Disclamier: I don't own Inuyasha or Get Backers so don't even think about suing me because I don't have any money.
AN: I want to make this clear to all my readers out there. To check if the votes for the pairings were correct, I tried to look at the reviews but somehow lost count and may have miscounted. If anyone would be kind enough to check for the result to see if I did miscount, I'd really appreciate it.
Dialogue Key:
(…) -- Author's Note or comment
"…" -- Human Dialect
#…# -- Demon Dialect
'…' -- Thoughts
Names and ages of Characters that will appear are in Chapter OneAs for the pairing poll, here are the current results until a few more chapters.
Here are the Votes for pairings:
Ban/Kagome: 10
Shido/Kagome: 1
Kazuki/Kagome: 8
Akabane/Kagome: 5
Jubei/Kagome: 1
Emishi/Kagome: 0 (If no one votes for this one by the next update, I'm taking it out of the Poll)
Kagami/Kagome: 1
The other Polls are:
Natsumi/Souta: 1
Ginji/Natsumi: 0
You guys can give pairing suggestions, if you like. Just keep them coming. And you can vote for more than one pairing, if you want. For those who had a hard time making up their minds between two or more choices I counted those choices as well.
And as for the pairing(s) that are already been set:
Shiori/MakubeX
Also note that this fic will have a LOT of spoilers for those who haven't seen episodes eleven and up.
Chapter Three
Meet The Client, And The I.L. Get Back Plan
------------ Deep within Mugen-jou, before HEVN and the others gathered ------------
Within a large dark room that was filled with pillars, fingers typed away furiously on a keyboard as a boy of fourteen years was sitting in front of various hard drives and monitors while looking through what looked like some sort of headgear that you would usually use for a virtual reality game.
Footsteps came to a stop not far from where the boy sat as he spoke, "There are no errors in my calculations. I'll get you guys to act accordingly." He presses the 'enter' key before continuing, "I hold the future of Mugen-jou. This is my answer… Ginji-san."
------------ With everyone outside of a clutter of abandoned Warehouses ------------
"They put in so much effort to get us to come here to Mugen-jou." Akabane spoke as took in the structure of cluttered buildings that were before him and the others.
"This place isn't really Mugen-jou. Right, Kazuki?" Shido spoke, turning to his friend but ended up catching the sight of Kagome standing not too far looking toward the structure with her kids standing on either side of her. To Shido, it was amazing how she looked so much like the girl he had met many years ago with her black hair and rare blue eyes.
The strange thing to him was that her aura felt like the mix of a bat and fox combined while the kids, Shiori and Shippó one of each. Shiori feeling like a bat and human while Shippó felt like a full-bred fox. What also made him curious was what she had said at the shop before Akabane came.
"Because…Mugen-jou… used to be my home. When I was a child." He remembered her saying as he wondered, 'If she used to live in Mugen-jou… then how did she escape?'
His thoughts were cut as he heard Kazuki answer, "That's right."
"It looks like you know this place well. So dependable." Akabane spoke again with a chuckle.
Shiori looked to her mother asking, "We're only just outside of Mugen-jou, aren't we Haha-ue?" She and Shippó came with her once to get a closer look once when they were curious as to where Kagome used to live before the Higurashis adopted her but the little bat hanyou wasn't sure how close they were to Mugen-jou.
Nodding in affirmation, Kagome said while still looking at the clutter of buildings that used to be her home, "Yeah… if memory serves me correctly… we're only some odd yards away from the actual border of Mugen-jou."
Kagome still couldn't believe how it had been since she had left this Hellhole that used to be her home. She never thought that she would live to see the day when she would be coming back… even if it was only for a job.
"Hmm… very dependable." She heard Akabane say to him self before turning a glare at him as if silently saying, 'shut up.'
HEVN then turned toward everyone with the female intermediary spoke, "Don't get into a fight, now." As she and Souta led them to a warehouse straight ahead of them.
"This is where we're suppose to meet the client." Souta announced in a calm voice.
"What is it? It looks like the place is in ruins." Ban pointed out, finding it strange to meet the client at an abandoned building like this.
The place looked like it wouldn't last long with its dusty and broken windows and such.
"It does. We were told to come here." HEVN said to Ban in agreement.
Looking at the place, Kazuki asked, "You don't know any details?"
"That's right. We don't even know who the client is." She answered while Souta thought, 'She doesn't know who the client is. But I do… sorta.'
Ban then turned to her with a grin on his face as he said to HEVN, "Wow, that's rare. You're an intermediary for someone you know absolutely nothing about."
"I know that they're very reliable and will keep to their word." HEVN said seriously.
"Hmmm? So, I guess the money was very good." Ban turned thoughtful at this while wondering how much they would be getting as HEVN paused and Souta tried his best to hold back a laugh from the look on HEVN's face.
She then stuttered, "I-it's no just that…" Everyone turned to HEVN. "Anyways, I know that this request is involved with some very important event." And with that HEVN walked ahead of them confirmed that they had arrived as the doors opened themselves, letting them all enter the rundown warehouse. After they had all entered, the doors closed behind them with a clank.
Akabane chuckled, "So much effort put into this… so will a demon or serpent come out to get us?" Shiori, who was at his side, glared at him and lightly punched his hip as Souta said in a deadpanned voice, "Don't jinx us about that crap, Akabane-san." Dr. Jackal just chuckled.
HEVN took a step forward and spoke loudly, "It's me. It's HEVN!"
No one answered. There was nothing but silence in the dark and dank place. The place may have looked like it was empty, but Kagome, Souta, Shiori, and Shippó knew that wasn't true. 'So that's their purpose…' Kagome thought as she reached into her vest to take out her Taijya mask, with Souta and the kids following her example, so they wouldn't have to breath in any fumes from Himiko's perfumes by accident or breath in any kinds of gases that their enemy may be using.
None of the others noticed this but were on guard as Ban made an impatient sound as he took out a cigarette while saying, "These guys are acting like they're so important. This is why I don't like the jobs that HEVN brings." While lighting the said stick of tobacco and nicotine, a man in a sea monster mask that had nails sticking out of it came out with a crowbar ready to strike at Ban. But before he could hit Ban, the Jagan user grabbed the guy in the face and lifted him in the air.
"I didn't hear anything about a welcoming party for us." He pointed out before throwing the guy into a wall.
Ginji's lightening struck a couple of the attackers before they could even touch him saying, "If this is supposed to be a joke, it isn't funny."
'Same old Ginji…' Kagome thought to herself. Despite that she hadn't seen her brother in so long and the fact that he may have forgotten about her, Kagome couldn't help but feel happy to be with her brother again. Kazuki and Shido too as she saw them use their trademark techniques. She had missed her friends and family. And during this job, she promised herself that she was going to do everything she could to protect them.
"I guess they want to see our skills." Kagome heard Kazuki say, as he got ready to attack again with Shido saying that he didn't like showing off his skills as he summoned a large group of mice to attack with a single whistle.
Himiko used her perfume that reverted three of the masked attackers into acting like monkeys, saying, "Oh, this is a test? I guess I went a little too far, then." The girl was feigning innocence… in a calm way.
Souta just shook his as he stood in front of HEVN, protecting her from any of the mob that may attack her. He knew that Lady Poison was unknowingly trying to get his attention. But the perfume user wasn't his type… and the fact that Kokota, Inuyasha's son, had his eyes set on her- all the more reason to keep his distance from the girl.
He had a feeling that these guys were just following orders so they could test the team that HEVN and he had put together. But a couple of them didn't even know who was a part of the team or was the intermediary. So naturally, they try to attack HEVN and himself. Souta didn't have to worry about his own safety but protected HEVN when most of them tried to play dirty by using weapons against her.
Souta could see that his sister, niece, and nephew doing just fine. Kagome was using her weakest technique on them; her energy whip made from her miko powers. Taught to her by Sesshoumaru himself. Shiori had her barrier erected while she used her newest technique on the attackers. She was able to summon bats, real or formed from shadows, to help her attack her opponents. Even though she preferred to use her shadow bats rather than real flesh and blood one in a fight.
This technique of hers, he could tell, surprised Shido a bit considering that he was the "beast master." Kazuki was surprised at the use of Kagome's miko whip because she could manipulate her energy make multiple energy strings at the tips of her fingers, using them the same way Kazuki used his Koto strings.
"What's the matter? Aren't you going to test me?" Akabane asked a small group of their attackers. But out of fear, they said that they had enough before running for their lives after Akabane turned to walk toward the others. "It's too late…" The scalpel user softly said before the attackers fell to the ground with J's appearing on their backs.
Kagome knew that after spend time with her and her family, Akabane had given up taking lives during jobs just to spill blood and took up to injuring his victims to the point where they were rendered motionless. When using his weapons, he leaves his trademark "J" without killing, only hitting the pressure points in the spine to where they were rendered unconscious.
And she'll admit that Akabane had changed a great deal. Kagome could only wonder if he gave up killing so she wouldn't have to be disgusted by his fighting habits. But she could care less about what he did because it was his business and he killed out of self-defense more than just the mere pleasure.
"Was I supposed to leave some for the rest of you?" He asked the others with his trademark unreadable smile.
'When did he do that? I couldn't see.' Kazuki thought to himself. Akabane had moved so fast that it was as if he hadn't moved when he had attacked.
Shido had thought of him as a bastard while Himiko thought that she didn't think she would ever get used to Akabane.
Ginji then grab the front of Akabane's trench and pushed him against the wall. Akabane seemed unfazed by Ginji as he asked, "What is it, Ginji-kun?"
The former Lightning Emperor clenched his teeth while speaking to Dr. Jackal in anger, "You didn't have to go so far!"
Kagome chose this moment to step in before the situation got out of hand and pulled Ginji off of Akabane, ordering, "Cut it out, Ginji! Akabane didn't kill them."
Ginji stopped struggling against Kagome's hold and looked toward Akabane's victims to see a slow but steady rise and fall from their chests and backs signaling that they were still breathing. Kagome was right. They weren't dead.
Akabane just kept his smile on while saying, "Like Kagome-chan said, I haven't done anything wrong. And this is what the client want, ne?" The last question was directed toward HEVN and Souta but their attention as well as the others was turned to where the lights were turned on to reveal three men in what looked like porcelain masks. The one in the middle, with the mask that had a design that looked like a part of Jakotsu's facial makeup under the left eye while there was a mole under the corner of the right eye, looked to be the one who was in charge as he spoke, "I see… It looks like you've hired people who are beyond our expectations."
'Damn right, we are.' Kagome thought, slightly miffed. She hated how the clients usually underestimated the skills she, her family, and her partners.
"Could you introduce them to us, HEVN-san?" The same guy asked, not really acknowledging that Souta was there as a intermediary which also kinda ticked the boy off to no end.
"Sure. First these two are the Repossessors: The Get Backers. Mido Ban with the Jagan and former Thunder Emperor of the Volts, Amano Ginji." HEVN answered, first introducing the crazy pair before moving on to Shido, "A repossessor as well, this is The Beast Master Fuyuuki Shido."
Souta took this time to introduce his sister, answering, "In case Shido-san or The Get Backers have any difficulties in retrieving the goods, The Higure Repossession Service will step in with my sister, former resident of Mugen-jou Higurashi Kagome, to retrieve the said goods using whatever techniques she deems necessary. And if there are any kind of unknown security locks or computer encryptions on the way, my nephew Higurashi Shippó will hack into anything that involves the technology."
HEVN then continued, "Once the target has been repossessed, it will be handed to Higurashi Shiori for her protection service with the deliverers being… Dr. Jackal, Akabane Kuroudo, and Lady Poison, Kudo Himiko. The last person will be a guide and lead the team… Fuchoin Kazuki, formerly one of the Four Kings of The Volts. And we are the intermediaries, HEVN and Higurashi Souta."
Souta then spoke, announcing, "These are the members for 'The IL Get Back Plan'."
Shiori scrunched up her nose in distaste at the name for the plan. Really, she heard of better names from action Anime shows like "Naruto" and… hell, even the American show, "Power Rangers" had better names for mission plans.
(Authoress pauses with a sweatdrop… rereads the line and laughs her butt off)
"Good work. We probably couldn't ask for members of Higher Quality." The client spoke. Shippó silently snorted at this and thought, 'yeah, even if it bit you in the ass.' As the client continued, suggesting that they talk about the plan until Ban interrupted, "Hey, wait a sec."
"What is it, Mido Ban?"
"Why is it that you have those weird masks on while we're exposed right here?" Ban made a pretty good point in this, Kagome had to admit. This may have been the first time she came face to face with a client who didn't want to show his face but knew that from the start that the job sounded fishy when HEVN said that she didn't know any specific details.
The client then apologized, saying, "I'm sorry, but we can't reveal our identities. If you don't like it, feel free to leave."
"Who do you think you are, testing us and stuff…" HEVN stopped him from saying anymore while asking him to be patient. Souta then walked to Ban's side, speaking in a low tone to that the clients wouldn't hear him, "We don't like how they're keeping their identities a secret from us anymore then you do, Midou-san but none us of are leaving either. Please be patient a while longer so that we can all leave without any more problems."
Ban had to admit that the kid had a way with words… seeing no other way around it and not wanting to give up this job, he agreed to be patient a while longer until their meeting was over.
It was then the client started, "Now then, let's get started. However, we can't tell you much."
'Can't tell us much… they must be working for the government.' Kagome thought before listening to the client once more as he spoke, "We'd like you to realize that the item we want you to repossess is important everyone who lives in Tokyo… no, everyone who lives in Japan. For convenience, we'll call the target by its initials: "IL". The "IL", which has been stolen from us, is inside Mugen-jou."
"'IL.' Pronounced the same as the English word "i-l-l." It reminds of a disease." Kazuki said.
"The disease that lies deep within the demon's lair, huh?" Akabane mused to himself before Shippó and Shiori gave him a look that told him to shut up and also showed how offended they were.
"It's quite dangerous just to be going into Mugen-jou. Therefore, we'll be paying you five million yen for this job." Ban had a greedy grin on his face at this. "We'd like to finish the deal by paying you some up front and giving maps to your guide, Kazuki." And with that, the man from the client's left side tossed a manila colored envelope to Kazuki. Once Kazuki had caught the envelope, the clients had wished them luck before the lights went out.
When the team made is outside, Ban went on saying, "Those guys were so unsociable. Ne, Ginji?" The former lightning emperor agreed though he had seemed to be in his own thoughts.
"What else can you expect from government officials?" Kagome had muttered but was clear enough for the Jagan-user, as well as the others, to hear her.
Ban then paused in his stride while letting Kagome walk pass him before asking, "What do you mean by "government officials"?"
Kagome then turned to him while giving a "don't be stupid" look, explaining, "Come on… 'Can't tell us much'… They have to wear masks just to hide their identity while the average client isn't afraid to show their face, whether they are part of a yakuza clan or not, and they have to give our target a code name. Not to mention the amount of money that they paying us just because we're going into Mugen-jou… if you ask me, the entire thing practically has the government written all over it." The rest of Kagome's family and Akabane had to agree with this. Not even a private citizen would put so much effort into this plan and pay that much money.
Ban didn't bother to listen to her (everything went through one ear and out the other) and turned his attention to Kazuki saying, "Hey, string-boy, don't run off with the money."
Kazuki just smiled saying, "So, is money the most important thing? Don't worry, I'm not as greedy for money as you are." Kagome and her family almost snorted in laughter at that.
"What?! Are you looking for a fight?"
An explosion then went off behind them, startling them and making them look behind them only to see the warehouse they just recently in be torn to the ground. After everything quieted down, Ban spoke, "Wow, everything they do has already been planned from the beginning."
"They aren't gonna leave anything behind. I wonder if this "IL" is that important." Himiko said as she looked at the rubble.
"Whatever it is, it doesn't concern me. What matters to me is how much fun I can have on a job." Akabane spoke before turning to leave with HEVN reminding him that they were to start the next morning.
It was then Shido who spoke as he picked up the mask of the man who was their client, "Mugen-jou. I didn't think I'd ever return there." And dropped the mask with the rest of the rubble before walking off.
Kagome also took this time to leave with her kids and kid brother in tow, saying that they need to get ready for tomorrow morning. But not without Souta notifying HEVN about him having classes that day and asked the female intermediary if she could take over for them. HEVN didn't mind in the least and said that he had nothing to worry about.
------------ Outside of The Honky Tonk, with Ginji and Kazuki ------------
"Are you sure about this, Ginji-san? If you return to Mugen-jou…" Kazuki understood that his former leader wanted to go back to Mugen-jou for the job but he still couldn't help but worry for him as they stared off into the distance where they could clearly see Mugen-jou.
A pause passed between them before Ginji asked, "Ne, Kazu-chan, do you think the other two are involved?"
"If not both, then at least one of them. If it weren't so, they wouldn't need to call you, Shido, or myself- same with Kagome-san, since she used to be a resident in Mugen-jou."
"That's right. We might be able to see them both again."
Kazuki smiled at the thought, saying, "Yes, that's right. There's someone I'd like to meet in Mugen-jou as well."
"Oh, yes, him…"
"But I left without their knowledge, so I'm sure he's mad."
------------ Madoka's mansion ------------
(Or is it Modako? She's the blind girl who's a violinist and has the eye seeing dog named Mozart. I can't remember her name)
Shido was standing outside of Madoka's window, listening to her play her violin without her noticing his presence before leaving to get him self ready for the morning.
His thoughts then took him down memory lane, remembering a time he had met the first and only human who had understood his animal friends as much as he did. This was a time from before he had met Emishi but sometime after he had first arrived in Mugen-jou. The memory of raven-haired, blue-eyed girl appeared in his mind's eyes… a face that had remarkably resembled that of the raven-haired mother of two children he had met earlier that day.
The girl from his past within the walls of Mugen-jou shared a resemblance to Madoka, but only in her outlook of the world. He never got the name of the girl who was the first to never show fear of him or his animals but he knew that he could never forget her face or the understanding she showed to him and his animal friends.
Shido couldn't help but have a sneaky suspicion that the woman Kagome and the girl he had met long ago in Mugen-jou were somehow one in the same.
------------ Kagome's Shrine ------------
Shippó was typing away, hacking into the Japanese Top Secret Archives to see if there was any news that could give them a hint in what their target is and why it was stolen, since it was obvious to them that the government was what wanted the team in the first place.
Kagome walked into his room with a cup of hot cocoa in one hand and a cup of French vanilla coffee (decaf) in the other. She smiled at the sight of her son working so hard to find out what the goods that they were supposed to retrieve were. Souta had gone to bed after dinner so that he could wake up and be ready for class. And Shiori was already asleep after searching through her history books to figure out which historical event was their target was involved in.
The only thing that Shiori could come up with before going to bed was the bombing of Hiroshima, but she had set that aside because is was an attack launched by America in World War II. When Kagome told her that it could be a possibility that the goods could be connected, the little bat hanyou save what she had found just in case.
Setting the hot cocoa on the drink coaster that was set beside Shippó's home computer, Kagome asked, "Found anything, kit?"
Shippó just sighed with a stretch before answering, "Nope. These guys are very hush-hush about this assignment. I asked Sesshou-ojiue about it online and he said that they're real tight about this. There's no way I can find out more. All I do know is that if the government is involved, there's a chance that we're getting back a Top-Secret weapon, stolen money, or some documents concerning something top secret."
"So we'll have to keep a heads up with what we have: the target's initials "IL"… its involvement in a major event… and the government's involvement." Kagome mused. She had to admit that these guys were good, real good. But she knew that they would eventually find out what the goods are. After taking a sip of her coffee, Kagome gave her son a kiss on top of his head before saying, "When your done with your cocoa, I want you to set the mug in the sink and go to bed. We don't want you to be tired on the job."
"Okay, I will." The little Kit answered before biding his mother goodnight as she walked out of his room to go to her own room for some much needed rest.
FINISHED, FINALLY!!! For some odd reason I felt the urge to finish writing this on Thursday (Technically, I finished it at two in the morning on Friday) and I was able to finish. I'm so HAPPY! And it was done just before my second niece's birthday (April 14th, Saturday) She's going to be two years now
But it was posted late because the site was being crappy and wouldn't let me upload the document.
Anyways, I hope you guys had enjoyed this. Especially you Chibes- if you're reading this. I hope this was enough to give a little inspiration to write the next chapter to your GetBackers/Inuyasha Xover, "Its all relative". I REALLY want to know what happens next in that fic T-T.
Reviews would be appreciated and clothing ideas for Kagome in the next chapter when she heads off to Mugen-jou.
AND DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR PAIRINGS!!!!!! Thank you.