Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. because Rumiko Takahashi does.
Thanks for reviewing everyone! I appreciate it! Let me answer a few questions that some of you had:
1. This story is in modern days. I hadn't really thought about the whole 'dog ears' thing and it seeming weird, but I guess you could say in this alternate universe, it isn't weird. Hanyou and youkai exist.
2. I'm not sure how many chapters this story will be, but when I found out I will let you know.
3. No, I don't write lemons. I just can't and won't. Sorry.
4. 'Iniquity' will be on hiatus for a long time. Maybe even forever. Who knows?
I was kind of in a hurry for this chapter, so I'm sorry for any mistakes that I made. I'm sure there will be quite a few of them...
Chapter Four: Getting Involved (at last)
Sesshomaru was glaring at him. He could feel it. That tingling sensation on the side of his face threatened to burn a hole right through his cheek. Not that he wasn't used to being glared at, especially by his older prick of a brother, but this was just plain irritating. Besides, what had he done to deserve such treatment? Sure, running through three speed bumps, five red lights, and two stop signs, literally tearing through the stop signs, wasn't enjoyable, but it sure as hell wasn't enough to get someone angry. Terrified maybe, but not angry.
"Inuyasha, slow down." Slow down? He couldn't afford to slow down! At that moment, time was of the essence... " Or I'll snap your neck in half." 'Slowing down...' he thought grimly.
Leaning his head back against the front passengers seat, Sesshomaru closed his eyes in frustration. He was sick of watching the same scenery pass by as they drove on to where Hiten was located at. Trees, shops, civilians, prostitutes...all nuisances to him. He sighed as they rammed another stop sign, flinging it up into the air. Thankfully this wasn't his car.
"I thought I told you to slow down, or must I remind you of the threat that still applies if you don't?"
The car slowed down.
"Good boy."
Inuyasha's only response were some muffled growls.
Something wasn't right, but Kagome couldn't quite place her finger on what it was. Ever since she had first set foot in Hiten's huge house, she'd gotten a feeling of impending doom, of great torture that was to come...
Her stomach grumbled loudly and she glanced up in embarrassment at Hiten who gave her a knowing look.
"How rude of me not to offer you food...what would you like to eat? Name it and I guarantee you that I have it." he was already heading towards the large kitchen that was down the hall.
The hungry girl perked up at the thought of food, forgetting all about her earlier embarrassment. "You know, what...I could really go for some spicy barbequed chicken wings right about now..." her mouth was filling up with saliva at the thought of savoring those spicy wings.
Hiten stopped and brought his finger thoughtfully to his chin. "I think I..wait, yes I...no...I'll check to see if I have any left."
"Okay." Kagome glared at Hiten's retreating back. 'Name it and I guarantee I have it my ass...'
Huffing, she began to twiddle her fingers, a nervous habit that she'd picked up from one of her patients. Quite frankly, she hated it. When someone twiddled their fingers, it was a dead give away that they were anxious about something. Kagome didn't like it when people were able to read her feelings like an open book. Especially when she was nervous or scared.
"Damn whoever brought this habit upon me!" she glanced down at her rapidly moving fingers. "Just who was it anyways?" she questioned herself. 'Ah, well. It doesn't matter. Can't do anything much about it no-'
Suddenly, the sound of loud crackling assaulted the pondering girls ears. She jerked sharply in surprise, tipping the chair backwards and unfortunately, going down with it. She grasped wildly at the empty air in front of her, but to no avail as she soon found herself in a new painful position on the ground. At last, when her heart had finally gone back to a healthy pumping rate, Kagome heaved herself up to her feet wincing since the wind was knocked out of her, and looked about suspiciously for whatever had made the sound.
Upon seeing nothing that could've made the noise, she brushed herself down and began setting the knocked down chair upright. That is, until the crackling started up again, this time accompanied by inaudible voices. Dropping the long forgotten chair, Kagome stalked towards Hiten's seat across from her, and then to the small lamp stand beside it. Cautiously she opened the drawer, and to her confusion, found what looked like a small black radio set inside.
"What the..." slowly, she turned the little knob for volume.
" -crackle-her? Do you have the girl, Hiten? Is-crackle-is she carrying the jewel with-crackle-with her? Hello? Dammit, Hiten!-crackle-why don't you fu-"
Kagome stepped back.
Girl? Jewel? What was that guy talking about? Did he mean her? She bit her lip, drawing blood. Whatever he was talking about, Hiten was involved, meaning she had to get out of there. Fast.
The convinced psychiatrist nodded and smacked her fist against her palm. "Right! I gotta get out of here...!"
"Oh, really?"
Standing in front of the opened drawer, Kagome swirled around to see Hiten with his arms crossed in a not-so-friendly stance and a plastered on smile that even she could tell was forced. Her heart pounded furiously as the amused youkai advanced towards her quickly and she tried to steady herself. 'Okay Kagome. Come on. Just take a few deep breaths. You can handle this.'
"Hey, Hiten...! I, uh, I didn't notice you there before." She grinned , trying hard not to seem terrified. "So...did you have any...eh...any..." 'Shoot!' Kagome cursed herself mentally. She had forgotten what it was exactly that he had left to go get for her. 'Wow, great job Kagome! That's really handling the situation!'
"Not..." she muttered pathetically under her breath.
"Spicy barbequed chicken wings is what you wanted, if I remember correctly."
'Oh, right.'
"Yeah, that's it!" Kagome smacked her head with the palm of her hand and chuckled sheepishly. "Spicy barbequed chicken wings...heh, I have such a terrible memory, you know."
Hiten stared at her dryly with the same forced smile, which was rapidly faltering to Kagome's dismay. "Indeed."
He wasn't buying it.
'All right then. Time to make my move.'
Scratching the back of her neck, Kagome look down at her watch in a way which she hoped Hiten would take as 'busy', and 'tsked'.
"Oh my, would you look at the time! It's-" she blinked. Her watch said 9:42 pm. "-It's already nine. Can you believe that! Well," turning, she gave her most apologetic look. "I guess we'll have to continue this another time. I will try to fit you into my very busy schedule...bye, bye!"
Zooming towards the door, Kagome was almost able to actually open it, only a clenched fist held it in place. She spun around and was met with the infuriated face of Hiten. 'Oh god! He looks scary!'
"I think," he stated slowly, putting his face less than an inch away from hers, "that we should really continue this now."
"Eh, no...I really think we shouldn't..." 'That's right...just keep talking...'
Hiten went into a fit of laughter. When he finally calmed down, the newly composed youkai wiped tears of mirth from his eyes and grinned. "Ah, Kagome...if it wasn't necessary for you to be pure, I'd..." he looked about the room, for what, she didn't know. "Well, who's gonna know, right? It'll be our little secret..."
He never got the chance to do whatever it was he wanted to do. Right outside, the sound of two male voices became louder as they got closer and closer to the door Kagome was currently backed up against. They stopped before they actually made it to the door and everything went silent.Hiten had become rigid and his hold on Kagome's shoulders tightened up when the voices stopped suddenly.
Only after about three minutes of disquieting silence did he finally slacken a bit."Huh." he scoffed, wiping sweat from his brow and looked down at the worried girl in front of him. "Here I was getting all uptight over nothin'. Now, where were w-"
Kagome wasn't quite sure what exactly happened next, but before she knew it, the large window next to them was being shattered and broken glass pieces were raining down onto the tile. Hiten, to her relief had released his hold and she slid down to the floor covering her eyes, lest some glass get in them. Spreading out her fingers, Kagome peeked curiously to see what was happening. Hiten was standing upright in a fighting stance with his fists raised and seemed to be facing another figure that she couldn't see all too well. The only thing that was clear about this other 'unknown person', was the long silver blur she assumed to be hair. That and the fact he was obviously male.
'What is going on...do they know each other or something? She felt the door behind her .'Okay, this is good. All I have to do is slip outside without any of these two maniacs noticing me.' She glanced at them.
They were still giving each other the evil eye, or at least, Hiten, was giving the evil eye. The other silver haired guy was glaring cooly at Hiten with his arms crossed. 'When they start fighting, that's when I'll execute my plan!' The two men continued to do nothing. 'If they start fighting.'
10 minutes later...
Kagome yawned and checked her watch. It was already ten pm and nothing interesting had occurred since the window had shattered. Even Hiten himself appeared as if he was getting impatient. He began tapping his foot and clenching his fists'. At last, he could no longer take it.
"Well? Are you gonna come at me or what! Or maybe you just prefer to stand there taking up my oxygen and wasting my time?" he chuckled at his own joke.
For a quick second, Kagome thought she saw the silver haired mans' amber eyes flicker towards the stairs, but before she knew it, they were back on Hiten. "It is you who is wasting my time."
As if the comment was a cue, thudding footsteps were heard coming down the stairs and Kagome rubbed her eyes to be sure she was actually seeing the young man standing at the bottom.
"No, it can't be"The boys' two dog ears twitched.
Kagome's face paled. It was him.There was no mistaking it.Inuyasha was in the same room as her, holding a large sack in his hands, and wearing his trademark smirk. Which promptly disappeared as he caught sight of Kagome sitting by the door looking like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Inuyasha was confused. Very, very confused. He and Sesshomaru had broken through Hiten's front widow, and he had immediately headed upstairs to search for the sack Hiten had stolen. Sesshomaru meanwhile stayed downstairs to distract the lightening youkai whilst Inuyasha went about correcting his mistake.
It was the perfect plan, and had gone so well... until he saw her sitting there.Just what was shedoing here?
"...the hell...? Why are you here?Shouldn't you be in your office bothering people with your stupid questions or something?" Inuyasha eyeballed her suit. Maybe she was Hitens' girlfriend? The wench sure was dressed nice enough to be going on a date...
"Well! What the hell are you doing here!" Her unwillingness to answer was really starting to get to him. Dropping his sack, the pissed hanyou snatched his gun out of the pocket that was on the inside of his coat and aimed it straight at the trembling girl. "Hiten, I suggest you get out of our way, otherwise, I send bullet right through the center of your girlfriends skull."He cocked his gun. "And I mean it this time."
Kagome wanted to do nothing more then run out of there and cry her eyes out, but fate wouldn't let her. Therefore, she had two choices. Either try to talk her way out of this, or make a break for the outside and most likely get her head blow off. She shook her head at the nasty mental image of a chibi version of herself running around without a head. 'Guess that means I better talk myself out of this one.' She stared at the three dangerous looking men in front of her and gulped. 'Or at least try to.'
Holding out her hands harmlessly, the terrified psychiatrist slowly got to her feet, if not a bit wobbly, and cleared her throat. The young men waited, some more patiently then others.
"Um, hi. I just wanted to say that, uh, in no way am I involved with Hiten, other then the fact that I am...er, was his psychiatrist. He called me this afternoon for a therapy session..."
"At his home?" Inuyasha interjected disbelievingly.
"Yes, at his home." Shot back Kagome. "I would get paid fifty dollars more if I came here for a house call..."
Inuyasha snorted, not letting Kagome finish. "Right. I bet you would..."
"Will you shut up!" She was really starting to hate this guy the more he opened his mouth. Almost immediately, the tip of his gun was but centimeters from her face. Kagome froze, not budging an inch as she lifted her flighty gaze to the weapon.
Inuyasha was breathing steadily, not at all bothered that he was about to kill someone, much less his own psychiatrist. "Guess you're not so damn cocky now, huh?" he brought the gun closer. As if a chill passed by, he stiffened suddenly. He hadn't sensed it before, but now he could. 'This girl...' Inuyasha studied her quietly as she drew her gaze from his gun to some unknown spot behind him. If someone had told him, he wouldn't have believed it, but her aura proved him otherwise. '...she's a miko?'
In the background, a boot scraped the tiled floor and Inuyasha spun aroundshooting a bullet from his gun.
Opening her eyes slowly, Kagome took in the sight before her. Inuyasha was silently lifting up his sack while Sesshomaru stared impassively at Hiten's body which lay on the floor in a pool of red. Inuyasha's bullet had gone right through the area in his chest where the heart was located at. Only, the bullet was no longer there. It was like it had disappeared.
"I-is he...dead...?" Kagome asked no one in particular. She hadn't expected or wanted anyone to answer. Unfortunately, someone did.
"He might be. Though I highly doubt that stubborn ass would die just like that. Don't you agree, Sesshomaru? Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha glanced around. "Hm. I guess he's already waiting in the car." Swinging his sack onto his shoulder, the hanyou walked swiftly towards the door, and Kagome scurried away.
"Hey, and where do you think you're going, wench?" he didn't wait for an answer, just brought out his gun and pointed it at her. "You're coming with us."
" But...!"
"Just get outside. And don't try to run, because I will catch you. Then it won't be pretty. Understand? Good. Now, get a move on."
And so Kagome was led, at gun point of course, outside and into the car she supposed was Inuyashas'. She stared out the window as they passed Hitens house, where his corpse lay inside. 'Probably rotting.' Kagome thought miserably. Not that she liked the guy or anything...but he was a once living person. Up until ten minutes ago, that is.
"Stop looking so depressed, wench. Don't tell me you actually liked that bastard? Because if you did, I might have to kill you. Never know if you might go on some revenge killing spree or something." Inuyasha smirked as he saw the girl tense up. She was so easy to freak out.
Still looking out the window half an hour later, Kagome began to notice something very suspicious. Very odd, too. So, she decided to use up what little courage was left and ask Inuyasha what was going on.
"Er...Inuyasha?" Silence. "...Inuyasha?" Should she poke him? He was still twirling that gun in his hands. Poking was definitely a no-no. "Hey, Inuyasha..."
"For gods sake, Inuyasha, just answer her." At least she was able to get someone's attention.
Inuyasha sighed, seeming to break out of some sort of reverie, and tilted his head to show he was listening.
"Where are you taking me?" There. She had asked. Now, if he could only answer...
"...Why should I tell you?" Kagome frowned and leaned back in her seat. She could already tell this was going to take a while.
"Well, I think I should have the right to know where you are taking me. I mean, if you want to kidnap me for ransom, that's just crazy as I don't have much money. So...you would be wasting your time and gasoline." She held her breath hopefully.
"...You talk too much..." 'Stupid, arrogant, pompous...'
"If you would just tell me where the heck you're taking me, then I'd shut up...!"
"Who said I wanted you to shut up? Go ahead and talk all you want. I'll simply ignore you."
"Why you...!"
"We are taking you to your home." Both Inuyasha and Kagome spun their heads around to stare at Sesshomaru, who continued looking straight ahead. Kagome would hope so, since he was the one driving.
"Oh." Inuyasha huffed and crossed his arms angrily. "Why'd you have to tell her? Now she's not gonna be all nervous and scared..."
Now Kagome was even more confused than before. They were taking her home? Why? How? They knew where she lived? That was plain creepy.
The stubborn young man in the passengers seat must have seen Kagome's reproaching look, because he suddenly twisted around in his seat and grinned.
"You don't think we're actually just going to leave you in your house as if nothing happened, do you? That would be pretty idiotic of us...but don't worry. We have a plan."
"Will you desist from saying 'we'? The idea of being associated with you leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
"What did you say...!"
"Don't talk to me. I'm driving."
Inuyasha sent Sesshomaru a long hard glare before turning back to Kagome.
"As I was saying...I..." There was a loud vibrating sound and Inuyasha groaned in annoyance. Reaching into his pocket, he brought out a cell phone and flipped it open.
"Yeah? Who is it and what do you want?" He listened for awhile, and rolled his eyes.
"...yeah, yeah...I'm sure that's quite a fascinating tale, but I have a job for you. Huh? Yes, you can bring Sango...eh? Well, if she doesn't want to, then you're out of luck...what?" For a few seconds, Inuyasha's face became as red as a cherry, and Kagome was curious as to why. "Listen you lech, just bug the house...yeah, that one, and you're done...just do it, alright? Bye."
After he hung up, Inuyasha didn't say another word until they were in Kagome's driveway. Nobody moved, until Sesshomaru released the steering wheel and turned to stare at Inuyasha, who stared back unblinkingly.
Kagome could only sit and watch uncomfortably, until Inuyasha sneezed, closing both eyes in the process. When he had realized what he'd done, the hanyou went into a fit.
"Now way...I'm not going to watch over her...! You do it! I've got better stuff to do!"
"You blinked, so now you have to make sure she doesn't step out of line." The young girl shook her head. They weren't saying what she thought they were saying...were they?
"You lost, so now you have to do it." The card doors unlocked automatically, and glared hard and long at Kagome, who didn't have a clue as to why. What had she done?
"This is all you're fault, stupid wench..." he mumbled while getting out of the car and slamming the door forcefully. "Well? Get out, girl!"
She stumbled out onto the wet grass and sat there for a moment, wondering if this was all really happening. 'It can't be...this is all a misunderstanding...'
"Get a move on, I ain't got all day!" he was already standing by her front door, waiting for Kagome to open it.
She actually considered jumping back into the car, but Sesshomaru had sped away the moment she touched ground.
"I said hurry up, stupid!"
It wasn't a misunderstanding. Inuyasha meant to stay there. In her house. To keep an eye on her.
"This can't be happening." But it was. It most certainly was.
End of chapter
Once again, I'll try to update soon. Please leave a review! They help me update faster...