Chapter 11 - time's running out

Kagome and Kaede looked after Inuyasha's ankle back in the village. Hatsaharu helped where he could, though he mostly just handed them whatever they needed. They had poked at the swollen ankle, asked him about it, sprayed it with something painful, rubbed a cold ointment on it, and were bandaging it now.
“Kagome, does this happen often?” Haru asked her, referring to Inuyasha's damaged ankle.
She smiled and shrugged a shoulder. “Usually, he gets hurt in the chest. But half demons heal quickly. So he should be all right soon.”
Inuyasha really didn't like the way Haru and Kagome looked at each other. Was that jealousy he was feeling? He had felt that way when Kouga flirted with Kagome, but Kagome seemed to enjoy Haru being there, which sort of gave cause for worry.
“I meant… Do you have to do this a lot? And do you ever get hurt like this?”
At the same time, though, he supposed it was okay. Haru, hanyou though he may be, was from her world. If she went back with him, it would really be better for everyone, he supposed. Better for him, easier on her.
She tied the bandage firmly and looked at the ox. “Well, sometimes.” She smiled. “But, as you can see, I'm all right.”
It hurt her so much when he went after Kikyou. It would only continue to hurt her. It felt like she was being selfish to Inuyasha. It really made no sense why she acted that way.
“Kagome-chan, please be careful,” he said. “Don't hurt yourself trying to get back Tohru for us.”
At least if she went back with Haru, then she would be safe there. She wouldn't keep getting captured, she wouldn't die here—away from her family and the world she knew. She really didn't belong here anyway.
She hid a blush as she turned her back on Inuyasha and Haru, fiddling with her first aid kit. “You don't need to worry about me.”
Besides, Kikyou was alive again—more or less. He could freely pursue her if she went back to her world and stayed there—with that damned ox hanyou.
“But I will worry about you,” he said.
His eyes trailed to the door. He waited, then saw what he thought he smelled—Kyou. He was pacing back and forth outside the door, as if he were expecting something. He was probably apprehensive about Tohru, and was wondering when they could rescue her.
What Kyou was really thinking about, though, was that accidental kiss. There had been something… there. Besides surprise, confusion, and horror anyway. What it was, he didn't know.
But he knew that if he were to kiss Inuyasha again, he would know. That he would admit that, even to himself. And if that were the only way he would ever know what it was, then he would never know. He could content himself to that.
He stopped and looked off in the direction Tohru had been taken. Without Tohru… the world just seemed devoid of joy. Tohru's smile lit up the world. He hoped that she was all right. He hoped that she was still alive.
He really didn't know what he would do if anything were to happen to her. She was his first real friend—the first person who had truly accepted him (Kagura didn't count; she was nuts). If it weren't for Tohru…
They had to rescue Tohru—and soon.

******

Tohru had been placed in a dark room. It wasn't that it was cold, or damp. It was that it had no windows, and that the door was locked that frightened her.
She had no idea how long she had been locked up in here, and she was so terrified. So many frightening things had happened. She was so worried—about herself, about Yuki, Kyou, and the others. She had no idea why she was here, and she was so confused.
Apparently, they had confused her for someone else. But who could that be? And, more importantly, where was she? What was going on?
The door opened. The light hurt her eyes, and she flinched away from it. When her eyes didn't hurt any longer to look at the light, she looked up to see Naraku. Akito pushed past him and froze upon seeing Tohru.
Akito's face immediately shifted into a hateful glare. “Tohru.”
“A-Akito-san…” Tohru whispered. How could this be?
“Is Yuki here?” he hissed.
Naraku looked from Tohru to Akito, a bit confused. But apparently they knew each other—obviously not on good terms. “Here? In this room?” she wondered in her “blonde” sort of way.
Akito's eyes narrowed. “No. Here. In this world.”
She blinked. “World?”
“He fell through the well with you, didn't he?” Akito growled, grabbing a hold of Tohru's hair and hauling her head back.
Tohru gave a small cry, looking up at Akito, clearly terrified. This was just like déjà vu. Except now, there was no one to come between her and the Sohma god. “Y-yes.”
His rage deepened and he lifted her up until she was half-standing. Her eyes watered. “What did you do to my Yuki?”
“N-nothing. I was just… I fell down the well, and he tried to save me, and fell down…”
“He's still here? On this side of the well?”
Tohru didn't know what he was talking about. “I don't know what you mean,” she cried.
Akito let go of her suddenly. If she didn't know what he was talking about, what good was she? He turned away from her.
“You know this girl, then?” Naraku asked him.
Akito looked at Naraku coldly. “If you have no use for her, then kill her, or I will.”
Tohru's heart began to pound and her breath caught in her lungs—all at the same time. Her eyes widened as she looked fearfully from Akito to Naraku, not sure of which she should be more frightened of.
“I am using the girl as bait.”
Akito regarded him for a moment, then brushed past him. “Once she is useless, you will kill her, will you not?'
“Yes,” Naraku confirmed. He shut the door.
Tohru trembled. “Sohma-kun… Yuki-kun…” she sobbed into the darkness.

On the other side of the door, Kohaku had been standing guard. His gaze shifted to the door. He really didn't like this. They were going to kill her? How could he just… stand by and let this happen? He had to kill Naraku—soon, before this girl's time ran out

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