against it, arms around herself once more. “You were brought here, sweet angel, for one reason, and one reason only…” A dramatic pause followed and she closed her eyes, steeling herself for it. The air was charged with electric anticipation… “It’s Halloween!”
He laughed hysterically, then someone other than her screamed. She was grabbed from behind, the arms seeming to come out of the wall, and she thought her heart was going to explode. She was screaming hysterically and thrashing about in the arms that held her, her flailing hands striking flesh, and she was released so quickly that she fell to the floor. Kagome lay there, sobbing and crying, her entire body shaking uncontrollably while her mind frantically tried to calm herself. Laughing rang out once more, echoing in her ears and she covered her head with her trembling arms to try and make it stop.
She heard familiar voices, loud and somewhat angry, shouting that ‘they’ had gone too far with their little prank. Prank? It had been a... prank? She knew the voices, all of them, but she was still too far gone to do anything about it. Her limbs were weak and she could not stop crying. Was it from relief? She did not know. Maybe it was because people she had called friends had done something so horrible to her just for some damned joke. How could they do something like that to her? What had she ever done to any of them to warrant them terrifying her like they did?
Another voice sounded then, angry and outraged; she recognized it as well. More shouting could be heard, as well as incoherent sounds that resembled shrieks of fear and making her insides quiver. Kagome then thought she heard a couple of loud crashes that made her cower there upon the floor; she had not realized that a hidden door had been opened sometime between her going into hysterics and falling into a crumpled and quivering mass upon the floor. She flinched when strong hands touched her, but her mind responded to the soft voice that spoke to her.
“Are you okay?” It was deep and somewhat dark, but in a completely different way.
She slowly raised her head and opened her eyes, finally able to see the room in which she had been held in at last, and those deep blue orbs of hers darted around. Eventually, they came to rest upon a face she never expected to see so close to hers, deep amber eyes gazing back at her and filled with concern. Sesshoumaru. She still found it hard to speak, and she remained silent while she continued to stare.
“The hanyou and his friends thought it would be amusing to pull this cruel and despicable stunt on you. I found out about it, but it was too late to stop them. They have been... dealt with and will apologize to you when they regain consciousness.” Sesshoumaru scanned her face, attempting to assess her condition. He could tell that she was still adversely affected by his idiotic younger brother’s sick sense of humor, and he reached out to touch her cheek softly, feeling her tremble when he did.
Kagome did not resist when he picked her up in his arms and carried her out of that room. As they passed the unconscious bodies of Yasha, Bankotsu, and Koga lying upon the floor, she heard him speak to another being that was present. She raised her head from its resting place on his shoulder and immediately saw Shippo standing over the three friends with a scowl on his face.
“When they come to, tell them that they want to keep out of sight for several days; that is, if they truly value their lives.”
“You’re taking her home Sesshoumaru?” The kitsune sounded so concerned about her, she would have smiled if she were not so upset.
“Yes, she is not in the right frame of mind to go home on her own. If she is not recovered when we get to her apartment, I will be staying there until she is. You can reach me there if these fools give you any problems, or if they have any complaints,” he replied in a firm, confident voice.
As he carried her out to his car, her right arm tightened around him and she buried her face into his neck, feeling safe and secure in his powerful arms. “Thank you, Sesshoumaru,” she whispered softly in a small voice.
He said nothing, just continued to walk toward his car, but his arms tightened around her just a bit as if to tell her that she was, indeed, safe right where she was.
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