Jolting awake from the abrupt halt of the Takani bus, Higurashi Kagome gazed groggily at the girl who sat silently beside her. It had been three hours into the bus ride and finally, a mere few minutes ago, Kagome had been able to fall asleep. She and her friend, Shanri Eri, were traveling from Tokyo, Japan to Kagome’s cousin’s house for two weeks to visit, in New Mexico. She was the one cousin Kagome hardly ever visited. Her sienna hues observing Eri through lowered, black lashes, Kagome asked in confusion, “Why are we stopping?”
“I don’t know.” Eri shrugged helplessly as she settled back into her chair, her oddly cerulean eyes fastened on Mr. Wes, the man who owned the brand of buses the two girls were traveling in. They had not even been aware that Mr. Wes had been aboard the bus.
Kagome pursed her lips thoughtfully as she raked a hand through her raven black hair, noticing how unruly her hair had become in the three hours she had been aboard the Takani bus. However, her thoughts were focused on something else entirely different than the state of her hair. Why had the bus stopped, and what exactly were Mr. Wes and the driver talking about? Whatever it was, she knew it had to be important.
“Hey, they’re letting someone on the bus,” Eri whispered in surprise, her pointed gaze narrowed on the obese man who had been granted passage onto the bus. His dark brown hair graying because of his age, the man stood before Mr. Wes with the air of an intimidating, practical man. His voice carried towards the back of the bus, where Kagome and Eri sat.
“Our bus broke down, flat tire; turns out we don’t have a spare. We haven’t been able to contact anyone for help, and your bus has been the only means of transportation we’ve seen in two hours. Could you help us, Mister?”
Mr. Wes and the driver, Kane, exchanged observant frowns as Mr. Wes studied the man who asked for their help. Exactly what was this man carrying on his bus, passengers, supplies? Or, perhaps something entirely different? “Well, we’re running on a tight schedule, Mister—“
“Jonah, call me Jonah. Please, mister, I’m running on a tight schedule too. We were due in California this afternoon, at two, and I’m afraid we won’t make it on time. You see, the runt has to be taken to the boy’s institution by today, but if he doesn’t make it in time, they shut him out forever.”
Kagome and Eri shared quizzical facades as they intently listened to the exchange between Mr. Wes and the stranger. Who was the man talking about, and what institution?
Kane arched a shaggy black eyebrow at Jonah in question. “Who’re you talking about? Exactly how many people are on your bus? I’m not sure we can fit them all onto this one.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. You’ll be able to. Only one person rides with me. He’s who we must get to California on time. So, will you help us?” Jonah pleadingly asked, his expression a desperate one as he took a step towards Mr. Wes, almost menacingly. “We desperately need your help.”
Kane looked to Mr. Wes, as if he awaited Mr. Wes’s final decision. Nothing could be done without the boss’s last word. When Mr. Wes mutely shook his head, Kane’s dark eyes returned to Jonah. He nodded in agreement with his boss’s decision, earning a smile of gratitude from Jonah in return. Inclining his thick head in a gesture of gratefulness, Jonah retreated from the bus, leaving the passengers in a thoughtful turmoil.
Eri nudged Kagome in the side as she motioned towards the window she sat next to, a frown gracing her otherwise calm façade. Silence passed between the two girls as they both observed the other bus Jonah had obviously been aboard. It didn’t look like a passenger bus. In fact, it looked quite the opposite, with its bleak exterior. When Jonah made his presence known with another man, Kagome furrowed her brows in thought. Why was there only one person riding with Jonah? Then, metal shimmered in the bright sunlight, catching Kagome’s full, undivided attention.
“Hey, Eri, look at that,” she whispered in awe when she peered closer at the two men walking towards their bus. They appeared to be friends, but Kagome knew better. They couldn’t be friends simply because the man Jonah led towards their bus was walking rather stiffly while Jonah yanked hard on the metal chains wrapped around the other’s wrists tightly. The second man was a prisoner for a crime he had obviously committed.
“You don’t think he would…” Eri’s voice trailed off doubtfully as the door leading onto the Takani bus slid open. Apparently, Mr. Wes would let it happen. He would allow this stranger to ride with them all the way to California. “He can’t let some strange man onto the bus, not a man who’s a prisoner!” Her voice trembling in shock, Eri shifted into a more comfortable position as she tucked her knees beneath her chin and wrapped her arms around the calves of her legs.
Kagome remained silent as her sienna hues focused on the prisoner who would be riding with her and the other passengers for ten straight hours. His gloriously beautiful, midnight black hair was tied back at his nape, and despite of his ragged appearance from having spent quite some time in a boy’s institution, Kagome was drawn to him by some inexplicable force. His large, dark eyes were fastened on Mr. Wes as though the two were on familiar terms, and he held his head high. If it weren’t for the wrinkled cloths he donned and the sad state of his naturally attractive profile, Kagome would have believed him a normal human being paying for passage onto the bus, not a criminal who had committed a crime terrible enough to land him in prison.
Silence seemed to fill the tense atmosphere of the bus as Mr. Wes argued strongly with Jonah, most likely shaking his head no to allowing the criminal onto his bus. In the end, however, danger graced the bus. Mr. Wes gave into Jonah’s rough pleading.
Kagome watched nervously as Jonah led the man down the aisle, towards her and Eri, completely unfazed by the nervous glares he was receiving from the other passengers. As the two men passed Kagome’s row, the intense, dark eyes of the prisoner caught her full, undivided attention. There was a danger about the man Kagome couldn’t quite put her finger on. His eyes intense, she stared steadfastly into their sinister depths. Time seemed to slow for her as she and the criminal locked eyes, his mockingly smirking down into hers while she fearlessly regarded him. If the time came, she would show him she wasn’t afraid of him. Finally, after what felt to be an eternity passed, Jonah and the stranger moved on down the aisle until they came to the very last row, the row that now belonged to them.
Eri nudged Kagome in the side as soon as the danger passed their row, her pallor far paler than was normal for the girl. “Why do you think Wes gave into this Jonah character? I didn’t think he would let some criminal onto his bus.”
Kagome shrugged helplessly. She had no idea why Mr. Wes had permitted this man onto the bus, but she planned to find out soon.
When the bus swerved back onto the main highway, heading towards its new destination since the arrival of Jonah, California, Kagome peered over her shoulder towards the very back of the bus. There, she spotted Jonah sitting with his arms folded across his broad chest and his eyes closed. Sitting stiffly beside him was his prisoner, whose name she did not recall hearing. Hoping that his attention was drawn elsewhere, Kagome risked looking at him. She had been granted her wish. The man was glaring out of the window, his lips pursed rigidly over gleaming white, straight teeth. She didn’t mean to stare so, but she really couldn’t help it. She found him to be completely fascinating, not at all what she would have expected a convict to look, or even act, like.
His dark, intense eyes met that of Kagome’s interesting, sienna orbs. She was a strange one, he admitted silently to himself. He was a prisoner, and all she had done since the moment he had boarded the bus was stare at him as if she had never seen another human being before. He knew he couldn’t be that fascinating to look upon. She, on the other hand…
Inuyasha, while he had been observing Kagome through guarded eyes, felt the gaze of Jonah upon his face, resulting in his turning to look at the fool. He really held a great dislike for the man. He wasn’t much of a man, especially when he refused to hear him out and acknowledge Inuyasha’s innocence. “What?” He snapped in frustration.
Jonah’s lips curled into a thoughtful smile as he regarded Inuyasha with a chuckle. The boy was amusing to have around, and he knew he would miss his sarcasm when it was time to turn him over to California’s police force. Though, Inuyasha didn’t strike him as the criminal type, but these days, anything was possible.
“Who’re you so interested in looking at, boy?”
“Why the hell should you care? You’re taking an innocent boy to prison for the rest of his pathetic life. Damn fool,” Inuyasha muttered under his breath as he narrowed his dark, unusual, golden hues onto Jonah.
Jonah’s only response was laughter as he silently shook his head at Inuyasha. Indeed, the boy was amusing.
As the morning progressed, Kagome pulled from her black bag her silver, portable C.D. player. She was bored out of her mind, and if she didn’t find something to do other than stare competitively at the man posing as a criminal, she would soon go crazy. Eri followed her suit as she reached into her crimson bag, pulling out her own black, portable C.D. player. They shared twin smiles of knowing satisfaction as they slipped on their earphones at the same time. Soon, both were lost to the world of their music.
So lost in their music they were that both girls never heard the metal click of a hammer outside their window.
Eri hummed softly beside Kagome with her eyes closed lazily, enjoying the beautiful song her favorite artist, Takushi Mesi, was playing by guitar.
Kagome leaned against Eri, a smile touching her lips, as her brown eyes gazed out of the window. It was then Kagome noticed the bright crimson jaguar speeding alongside the bus. The tinted window was rolled down enough to allow Kagome to see who sat at the wheel. A man no older than Eri’s twenty year old brother occupied the driver’s seat with hair as black as the night tied back at the nape of his neck.
When the good-looking twenty year old turned his shades in her direction, a crooked half smile curling his full-bottomed lips, Kagome watched with fearful fascination as the barrel of what looked suspiciously to be a rifle pointed at the bus. Her lips parted in shock, and when she would have screamed a warning, no sound came forth.
The gun exploded into a cloud of confusion as a bullet wedged itself into the bus’s fourth wheel right beneath Eri’s seat.
Chaos erupted into a fit of terrified screams as Kagome reacted almost instantly. She grabbed Eri’s arm and yanked her underneath their seats. She knew that hiding under their seats would not be much of a protection against a gun, but it was the best thing to do in their situation.
“What’s going on?” Eri exclaimed in fear as she poked her head out into the aisle, quickly clinging to the metal legs holding the comfortable chairs in place when the bus swerved onto the passing lane. Beneath her, she was able to feel the flattening tire screech in complaint as the heavy, though, dead weight of the bus sped along the main highway. Mr. Wes was shouting instructions at Kane, Eri noticed as her frightened cerulean eyes fastened on the Takani bus’s owner and the bus driver.
“I don’t know, but that man—in the red jaguar…no, don’t look now, Eri!” Kagome was quick to grab the sleeve of Eri’s blouse and yank her back down onto the vibrating floor when her friend had tried to stand, her pallor paling considerably with every turn of the bus. “He’s responsible for the shooting. I—I saw his gun…”
Eri stared dumbly at Kagome, one hand wrapped around the metal leg of the chair she had occupied moments before total chaos had erupted in the bus.
Kagome’s lower lip quivered as another gun shot filled the frightened, tense atmosphere of the bus. She wasn’t one to cower in fear, but never had Kagome been in the middle of a shoot-out before. Eri, on the other hand, seemed to take their situation quite well. She, at least, appeared calm on the outside aside from the fact that her lower lip was quivering fearfully and her cheeks were pale.
“Kagome, you knew they were going to try to kill us, and you didn’t say anything?” Eri’s voice taking on a tone of doubt, she regarded Kagome with confusion.
“I tried! I wanted to, but I just froze when I saw that gun!”
“Kagome—“
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I can’t help it, Eri, I’m scared!”
“Kagome!” Eri shouted as she grabbed her best friend’s shoulders, giving her a firm shake. “I don’t blame you for being scared, or anything, but we have to keep a clear mind, alright? We have to get out of this alive.”
Kagome knew Eri was right, but if the girls did happen to escape the firing, deadly weapons, where would they go? They knew no one who lived in the middle of nowhere, and that was exactly where the bus was headed; across the Arizona desert. Kagome’s breath caught in her throat when an unexpected bullet was fired through the window Eri had sat beside, glass shattering on impact. Eri’s scream echoed throughout the entire bus, and yet, it still sped on, as if the devil was on its tail. She supposed that, in a way, the devil truly was after them. Kagome wrapped an arm around Eri’s quivering shoulders and pulled her around the back of their chairs, crawling on her hands and knees rather awkwardly while lugging a frightened Eri behind her as she moved away from the sharp, shattered pieces of the glass.
The bus swerved to the right sharply, earning alarming gasps from both Eri and Kagome, as they felt their side of the bus lift up off the ground. It appeared that the bus was moving so fast that every turn it made, it could end up completely flipped over. How wonderful. The girls clinging to each other for dear life, Kagome’s sienna hues rose to meet the intense, golden-brown gaze of the prisoner surprisingly. He was leaning over her and Eri, in range of the bullets that threatened to take everyone’s life, and he was staring down at Kagome, his smirking eyes regarding her with apathy.
“What are you doing? Do you want to be shot?!” Eri shrieked in alarm when she noticed Inuyasha standing beside Kagome, in a dangerously swerving bus, clearly the perfect target for whoever decided to use their bus as sport. Her cerulean eyes widening when Inuyasha’s lips twitched at their corners though he remained impassive, she shook her head in wonder. So, it seemed the prisoner cared little for his life. Why was he watching Kagome, though? What had interested him about her best friend? When Eri would have asked out of fearful curiosity, their current situation turned for the worst.
Kane had yanked the steering wheel to the left hard, but the bus hadn’t been able to corporate with the wheel’s demand, so instead of turning sharply to the left, as it should have, the bus did the unthinkable.
It flipped over.
From within the insensible chambers of Kagome’s mind, she was able to hear the faint sound of her name being called. Who would be calling her at this time of night? Shouldn’t the person be in bed, asleep, as she was? Kagome’s left eyelid twitched as she slowly turned onto her side, but upon releasing a throaty groan, one filled of so much pain that it even surprised the cataleptic Kagome, one sienna hue fluttered open gradually, her vision blurred, as her other eye followed suit. Her name was whispered softly as Kagome turned her eyes onto the shadowed silhouette hovering above her. Who was that? They didn’t look familiar.
“Kagome,” Eri whispered softly as she kneeled down at her friend’s side, placing a hand upon her shoulder. She had woken up about an hour ago only to find that the bus they had trusted to take them to New Mexico safely had flipped over onto its side, its passengers sprawled out all over the ground. She didn’t know how the others fared. Truthfully, Eri had been far too afraid to check them herself.
Kagome groaned softly as she brought a hand to her forehead, whimpering when she felt the hard lump that had taken form right on her hairline. It hurt to merely brush her fingers over it. Her vision was gradually becoming clear as she focused all her attention onto the familiar voice; the voice of her best friend, Shanri Eri. “Eri?” She mumbled in uncertainty. Her voice cracked as she gasped softly, working so hard at pulling herself up on her elbows, as she tilted her head to the side in question. It pained her to even move. It almost felt as though every muscle in her body refused to move as they normally would. “What happened?” She all but croaked.
Eri’s lips curled into a warm, gratified smile, having been afraid that Kagome had seriously injured herself. Though, there was little to smile about. Peering over her shoulder, Eri’s cerulean eyes regarded the vast area of desert surrounding the passengers. It was apparent that they hadn’t reached New Mexico at all. Instead, they had landed in Arizona. Wonderful, Eri sighed softly as she returned to looking down at her closest friend, unwanted tears glistening within her orbs. Eri was so delighted that Kagome seemed to be alright, with the exception of the large lump the size of Texas upon her forehead. Truthfully, Eri had been quite worried about her.
“We, er, well, we didn’t exactly reach New Mexico.”
The nervous tone of Eri’s voice caused Kagome’s eyes to widen, hoping to clear her vision entirely. “Where are we, then?”
Eri chewed on her lower lip as she averted her cerulean eyes to the ground, staring down at her sneakers with feigned interest. “Somewhere in Arizona, I believe,” she murmured quietly, as though she hoped Kagome wouldn’t hear a word of what she had just said. She didn’t know how Kagome would take the news of their being stranded in the middle of a desert with a busload of people they knew nothing about.
“We’re in Arizona?” Kagome questioned incredulously as Eri helped her to shift into a sitting position. The weight she put on her elbows was starting to strain her muscles and drain her of her energy. “How’d we get here? What happened, Eri?”
Eri, an arm wrapped around Kagome’s shoulders, helped lift her up from the ground long enough to allow her to gain her footing. She didn’t really want to answer any questions about what had happened to their bus, so with a simple shrug of her shoulders, she glanced away. Only, Kagome would have none of that. Her sienna hues narrowed on her friend’s face, she murmured in warning, “Eri.”
Sighing in defeat, Eri returned her attention onto Kagome. She should have known that the stubborn girl wouldn’t let her get away without hearing every detail, the entire story, of the events that had taken place but an hour or so ago.
“You don’t remember? Well, because of that criminal that had to ride on our bus with us, we were chased by some creeps with guns. They weren’t afraid to fire them either, let me tell you. Any who, the bus was flipped onto its side. We’re lucky that we weren’t seriously injured. I don’t know exactly what happened after that, but I’m sure someone pulled us to safety.”
Kagome was in shock. Not only did she remember such an event occurring but a mere hour or so ago, but the vivid memory of bullets whizzing past her ear, nearly filling the side of her head with their lead, had come back to her mind, refusing to leave her thoughts alone. They had been stuck in the middle of a shoot-out, and according to Eri, it was that criminal’s fault.
The image of long, silky midnight-black hair streaming down broad shoulders while it blew in the breeze filled her mind, as well as the look of a dangerous beast with dark, amber-speckled, golden eyes. It was the image of that criminal. For someone who had obviously committed a horrible crime, he knew how to make a girl giddily blush. Kagome couldn’t stop her cheeks from reddening while she thought of those intense, fascinating hues the color of gold. What was it about him that she found so interesting? He couldn’t be any different from a normal male.
Eri silently watched the different emotions flicker across Kagome’s face; from consideration to joyful. Whatever the girl was thinking about obviously had a positive effect on her. Impatiently, she folded her arms across her chest. As much as she liked the fact that Kagome didn’t seem upset about the ordeal they found themselves in, she couldn’t help but stand by, impatiently awaiting her reaction; the one reaction she had yet to show.
“Kagome?”
Kagome’s sienna hues swiveled towards Eri, one eyebrow arched in question. She had been so lost in her thoughts that Eri’s voice had startled her. It seemed her friend was waiting on something, possibly something Kagome needed to give her. What could it be, though? “Hmm?”
“Kagome, we’re stranded in the middle of a desert, and you don’t seem to care one bit. Don’t you think we should grab our stuff and, perhaps, try to find a main road we can follow to the nearest gas station?”
“Suppose that would be the wise thing to do, but didn’t you just say that we’re stuck in the middle of a desert? How are we going to find a road out here?”
Eri looked puzzled. What did Kagome mean by asking if they would find a road? They would if they put aside their laziness long enough to look for one! “Well, what do you think? If we, hmm, I don’t know, look for one, we might actually find it! So, how about we try? What do you say?” Her lips pursed in frustration, she shifted from one foot to the other, refusing to look away from Kagome’s inquisitive gaze.
“I suggest you better get those tight asses moving if you want to start looking for that road,” a deep, somehow familiar voice interrupted the girl’s banter. Both girls whirled in the direction of that voice, quick to discover exactly who that voice belonged to.
It belonged to that criminal, Inuyasha; and he was staring his nose down at both Kagome and Eri, a small, odd, though, ominous smile curving his full-bottomed lips.
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