Labyrinth

 

Chapter 9: Without Reason

 

            Kagome hadn’t struggled, her heart was too heavy with desolate revelation to do anything but follow wherever she was prodded.  The same weary, painful, thought kept running through her mind.

            Betrayed.  He had betrayed her.

            Why did that surprise her?  Why did it hurt so much?  She hadn’t been this hurt when Shippo had deserted her – not even the second time, because by now she had realized that he had left her once again.  But Miroku… why did Miroku matter so much?  Maybe it was that he hadn’t run in fear, he hadn’t just abandoned her – he had protected her, but it was all a lie.

            And what did the guards want with her anyway?  If they worked for Inuyasha they had no reason to arrest her.  After all, wasn’t she trying to find Inuyasha anyway?  He didn’t need to manhandle her to get her attention.  She was coming as fast as she could.  Maybe he had changed his mind and now he wanted to kill her.  Or maybe it was some unwritten Labyrinth code designed solely to keep people like her completely in the dark.  Right now her head was spinning so fast she could hardly keep upright.

            Maybe there was no reason. But there had to be.  Didn’t there?  If there was no reason… well, then what did it matter?  If there wasn’t a reason they should just let her go.

            The thoughts kept coming and then twisting out of her reach, forming a complicated lattice of intersecting, knotted strands.

            And not once did it occur to her that whatever their reason the guards were taking her closer to her ultimate goal.  They were clearly headed to Labyrinth City.

 

***

 

            He wished they wouldn’t handle her so roughly.  He supposed he should have given more specific orders, but frankly he hadn’t thought of it at the time.  In fact, he wasn’t much given to thinking at all.

            Inuyasha growled as one of his men pushed her a little too hard and she stumbled.

            This was not working out as he had planned.

            He had only wanted her out of the Labyrinth’s grasp.  The city was no picnic, but it was infinitely better than the outer territories.  He had only wanted to keep her safe.

            That certainly wasn’t what it looked like though, even to him.

            He glared at the crystal ball as though it were the object’s fault instead of his own.

            Maybe he should have just asked her to accept an escort instead of forcing that monk to turn her over.  Except that he couldn’t because it went against the stupid rules, and even he wasn’t allowed to break them.

            He couldn’t lead anyone into the Labyrinth’s heart.  But he could force prisoners here.

            And so he had come up with a plan to turn Kagome into his prisoner.  It was actually fairly ingenious, especially when one considered who had come up with the plan.  It would never have fooled an actual person, but the Labyrinth wasn’t a person, it was just a stupid place, and as long as she was labeled a prisoner he was allowed to bring her wherever he wanted.

            He hadn’t thought about how much it would hurt her.

            And he hadn’t considered what would happen after.

            Now he couldn’t help thinking that it was probably the dumbest thing he had ever done – except, maybe, for taking her stupid little brother in the first place.

            Honestly, it had never occurred to him that she might actually love the runt.  And who could blame him considering his background?  His own familial relations had been far from normal, but they were the only context he had for understanding other people’s relationships.  He and his brother had never been close.  Hadn’t his older brother locked him up in this stupid place?  Somehow he had just assumed no one else loved their siblings either.

            Obviously Kagome did though; which was why he was taking very good care of Souta.

            In the end it didn’t matter though, because even though Souta was alright, and even though Inuyasha had come up with a way to get Kagome safely through the most dangerous portion of the Labyrinth, and even though she was headed right for his castle, he would be powerless once she got here.

            After all, he still wasn’t allowed to just hand her brother back to her.  She had to work for it, had to go through some sort of ordeal.  The Labyrinth always demanded a price.  And he wasn’t even sure it was possible for her to free Souta.  No one had ever tried such a thing before.

            Plus, she was now a prisoner of the Labyrinth as well, by his own proclamation.

            And this was the real issue.

            He didn’t know if he would be able to release her.  He had never attempted to release a prisoner before.  Would he be able to let her go?  If he could, would she remain in the castle once he did?  It was entirely possible that she would simply be sent back to her home.  And that wasn’t a good thing for so many reasons.  And it was probably a moot point anyway because if he couldn’t free Souta how could he free Kagome?  Granted he actually cared for Kagome, so technically he fit the qualifications to free her, but didn’t that mean that he would have to undergo an ordeal?

            It was just too confusing.

            Who gave his brother the right to make up all these crazy rules anyway?!

            He wished Sesshoumaru was with him at that moment.  He would have crushed his windpipes.  He cracked his knuckles at the thought; someday that jerk was going to pay.

            Gleeful thoughts of his older brother’s impending destruction were cut off by another glance of Kagome through the ball.

            Could he let her go?

            Even if the Labyrinth let him, if he could get past all the layers of guidelines and stupid rules, the laws that governed everything that happened here, could he really let her go?

            Would he?

            Wasn’t this what he had wanted all along?  For Kagome to be here with him?

            When the time came could he bring himself to let her go?

            He wasn’t sure.  Everything that he was screamed no.  No, he couldn’t let her go.  He couldn’t go back to being alone.  He couldn’t.  He wouldn’t.  But the look on her face… she was so sad, she was in so much pain.  Would that look ever go away if he made her stay here against her will?

            He sank down onto his throne and pressed a hand to his temples.  All this thinking and self evaluation made his head hurt.  And none of it mattered anyway because it was entirely likely that he would never have to make that choice.  The Labyrinth would probably make it for him.

 

***

 

            Kagome felt numb.  If she had been able to think she would have thought that this was even worse than the echoing sadness of betrayal.  At least then she had known who she was.

            As it was she wasn’t thinking at all.  She couldn’t. 

            It hurt too much.  It felt… well, everything she had thought of sounded too worn out and clichéd to truly express what it felt like.  But it hurt worse than anything she had ever known.  Kagome had never been betrayed before.

            She stumbled over a root and a guard prodded her harshly with the back end of what looked like a whip.  If she had had the strength she would have grimaced, or at least winced, but she didn’t.  She couldn’t even sigh.  It would have been frustrating if she hadn’t been so apathetic right now.  And as she tread, unseeing and unthinking across the uneven forest ground she failed to notice that her captors had come to a halt.  That is, she would have failed to notice if one of them had not rudely jerked her to a stop.  Normally she would have rewarded him with a sharp remark, but not today.

            Today she waited absolutely still and quiet and submissive as they spoke a few words and then walked between two trees and suddenly found themselves in the middle of a bustling city.

            It would have been shocking, if Kagome had been paying attention.  Although, probably no more shocking than anything else in this place.  A guard loomed in front of her, a wide grin revealing his crooked and filthy teeth. His breath reeked.

            In a voice far too cheerful he croaked, “Welcome to Labyrinth City.”

            And Kagome’s heart almost stopped as two words penetrated her haze. Labyrinth City?

            Souta!

            He was here, somewhere in this city, at its heart.  Her head came up for the first time in more than an hour and her eyes drifted, searching for the castle she knew would be at the city’s center.  She was not disappointed.  There, rising above the dirty, bustling, streets was a series of towers the color of stone.  And somewhere in that castle was the man who could tell her where her brother was – Inuyasha.

            “Come along then.” They were nudging her again and now that she wasn’t numb she found their actions more than a little uncomfortable.  She made no remark however, struggling to resume her earlier expression and posture.  If she was going to do this she would have to surprise them.  It was unlikely they would take her to her brother, or even to Inuyasha, which meant that she would have to escape and find one of them.  The only way she could possibly do that would be to surprise the hoard of guards surrounding her.

            “This way,” another none to gentle prod and she was walking again.  After many minutes she was dismayed to find that they weren’t headed toward the castle at all, but toward the far end of the huge city.  This was very bad – there was no way she could elude them long enough to make it through the entire city to the castle, it had to be at least a two miles.

            She wanted to ask them where they were going, to demand to know where she was being taken, but that did not fit the character she was playing.  She was being smothered by the weight of the unknown.  Where were they going?

            Fortunately she did not have to wait long, for a moment later they were intercepted by another guard.  This one was more humanoid in shape, though he had a wolf tail, and appeared clean enough.  He glanced at her with interest a moment before turning to the captain of the contingent that was holding her.

            “You’re to take her to the underground dungeon, at the far end of the city.” He ordered.

            “We know that.” The captain snapped. “What’d you come tell us again for?”

            The stranger smiled cockily, “just making sure you hadn’t forgotten.” His tone said what he did not – he thought they were fools.  Kagome reflected that he was probably right.  Once again his gaze slid toward her and she ducked her head, struggling to maintain a blank look.  He watched her a moment before shrugging and turning away.

            “Don’t get lost!” he called over his shoulder as he took off through the city at amazing speed.

            The guards waited until he was out of sight before resuming their slow trudging toward the other end of the city.

            “Stupid wolf.” Kagome heard the creature nearest her mutter.

            Kagome was a little depressed.  Now she had no hope of making it to Inuyasha.  What was the stupid dog-boy thinking anyway?  Hadn’t he told her to do this?  So why was he making everything so difficult now?  She wished she’d never met him and then quickly took it back.  Rash wishing was what had got her into this mess in the first place.

            The sound of scuffling feet caught her attention.

            Up until now Kagome had noticed that all the townspeople avoided the guards, scurrying away to clear the streets well before their arrival in a given area.  Those who could not hurry away glared sullenly at the guards, and one old crone had even spat at their feet.  In short, the sound of feet shuffling away had already become familiar to her.  What was unusual was that these feet seemed to be scuffing closer.

            Kagome frowned. 

There was something familiar about that tread.  And for the second time in under an hour her heart skipped a beat.  How could she not recognize those even steps?  Even now when they were muffled and hurried she knew them.  Of course she did, she had just spent the better part of three days traveling with the owner of those feet.

Miroku?

What was the monk doing here?  Hadn’t he betrayed and abandoned her?  She had assumed he would have returned to his carefree life of wandering by now.  Well, perhaps not carefree, she amended.  Even without her around to get him into trouble life in the Labyrinth was far from carefree.  Still, maybe Inuyasha had cut him a deal or something: give up the girl and I’ll give you a free hall pass, or something like that.

Whatever had happened, Kagome couldn’t imagine what Miroku would be doing here.  It made no sense.  What did he think he was doing?

And Kagome was still wondering that when a shout rang out and a dark figure landed solidly in front of her.  A flash of gold, and the jangle of metal on metal followed by blurs of white and the shouts of the guards, and then she was being pulled away by a tight grip on her wrist and someone was panting beside her.

“Hurry!  We have to go now.  The wards will only hold them off a few minutes –their power is too strong here!”

Kagome struggled to pull away.  It made no sense.  He had betrayed her, and he’d left her, and it just hurt so much.  And she couldn’t bear to have him touch her.

“Let go!” she yanked on her wrist but his hold was unrelenting.

“Kagome,” there was a desperate pleading in his tone that stopped her short, “Let me help you.” And when she looked into his eyes she saw such pain, such regret, that she couldn’t look away.  “I’m so sorry.” He whispered so low she could hardly hear him, but he didn’t look away, and she just stared at him.  A sudden stomping of feet approaching warned them that his spell had faded.

“We have to run!” he exclaimed, tugging her after him once more.  And this time she went willingly.

She probably shouldn’t trust him.  Still, there was something in his voice and in the way he had looked at her, she couldn’t believe that he would betray her again.  Maybe she was a fool, but at least she would only be hurting herself if she was wrong.  She turned her hand to clasp his.  His gaze jerked to hers, startled, but he kept running.  She just tightened her hold and gave him a very small smile before looking straight ahead and concentrating on running.

 

***

            Her feet hurt, and her lungs hurt, and her sides hurt, and if she didn’t stop running soon she was fairly certain that she was going to throw up.  But if she did stop she would be in worse shape because the guards were far too close and the moment they stopped they would both be captured.

            Kagome risked a glance at the man beside her and wondered for the hundredth time what he was doing here, with her.  And for the hundredth time she decided that it really didn’t matter and that she had better just think about running.

            She had to admit that this was much easier than she had thought it would be, as the street was remarkably devoid of obstacles.  Of course, that may have had something to do with the fact that everyone in town took off, possessions in tow, at the sight of them.

            What was wrong with these people?

            Shouldn’t someone be trying to help the guards? They were certainly doing enough shouting.  Did this place have citizen’s arrests?

            Or, if the citizens didn’t like Inuyasha or his guards, why didn’t they try to stop them?  Why didn’t anyone attempt to assist Kagome and Miroku in their escape?

            It was stupid, an entire city of people who did nothing but mind their own business?  What kind of place was this?  No busybodies, no do-gooders, no self important show offs, nothing.  Just a whole lot of people who got out of the way as fast as they could when they saw trouble coming.  Not that she could blame them.

             She was panting by now, struggling not to fall over the rough cobblestone of the street.  “We can’t out run them.” She gasped out and Miroku’s hand tightened on hers in response. 

            “We don’t have to.” His voice was steady and she was absolutely jealous when she glanced over and saw him sweat free and seemingly free of pain as well.  Well, physical pain at least.  She must be way out of shape.

            “What?” she asked dumbly, and then he was pulling her down, ducking beneath a recently abandoned cart and motioning for her to be quiet.

            Kagome fought to keep her halting breaths deep, even, and soundless.  Her feet were slipping beneath her and Miroku was half holding her up, staring intently at the floor.  It took Kagome several moments to figure out that he was watching for the shadows of the guards in the small slit between the base of the cart and the ground.  She didn’t know why he bothered; they were easy enough to hear.

            Her nose began to itch and she widened her eyes in horror – she was going to sneeze!  Her hands were occupied with supporting her weary body and she frantically looked around for something to muffle the sound.  Her mouth opened and Miroku looked up just in time.  A warm, firm hand clapped gently over her mouth and nose just before she lost control.  She should have been embarrassed, that was just disgusting, but really now was not the time.  It was only by the stupidity of their pursuers that they were safe.  After all, intelligent people would have figured out that they must have veered off the main road by now.

            Miroku kept his hand loosely over her mouth, most likely as a reminder that they should still be careful, as he listened to the retreating footsteps of the guards.  After a minute or so he stood carefully and brought Kagome up with him.  Pulling her close he gave her whispered instructions.

            “We’ll double back toward the castle, taking the back alleys.” He breathed into her ear, “we shouldn’t have much trouble from these people.”  And then there was a tug on her hand and they were moving again, thankfully more slowly.  He pulled her into an alley and they crept along toward the center of the city.

            And it was all going very well, until Kagome heard a very unwelcome sound.

            “I see something over here!”

Sure, now someone decided to do their good deed for the day; except Kagome desperately wished they had chosen to do it for her instead of for the enemy!

Miroku’s eyes locked with hers and he grimaced.

“Run!”

And so she did.

She ran until she thought that she could run no longer, and then she ran some more.  And always the castle loomed before them, still distant, never appearing to be any closer.   And Kagome found herself despairing at the thought that it would never be any closer.  They would wander this city for the rest of their lives, or until they were captured, which might very well be the same thing.  And she hated the Labyrinth, and she hated the guards, and she hated Inuyasha.  Except that she couldn’t because, really, he was just a victim too.  And she found herself wondering what she would do, what she would be after six hundred years of being locked in this place, six hundred years alone with little but the memory of a brother who hated her.  It wasn’t fair!  She wanted to be able to hate him, needed to be able to hate someone. But the only person she could hate, the only person she could blame, was herself.

The terrible truth was that she had done this all to herself.  The fault lay not with Sesshoumaru, who had created this place, not with Inuyasha, who had taken her brother and brought her here, not even with Miroku who might plausibly be named as the reason for her current situation, the fault lay entirely with her.  She had made the stupid wish.  The whole stupid thing was her own stupid fault and all because she couldn’t go see a movie!

If she had had the time she would have berated herself for being a horrible person.

But she didn’t.  And so she consoled herself with the thought that maybe, just maybe, she could still make things right.  Maybe she would reach the castle, maybe she would rescue her brother, maybe she would help Miroku get past whatever haunted him.  Maybe she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.  Maybe.

They were still running, darting from alley to alley, trying desperately to stay true to their course and not veer from their approach of the center.  But it made them so horribly easy to predict, so terribly easy to follow.  And the sound of pursuit was distant, but always present.  And the townspeople who had been so apathetic and self absorbed moments before seemed suddenly bent against them.

Kagome wanted to scream, wanted to cry, wanted to stop and tell life to behave itself for once.  But she knew it wouldn’t and so she didn’t bother trying.  All she could do was run, following the firm grip and tug on her arm as Miroku ran with sure steps nearer and nearer the heart of the city.  And she wondered, somewhere deep inside her mind where she wasn’t occupied with running and panic and guilt, how he seemed to know exactly where he was going even though he had told her he had never been this far inside the Labyrinth.

And then she had no time to wonder as something shot out in front of them and she nearly screamed.

And Miroku was stumbling, coming to a reluctant halt.  And everything inside of her screamed that they should keep moving, keep running, the castle finally loomed large before them, and they were so close – too close to let themselves be stopped now.  But it was too late.