Chapter 36

Out of the frying pan into the fire





"Kagome." Mai whispered, as she shook her friend's shoulder. It's been a while since Kagura took them to some house and locked them in a cell. The girl was shoved inside and the demon threw the unconscious Kagome after her. While waiting for the other girl to come to, Mai looked around discreetly. They were in the room secured by wooden bars. It was only wood, not steel, but it was thick and there was no way that a girl could kick them out – Mai wasn't Chuck Norris after all.
A large scary youkai was sitting outside their cell, guarding them. It looked like it consisted mainly of fangs, claws and scales – he hadn't even a form close to humanoid-like. Kagura was sitting with them for a while too, but seemed to go somewhere.

Mai saw Kagome stirring. She came closer to her friend.

"Where are we?" moaned Kagome, slowly sitting up and gripping her aching head. She let out a whimper, as she touched the spot, where the youkai hit her – surely there will be a large bruise. The black-haired girl looked around and took in surroundings.

"We're Naraku's prisoners." Mai offered an explanation. Kagome nodded, not seeming to be surprised.

"Och. That's bad." Kagome said. Mai couldn't agree more. "What does Naraku want with us?" she asked.

The brown-haired girl sighed heavily.

"Apparently, we are hostages." She replied. Kagome furrowed her brows.

"So Naraku wants to blackmail Inuyasha with our lives." Kagome shared the result of her little brainstorming. Mai cleared her throat.

"With yours. He kidnapped me because of Sesshomaru. Naraku must have gotten some strange ideas." Mai said rolling her eyes. Kagome stared at her and smiled widely. She snorted and covered her mouth with the hand, not to giggle.

"I see." She replied shortly, still trying to control giggle. Mai narrowed her eyes at her, as she felt her face turning red again. God what was with her and her blushing?!

"Kagome! Be serious in a situation like that!" she scolded her friend. Kagome stopped giggling.
"Don't worry, Mai. Inuyasha will come and save us. I believe in him." She said, glancing at the sun rays, that were shining through the small windows.

"I think we should be counting on ourselves." She said to her and shoved something discreetly into Kagome's hand. The black-haired girl opened her palm and gasped quietly, as she saw a large sharp nail, of a size of a finger. Mai was proud of herself, that she managed to pull two of these out of the wooden pillars. It was a miserable weapon, but better such a weapon than none. Kagome smiled and gripped the nail.

"I can feel only one youkai in the vicinity." She said, giving Mai hope. If only they could take the big one, that was guarding them, down…



"Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, it is too late now." Said Naraku with a smirk plastered across his face, floating in midair inside his impenetrable barrier. Inuyasha furrowed his brows and gripped Tessaiga tighter. Beside him was standing Sesshomaru, who was scanning Naraku for the weak points.

"I don't know, what are talking about, but prepare yourself!" yelled Inuyasha and rushed blindly forward, sending Kaze no kizu in Naraku's direction. Sesshomaru glanced at his little half-brother with disdain.

"You idiot!" he hissed to the hanyou, as the yellow energy wave got reflected by the barrier and was now flying right at the two brothers.

"Shit!" yelled Inuyasha and jumped sideways, just a second after Sesshomaru. Naraku laughed at the desperate attempts of attacking him. However, he didn't even make a single attempt to wound or kill his enemies. He stayed within the protection of the barrier, knowing, that even touching him was impossible – as though he was buying time.

"It may interest the both of you," Naraku spoke up, smiling widely. "that in this very moment, while the two of you are battling pointlessly here, someone precious to you dies."

The hanyou widened his eyes, understanding what the despicable enemy meant.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha said. Naraku laughed.

"Precisely, Inuyasha, I've just given the order to kill her."

The hanyou growled with fury, eager to rush after his Kagome. Sesshomaru only snorted.
"Are you stupid enough to think, that this Sesshomaru would be bothered, if you killed this human?" the dog-demon asked with disdain in his voice. Naraku only smiled wider.

"Would you, knowing, that I have the human girl of yours as well?" the enemy replied with a question. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and sent Naraku hateful glare. He held Rin captive? The battle was important, but he could not let Naraku kill his ward. The dog-demon inhaled the air. The stench of the enemy was everywhere, but there was also another one, very similar, but more feminine. With a corner of his eye, Sesshomaru noticed Kagura – if Naraku entrusted someone the task of capturing Rin, he would to this woman. If he traced her scent back, he could find the place, where his ward had been held. There was no time to lose.

Sesshomaru leapt into the air. Naraku smiled, expecting to be attacked by the demon blinded with fury. However, the inu-youkai engulfed himself in the ball of green light and darted off in the opposite direction, leaving startled Naraku and Inuyasha. The hanyou cursed under his nose, glanced at the enemy once more and ran after his older brother as fast as he could, hoping to get to Kagome in time to save her.



Meanwhile, Mai felt Kagome tugging her arm.

"Mai!" the girl said, getting her attention. Mai whirled around to see what unnerved her friend and cursed under her nose. The demon, who was guarding them, finally moved. He stood up.

"Kill them." He muttered in raspy voice. Mai felt her body go stiff and looked at Kagome. Her friend was gripping the nail behind her back, ready to defend herself.

"Eyes." Kagome whispered to Mai. The girl nodded, understanding, what her friend had in mind. However, she couldn't help to think, that they will die anyway. They weren't warriors like Sango or Inuyasha.

The demon smashed the door with his fist, sending the pieces of wood flying in all directions and started approaching them. Mai made a step back, scared. What should they do now? Kagome stood strong and looked at the youkai with a glimpse of determination in her eye.

"You are going to kill us, right?" she called to the guardian, who stopped after hearing her voice. "We won't try to fight. Let's make a deal: we'll come to you and you'll kill us when we are ready!"
The demon and Mai stared at Kagome dumbfounded. What the hell was she thinking? The youkai laughed.

"Why would you do that?" he asked. Kagome didn't avert her eyes from the guardian.

"We don't want to suffer! And you will have an easy job. Do we have a deal?" she asked. The demon chuckled at the thought of the prey willingly coming right into his arms.

"Deal." He said finally. Kagome nodded and grabbed Mai's hand.

"Come." She told her, sending a meaningful look. Mai understood. Kagome wanted to approach the demon to blind him, but this was plainly crazy! The plan won't work. Not minding her resistance, the black-haired girl dragged Mai behind her, until they were face to face with the youkai.

"I have something to say." Kagome said quietly to the youkai, almost inaudibly. The guardian snarled, irritated and lowered his head to listen to the girl. Mai noticed Kagome tightening her grip on the nail behind her back, reading herself to strike, and did the same. The girl did her best to maintain focus. When Kagome kicked her ankle lightly, Mai gathered all her courage and darted to the demons head. With a scream, she pierced the right eye with a rusty piece of metal in the same time, when her friend wounded the left one.

Mai felt Kagome grabbing her arm and knocking her onto the ground, in the last moment to avoid the sharp claws of the creature, who was waving widely with its limbs, giving off the shrieks of pain. Kagome lifted her finger to her lips showing Mai to be silent and started crawling on her fours through the hole, the demon made earlier. The girl quickly followed her friend, keeping the eye on the guardian at the same time. The blinded youkai was tossing all around the place, cursing and screaming, demolishing everything he made contact with. When they crawled far enough, Kagome stood up and helped Mai get on her feet. Silently they rushed towards the exit. They got out easily and ran away from the house.

"That was surprisingly easy." Kagome said with a smile, as they were running away. Mai nodded, startled that her friend's plan actually worked, even though it was crazy. The girl tried to keep the pace, panting heavily. Then she saw the smile felling from Kagome's face, as the girl turned her head to glance behind. Mai did the same and cursed.

"Oh shit!" she exclaimed, suddenly finding the strength to run faster. After them were going numerous serpent-like youkai and they were closing. The girls picked up the speed, struggling to escape the threat. Mai prayed for Inuyasha to hurry.



Sesshomaru knew he was on the right way. He picked up the stench of numerous youkai and two scents of humans. The one belonged to the miko, who travelled with Inuyasha and the other… It was not Rin's scent, but it was a familiar one. The dog demon widened his eyes in surprise, as he recognized it – it was Mai, the woman who vanished in the Bone Eaters' Well two months ago. Was she back? What was she doing here? Sesshomaru frowned at the thought of Naraku capturing his prey – the woman belonged to him. There was no possibility, that this Sesshomaru would let Naraku lay his hands on his possession!



"Run, Mai, run!" Kagome screamed, grabbing the girl and dragging her after herself, as Mai was slower. The demons were catching up and Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen.

Mai was running as fast as she could, but she felt the strength leaving her body. She tripped a couple of times, nearly falling. The girl tried not to look back, but heard the roars of the youkai quickly approaching. Panicked, she desperately tried to speed up, but her she stumbled instead. Fortunately, Kagome helped her and motioned to run.

"Faster!" her friend screamed.

"I'm trying!" Mai screamed back, panting. She looked back and yelped. The demons were closer than she thought. She and Kagome will be dead meat in seconds. She averted her gaze from the youkai and saw a flash of green light approaching them from the front, crashing into the ground in a certain distance from the girls.

"Sesshomaru!" Kagome panted, as none other than the tall silver-haired demon emerged from the ball of light. Seeing him, Mai instinctively stopped, but the black-haired girl motioned her to continue running towards the inu-youkai.

"Move!" she screamed to Mai. The girl glanced back once more at Naraku's demons and then at Sesshomaru, who was casually drawing Tokijin. Which was worse? To be killed by those youkai, that chased her or Kagome or be murdered by Sesshomaru later? Finally, she decided to worry about the dog demon later.

She and Kagome picked up the speed, running straight to Sesshomaru. Mai saw him lifting his sword. Her eyes widened, when she noticed youki, that started to swirl around the blade. The girl knew what was coming.

"Down!" she screamed, falling to the ground and dragging Kagome down as well. Her friend yelped, as her body slammed against the dirt. She tried to argue, but Mai grabbed the back of Kagome's head and pushed it down – right in time.

"SOURYUUHA!" the girl heard Sesshomaru's voice and the powerful wave of youki flew just an inch above the girls, ruffling their hair. Then there were only pained roars of the youkai and the silence fell.

After a while Mai let go of Kagome's head and slowly lifted herself to the sitting position. The demons had been annihilated. The black-haired girl sat as well, wiping the dirt of her face.

"Thanks." She muttered to Mai, having realized, that the girl just saved her life. Mai nodded.
"You're welcome." She replied. "Oh no."

Mai opened her eyes wider, as she saw Sesshomaru walking slowly towards them, a dangerous glint in his eye. The girl paled at the sight of him smirking at her.

"Crap." She whispered.