Legends
Chapter 3: The Return
"Whoa, did anyone get the license of the truck that hit me?" Duo muttered semi-coherently.
"Des-man."
"What!" Duo bolted up, and quickly lay back down again as a pounding head ache nearly made him black out again. He was hit by the memories again, but this time they were clearer than they had ever been. Duo remembered that he was at one time, at one place, he was known as Bankotsu, the fearsome leader of the deadly Band of Seven. That he was brought back to life by this guy named Naraku with the shards of some super powerful jewel. The Shiron or Shikon Jewel or something. Duo sat up more slowly and looked around.
Panic started to rise in him. Where is it? Where is it, where is it, where is it? "Hey Tro-?"
Trowa pointed to the side of his truck (the license plate read DES-MAN). There laid Banryu, as pristine as it was when Duo had picked it up from the base. He gave a relieved sigh.
"Say," said Duo after a brief bit of silence. "Do you think that her Ladyship would let me keep my sword?"
"Doubt it." Trowa responded. He looked back down at his bandaged and gloved hands, relieved that Duo hadn't noticed them.
After Duo had walked through the barrier, he picked up Banryu and promptly passed out and alarms started blaring. Obviously, the owner had designed the security systems to activate when the sword was taken from its stand.
Trowa forced his way through the ward slowly as to not hurt himself with the holy power. The barrier itself was not unlike the one he experienced at Mount Hakurei, but, as the he was facing now covered a smaller area, it was much more potent. In the end, he had gotten through with burned hands and a mental sigh of relief that he was mostly human in this form. Trowa didn't want to find out the extent of his injuries if it was the night of the full moon.
Once he had pulled Duo and the sword out of the central room, Trowa summoned a cloud to take them back to where they had left the van. He knew that it had been a risky choice, but it was the fastest way to get them both out of the base and whole. Thus, Trowa had waited for Duo to wake up as he bandaged his hands and pulled gloves over them, praying that no one would question him on them. Along with the burns on his fingers and palms his nails had become a little claw like. That worried Trowa, but thankfully the markings on his wrists had not revealed themselves. That would have been too hard to explain away.
In a deep under ground metal cavern, a man encased in shadows watched with an amused smirk as the two Preventers agents had gotten away with the Banryu. They had finally taken the bait.
At the Preventers' headquarters, Lady Une slumped on her desk, pain coursing through her body. A disembodied voice echoed through the room, "Keep working, there is still much to do."
A man walked up to Preventer's headquarters. A hat was perched jauntily on his head over a shock of white hair that was cut just below his chin. At his waist was a sword, hung there as if the man was just asking for someone to say that he was breaking the law. The bright red coat he wore seemed to be made of wool, but the wearer knew that it was of much stronger material.
He walked up to the receptionist, pulling out a freeze frame from a surveillance tape. "Hey, are these two agents stationed here? Can you call one of them down for me?"
The helpless man behind the desk nearly withered under the gruffness that was sent at him. "Y-y-yes, sir. J-j-j-j-just a moment." He dialed the extension for the necessary office and was very thankful that the calmer of the two in that office answered the phone.
A few moments later, Trowa strolled into the lobby, in an abreveated version of his normal uniform, just a white t-shirt with the Preventer's logo on the chest and black pants. On his right forearm there was a small bandage, but most people ignored it. The man in red burst out in great belly laughs.
"Oh this is just rich! Ha ha ha! I can't believe that th-"
He was abruptly cut off when Trowa slapped his left hand over the other's mouth. Trowa then proceded to calmly introduce himself and request that they go back to his office as if he wasn't physically silencing the other man.
Once the door closed, Trowa let him go.
"Damn, Sesshomaru, the left arm's a new development. When did you get that?" the man asked as he was catching his breath. Trowa had his hand over the man's mouth and nose, preventing any air intake.
"My name is Trowa Barton, and about eighteen years ago. What are you doing here Inuyasha?"
The man, having been identified, removed his hat revealing two dog ears poking through his messy white locks. "Despite everything, I'm here to help you. You and your partner already took my bait with the Banryu, so…" Inuyasha spread his hands, signaling the unsaid "so I am here."
"So you nearly blow my cover in front of the humans. That is a great way to help me."
"Still took me a while, had to get past all the gun powder smell that you have."
"I had just come from the shooting range, I should smell like gunpowder. You're not telling me everything half-breed. Spill." Inuyasha had sat down, kicking his feet on Trowa's desk while Trowa had stayed standing, his arms crossed over his chest. Neither spoke for a moment, each glaring at the other in a battle of wills. Inuyasha broke first.
"It's hard living as a human, isn't it," a statement not a question.
"Doesn't matter. Answer the question half-breed."
"You do know how hypocritical you sound when you call me a 'half-breed'." Trowa didn't respond, was unwilling to admit that yes, he was being hypocritical. Inuyasha sighed, pulling his cap back on. "Naraku is alive. He's searching for the same things we are."
He looked like he was going to continue, but then the door burst open. Duo rushed in. "Hey Tro! Une's letting me keep Banryu…." Duo trailed off when he saw that he wasn't alone. Purple flickered between blue as memories shorted out, flickering the image of the man before him with another that was more familiar. Duo's eyes settled on purple. "Didn't know that we had a guest. Name's Duo. I run and hide but I never tell a lie. That's me in a nutshell." Duo offered his hand to Inuyasha, but the smile on his face was brittle, as if it would change into a snarl at any minute.
Whoo hoo! I have over 600 total hits on Legends! I'm so happy that this story is so popular. A special "thank you" to all the following for various reasons: redharuka96, Kaori, FlyingShadow666, xKokurox, InsaneGiggles, HelKats, Kazeren, Mischievous Skyla, Mystic Dragonsfire, Slick92, Sylvania, crimson-apf, de Arundel, and stardustreader.
(3/8/08) This is after my edits and lengthening. Thank you all to the people who have put Legends in their C2s and on alert lists. Hope that you like this edit. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.