Captive Audience by oh please

Chapter 1 Waking and How did we get HERE?

AN – This is a revised story. Some of the original chapters have been combined and some have been improved. Enjoy.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Disclaimer –Yes, yes. We all know that if I owned any rights to Inuyasha, I would be getting paid to write these stores, which I'm not. Names have been changed to protect the innocent. These characters and situations are fictional. Any similarity between the characters and actual individuals is completely unintentional. Member FDIC. Discontinue use if rash occurs. Hmmm, that should cover most disclaimer situations. On with the show.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Summary – Kagome's life is so full of responsibilities that she barely has time to even breath, not to mention stop and think about consequences and mysteries. Now, Kagome finds herself trapped in a cave, and pinned under a mountain of rubble after a battle with Hakudoshi. The worst part is that Inuyasha and her friends have no idea where to find her. They think she was either vaporized along with Sesshomaru in an attack, or transported along with him to where ever his orb carries him. Sesshomaru is also trapped in the cave with her, but he's in worse shape. His only arm is broken and his body is shredded from taking the full brunt of an attack. To make matters worse, he doesn't seem to be healing. Something is hindering his demonic healing ability.

Boredom finally sets in as there is nothing to do but think. Kagome goes through her journal of her adventures and realized some startling truths that she has never had the time to contemplate. Like, "If Koga who's a full demon has a tail, and Shippo who's a full demon has a tail, does that mean Sesshomaru has a tail? And why doesn't Inuyasha have a tail when he transforms?" and "Hmm, if smell is so important to dogs, and Inuyasha said I had a nice scent, what do I smell like? What do dogs like back at home? The smell of bacon? The smell of prey? The smell of other dogs' behinds? Gosh, I hope he wasn't telling me I smelled like a dog's privates." It's amazing what a head injury and boredom can do to a poor girl's sanity.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Chapter 1 Waking then How did I get here?

Sleep was such a rare and wonderful thing. Too often the impatient, loud Inuyasha would disturb her dreams even when she was at home for her rare class attendance. How she longed for a week of nothing to do, no reason to rise early, and the only thing on her agenda was cloud watching. And of course, bathing for hours at a time with scented candles and scented bath salts.

Her favorite time of sleep is that hazy period between deep sleep and waking. The time where part of her mind knows she's sleeping, and enjoying it immensely. The funniest part about this in-between world was how her mind would sense things in the real world and transmute them into active parts of her dreams. The best imports into her dreams were cooking smells in the morning. The worst imports were when she really had to go to the bathroom, but was too tired to wake up. Her dreams would become tortured hunts for a restroom that wasn't broken or exposed to public view. Yes, she knew she had weird dreams. At least, she had yet to have a nightmare about a snake demon popping up through the drain of the toilet and having to purify it with an arrow. Considering the strange life she led, the occasional toilet adventure was quite tame.

This time she woke enough to know that she wasn't any where near awake, but her mind was trying to import some uncomfortable things into her dreams. It was enough to drag her consciousness up a bit to wonder about them.

The first was pain. She must have fallen asleep on her desk for her back to be suffering such a crick. Or maybe, she had fallen asleep on the ground on a pile of rocks. Her mind was only registering a bit of pain, but she couldn't tell from what part of her body it originated.

The next sensation her hazy mind noticed being imported into her dreams was the cold. Sometimes she woke with her feet being so cold that even 3 layers of socks under her flannel sheets did not help. Once your feet were cold, it was almost impossible to warm them up. But this was more than just her feet. This felt more like the time she had to sleep on an air mattress in the winter because they had company. And like any air mattress worth its purchase price, it began deflating during the night to the point where her rump was on the ground. Normally that wouldn't be so bad, except that the room was unheated, and the freezing temperatures were transmitted through the floor and into her rear end. Cold seeped all the way down her legs and up into her chest. At one point, she even got up and put on her winter coat. It was the coldest she had ever remembered being at night, and it was impossible to warm up or go to sleep. Her Mom didn't understand why she was so irritable the next day, but she tried to be nice for the relatives. Still this morning, her mind was nagging her about why she was so cold. It was the bone aching cold that made her want to bury her legs under her Mom's legs on the couch.

The cold did more for waking her to her uncomfortable surroundings than the pain did. Until she shivered. Sharp, stabbing pain blossomed under her right breast and she gasped as her eyes snapped open. Or, at least, she tried to gasp. There was a crushing weight on her chest and back that only allowed her to take in half a breath. She exhaled and tried again with the same results. What on earth?

Her pain addled mind started trying to take notice of her surroundings as she realized she was laying face down on a hard surface. She never slept on her stomach, even at home. In the forests, the ground was just too hard on her breasts, and at home, her mattress was dished like a hammock, and put a strain on her spine when she slept that way.

The pain that had only barely registered before was suddenly quite obvious and crippling. Her mind registered pain all the way from her head, to her back, to her legs. Her breathing picked up to a shallow, panicky pant. That was all she could muster, and each inhale hurt.

She struggled to open her eyes. Wondering, all the while, why her eyes felt like they were glued shut, or crusted over. She blinked once and the lack of vision increased her sense of rising panic. What had happened? She obviously wasn't waking from a casual nights sleep, either in the modern era, or the Feudal Era.

All she could hear was her own racing heart and her own panting breath. All she could see was darkness. Wait, to her right, there was a small shaft of light. She jerked her head in that direction, and regretted it immediately. The pain arching through her neck and skull was enough to have made her scream, if she could have drawn a proper breath. Instead, all she could manage was a strangled squeal. Her stomach twisted with nausea and dread.

As the pain dimmed in her head, she realized she could make out some objects in the dark. There were large gray boulders strewn about below the shaft of light. Some light reflected up to illuminate a small, dust filled cavern, about the size of a mini-van. She was in a cave. NO! Her panic escalated up another notch. She hated small spaces! Especially, small spaces with no door out! She could only tolerate elevators in the modern era, and then, only because they were brightly lit and she was only in them for a minute at the most.

Terrified sweat appeared on her brow and upper lip as she began panting, "No, no, no, no!" and struggled with all her might to squirm out of whatever was holding her in this horrifying place. Each twist felt like her legs were being torn off, but she couldn't stop herself anymore than a wild animal in a trap could stop from chewing off its trapped leg to escape.

Her vision began to sparkle with white stars around the outside edge of sight. She couldn't get enough air in her panicked state. She was suffocating, which only made her struggle harder. She couldn't breathe fast enough to supply the oxygen her body needed! She finally realized her situation. She was lying on top of one rock, with what felt like half a house lying across her back. Another rock? She was pinned between two rocks?

Her mind barely registered a deep, raspy voice from the darkness as she was slowly losing her battle to remain conscious. "Calm yourself." The white stars quickly overwhelmed her sight, and then sounds became distant. Finally, she knew nothing and drifted into the blackness of unconsciousness.

The next time her mind came up from the darkness, she remained still as the memory of fear made her wary to awake. The pain was still there. The cold was still there. The nausea was still there. The only thing that seemed different was that she could draw a deep breath. How was that possible? What happened to the boulder that had been pressing down on her back? She could still feel the ache on her upper back where the offending weight had nearly crushed her lungs.

Opening her eyes tentatively, she waited for them to adjust to the low light. Even that low light level sent a stab of pain through her head from her eyes to the back of her skull. Again, there was a faint shaft of light to the right, but it seemed to be fading away to nothing. She slowly lifted her head off the rock despite the pain this caused in her neck and back, deciding that leaving her face against a cold slab of granite was not the best idea for her aching head. Not to mention, that now her face was also cold. Dust drifted down through the shaft of light, and she assumed it was drifting down everywhere.

The walls were rounded, and oddly shaped, without the typical stalagmite formations that she had seen in movies that indicated water. The floor was not smooth like she had seen in other movies where people lived in caves with floors that looked like poured concrete. The floor was a rough jumble of boulders of every size. And there was a massive boulder sitting to her immediate right about three feet away, and a smaller rock that looked almost pulverized leaning up against her waist on her right side.

As she gently turned her head farther to her left, she was shocked to find her backpack within reach on a smaller boulder that rest just below the boulder her top half was resting on. She reached out a shaking hand to touch the sturdy yellow pack to make sure it was indeed real. Bloody fingers grasped the worn strap and rubbed the reassuring canvas and nylon. A sigh escaped her lips at the thought of comfort that simple gesture brought.

As she continued her right to left scan of the room, she could barely make out a lighter area to her immediate left. Since it was on the opposite side from where the tiny shaft of light cast any illumination into this dark hole, she couldn't tell if it was a boulder, or her imagination. As she sometimes did at night, she continued to stare at the object until her eyes could finally adjust and see better.

It was several minutes later that recognition hit her with a gasp. The shape moved, ever so slightly and she realized that she was looking at a face that was only three feet away. A very white face, with two dark marks on each cheek. She could just barely make out the large white fluff that was wrapped around the shoulders under the face. Sesshomaru!

His trademark, deep voice sounded too quiet and raspy as she heard him pant, "Remain calm. I moved the boulder that was crushing you." This statement was followed by some harsh wheezing which sounded like repressed coughing. Her fear spiked instantly as she realized he was trapped in here as well, and seemed to be injured.

She couldn't help herself from asking, "What happened? Where's Inuyasha?" But, she wasn't really expecting an answer. She would have talked to herself and asked the same questions if she were alone. There is something comforting about hearing a voice, even if it's your own voice, when you are scared.

She racked her brain to try and remember what had happened just before this. She barely remembered a typical Feudal era morning. Inuyasha barked for them to hurry up. They heard rumors of an exceptionally strong demon terrorizing a village in the next valley. Miroku sweet talked a town elder into providing a hot lunch. Hakudoshi! That's right. He had attacked them with Moryomaru and Kanna.

Her mind drifted back thinking about how Sesshomaru ended up there. His pack had crossed paths with their own around mid afternoon when they had all stopped near the edge of the afflicted village. Jakken, Rin and Ah-Un had been ordered to stay there as Sesshomaru advanced alone in search of the demon believed to be Naraku's. Inuyasha, not one for being ignored, or beaten to a fight, raced after him, leaving his friends behind.

Kagome felt bad for Rin, being left alone like she was. Surely, Jakken was not enough protection, this close to a possible Naraku incarnation. Kagome lagged a bit behind Sango and Miroku, keeping an eye on the cheerful girl. Sounds of battle were heard nearby. How could it not be, when Inuyasha was so gleefully screaming out the name of his attacks.

Trees exploded just in front of Kagome, and she had to cover her face with her arms, and huddle down close to the ground to prevent being blasted apart with flying splinters of wood. In the gap created in the trees by the latest attack, Kagome could see the two brothers blasting at the barrier that surrounded Hakudoshi.

In a new trick, Hakudoshi's barrier was gathering and returning the blasts of demonic power released from the brothers' swords. Kagome was awed at the combined effects of Inuyasha's Adamant Barrage and Sesshomaru's Dragon Strike. If she had been closer, Kagome would have added a sacred arrow to the wave of destruction headed for the barrier. Surely, this would be enough. The combined power of the sons of the Great Dog General.

Sadly, it was not. The barrier glowed fluorescent for a moment before returning the wicked blast in her direction. Kagome only had a moment to throw herself to the side, over a fallen tree before the blast tore up the ground where she had been standing. When she gathered the courage to look back over the trunk of the tree, she saw a smoking crater that rivaled the burial site where the wind tunnel had taken Miroku's Dad. She heard a squawk coming from further to her right and turned to see the charred earth ended dangerously close to Rin, Jakken and Ah-Un.

In an instinctive move, Kagome sprinted back to the little group that she had worried about. Jakken might have the staff of two heads, but Kagome was unsure what fire could do against Hakudoshi and the reflected blasts. If she didn't know better, she would swear that he was targeting his blasts towards Rin. But, why would he do that? Maybe it was just a genetic trait built into all Naraku's creations to want to weaken the Inu brothers by endangering their loved ones? If that were the case, than Naraku wasn't as clever as they all believed him to be. Once their protective instincts were aroused, both brothers fought many times harder than normal. Surely, Naraku had noticed this by now.

Regardless of the reason, Kagome knew that she had to do something to guard Rin. Her mind flashed through all the things that Kaede had taught her and the meager skills she had developed to control her spiritual powers. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her. What would be helpful? She jumped over a large chunk of wood that had a moment before been a healthy tree. Would a purifying arrow cut through the ricocheted combined blast? She slid to a stop just before Ah-Un. Would her bow deflect the blast like she had Tsubaki's curse? She turned to hear more thunderous attacks from what was now a clearing. Could she just toss the girl onto the dragon and fly away and wait for the brothers? She watched as Inuyasha jumped before the next redirected blast and attempted to use his back-lash wave attack to send the force swirling back against Hakudoshi.

It didn't work. Kagome's eyes were as large as saucers as she screamed his name in support and fear. "Inuyasha!" She remembered Inuyasha telling her of the one other time the back-lash wave didn't work, and that was against Sesshomaru's own dragon strike and his father's dragon twister from Sounga. The crackling blue light and diamond tipped barrage overwhelmed the swirling winds of the back-lash wave and blew Inuyasha to the side in a bloody heap. The destruction continued its path towards her and Rin. Rin screamed in her childish panic, "Lord Sesshomaru!" and cowered behind Kagome.

Kagome pulled her bow and arrow up and launched her strongest attack against the certain death that was nearing. The arrow twisted through the energy and dissipated a portion of the strike before it too was overwhelmed and disintegrated. Behind her, Jakken was mounting Ah-Un and trying to pull Rin up to the saddle in an attempt to escape. Kagome watched the swirling blue death come near and held out her bow in front of her. Maybe she couldn't stop it, but she could deflect it enough to give Ah-Un a chance to get in the air.

The blast was upon her before she could form another thought. She braced herself and angled the bow to deflect the brunt of the attack to the side away from Rin and her group. But Rin would not detach herself from Kagome's waist, even with Jakken screaming and pulling. Kagome screamed as the pain tore through her hand and arm that gripped the glowing bow. It wasn't enough. The blast was breaking through and leaking around her aura.

Suddenly, Sesshomaru flashed into existence behind her and grabbed Rin. In one fluid movement, he tossed Rin to Jakken on the dragon and ordered, "Fly!" in a commanding booming voice. Then, Kagome's bow crumbled under the pressure of the demonic blast and she shrieked in pain. Sesshomaru threw himself in front of the priestess that had saved his Rin and took the remaining blast straight into his back. He wrapped himself around the tiny woman and tried to prevent any more harm to her. He had survived blasts from Sounga and Tetsusaiga, he was sure he could survive this.

The flash of light from the attack was overwhelmed by the glowing to life of Tenseiga's barrier. All who watched were temporarily blinded. The barrier had saved his life before when in battle with Inuyasha, and it appeared ready to repeat the action. Unfortunately, part of the blast had been deflected downward, and a large rumbling, crack appeared beneath their feet. In the midst of her pain, Kagome thought this was the portal to Hell that Kikyo had tried to drag Inuyasha into. But, then, the ground had cracked open to reveal a dark abyss below them. Gravity did the rest by pulling them with the falling ground down into the black cavern below.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Please review because it makes me smile.