Corruption's Captive
Chapter Four: Gone While Away

It was a rarity that the elders of any covenant would grant anyone a meeting within a day of the request. Usually, they didn't even agree to see someone within a month but his was accepted almost instantly. The three elders of the covenant all allowed him to enter their council room.

He knew the reason why, though. Under his care, a covenant member had died, sister Aoki Ayame was taken by a werewolf while Inuyasha was meant to protect her… and killed. They wouldn't blame him, he had done everything in his power, and it was excepted that not all six sisters would make it out of training alive. It was a miracle if five out of the six did.

"We heard what happened," the first elder proclaimed to gain his attention. "We are very sorry, but from what we heard from sister Kobayashi and Higurashi you did everything in your power. You even risked your own life by following them. You cannot be blamed for this, Father Taiko."

"The werewolf that took… her wasn't a normal one," Inuyasha dared to say, it was the reason he called the meeting. Not to get counseled on what had happened. Not to be told he did no wrong. Not to be lied to any further, he wanted the truth. "He was an original."

Instantly, all three of the old, wrinkled, men froze. He was fairly certain he even heard their hearts skip a beat before one swallowed, cleared his throat, and corrected him. With a shake of his head, he declared, "you are wrong. There are no more original werewolves left in this world. We exterminated them all."

"Apparently you missed one," Inuyasha retorted, "I know what a hybrid werewolf looks like and I know that wasn't just a hybrid. He was more than a big wolf."

"You are wrong," another asserted again. "You were affected by the event too much, that you saw what would help you process the event better."

"Ask Kobayashi or Higurashi, they'll tell you the same thing-"

"They told us a werewolf took her, that they were scared, and could not give us more specifics," an elder enlightened. "Not that it was an original. You will not go spreading these rumors, Father Taiko. Do you understand that?"

"I saw what I saw," Inuyasha firmly asserted, "I know that wasn't a mere hybrid. I know hybrids."

"Do not make us give you a formal reprimand, Father Taiko. Another one on your record would not be good."

"I don't care about my record, if we aren't looking for an original then we won't hunt down the right pack to get Aoki justice!"

"The pack must have left our territory, the case will be passed on to whatever covenant's area that the pack arise in," another asserted.

"You mean," he awed with a wide-eyed stare, "that we… just let them get away with it?"

"Shikonism is not about revenge, it would be good for you to remember that," one sharply stated. "Now, to elevate this stress, there is an incident in the north. Girls continuously go missing every other night, so far there are ten. We… sent someone to take care of the problem three days ago. There is no longer any contact."

"Who did you send?"

"Sister Sayoki."

He rolled his eyes at that, "women are going missing and you send a woman?"

"She is the best in the covenant at finding those who are missing. Would you like the case or not, Taiko?"

"Sure," he muttered, he'd rather be anywhere other than Aigo at that moment. Miles away from the elders would do him good and missions always gave him clarity. When one faces death's door, things make more sense. The important things are obvious, the unimportant fade away.

"I'll take it only under one condition," he stated, to the obvious surprise of the elders. They were never told no and rarely ever requested to obey another's conditions. For some reason, one he chose to ignore and never think about again, Inuyasha found himself enjoying the looks of shock and slight annoyance. "I'll go and take care of this problem, successfully as I always do-"

"Beware, Taiko, being too prideful does no one good," one of the elders asserted.

"As I always do," Inuyasha repeated with a more firm voice. "Under one condition, I go alone. If whatever I'm hunting only takes females then I refuse to take one of my trainees with me, seeing as I was assigned a sec of sisters. I'm not losing another so soon."

"We understand," one proclaimed, "and accept such a condition, you may go alone."

"You know, I would do better in the field if I didn't have to worry about them."

"We are allowing you to go on a mission by yourself, don't forget why you were assigned a teaching position. What you did cannot be forgiven so easily, as soon as the sisters under you care age out then you will not be forced to teach again. In less you wish to."

"If I find sister Sayoki I will bring her back," Inuyasha grumbled while he turned on his feet to head out, avoiding all his trainees while doing so. Most of the time, he found himself wishing that the elders had assigned him brothers instead of sisters to train. Not that women couldn't cut it, it was just… he wouldn't have to deal with the problem he was with Higurashi if he had to teacher boys.

But, that was another thing he was certain the elders did on purpose. They knew he'd prefer to around other males but they forced six sisters on him. He knew what he did was wrong, but how much more punishment did he have to endure for it?

ЖЖЖЖЖ

Three days had passed by without him being able to pinpoint what it was exactly that he was meant to hunt. He had explored the outskirts of the town many, many, times since it was the location where at least two of the girls were certainly seen last but… nothing. There wasn't even a trace of something supernatural out there.

It didn't make sense, true evil always left a mark one way or another. He was proof of that. All his hunts before he could catch a hint of what was coming but this time it was nothing. Annoying… it was damn annoying that he couldn't find anything. The more time lose, the more likely sister Sayoki was dead.

No. He knew better than to think like that. It was obvious that Sayoki was dead. Almost a week had gone by since she went missing. But, still, he had accepted the challenge and it allowed him to think about something other than the loss of Aoki Ayame or… Higurashi Kagome.

He had already partook in one wrong, he couldn't let her tempt him into another.

"Fancy meeting you in a place like this," someone proclaimed as he pulled up a seat next to the lone priest. He glanced up from the water he had been staring at and with a dull stare he turned his eyes to the perverted man. "How is it going, Inuyasha?"

"Go away, Miroku," Inuyasha ordered.

"I'd rather not," he assured him with a grand grin as he raised his hand up to wave someone else over. It mere moments the seat beside Miroku was occupied by a lovely lady. Instantly, Inuyasha's glare turned harsh towards the girl. Her he knew, regrettably at that.

"Hello, Father Taiko," she greeted with a forced smile, "how have you been?"

"Grand," he grumbled, "been tempting anyone else out of the right way of life lately, Sango?"

"Inuyasha," Miroku muttered while he shot her an apologetic look. To that, she just shook her head, stood up, and left without another word. With a heavy sigh, he asked, "why do you have to be like that, Inuyasha? It's not Sango's fault that I left the Order. I couldn't help it, I fell in love with her. If it's wrong to be in love and with the woman that makes me feel amazing, then I don't want to be right."

"What do you want, Miroku?" Inuyasha snapped with narrowed eyes, "I don't have the patience for you right now."

For a while, the violet eyed man just sat there staring before he inquired, "what happened…? Something bad, obviously, but what?"

"Miroku," Inuyasha growled as he slammed his hand down on the table, causing his water glass to shake and almost fall over. "Leave me alone."

"Fine," he muttered as he sat up straight and reached into his coat's pocket to pull out a piece of paper with a sketch of a rather ugly looking man. "Sango and I are tracking him, if you see him give me a heads up, please? He's a bad man, wanted for kidnapping, rape, and killing of a series of women in a couple of cities over. We tracked him this way."

"You left the Order to become a bounty hunting couple," Inuyasha mocked as he picked up the paper and glanced over it before letting it fall to the table again, "oh, and let's not forget that sex house you on a share in. You fell far, Miroku."

Miroku parted his lips to reply to that, but really, what could he say? He had no intention of starting an argument with such an old friend… really, he only wished that he could find a way to understand. But it was quite obvious that Inuyasha had no desire it trying to see things from his prospective, so instead he stood up and nodded his head. "Be careful, Inuyasha."

"Don't let her tempt you into too many sins, Miroku," he retorted, which only got the former priest's shoulders to sag all the more as he walked away without another word.

ЖЖЖЖЖ

That was no acceptable. Not at fucking all. How something like that could happen under his watch…? His blood boiled with anger, though he knew it shouldn't. Such a feeling was meant to be tamed, to be cast away by priests such as himself but… but he couldn't. He was furious.

He had been at that village for over a week trying to track whatever supernatural creature was taking the women, why it was doing it, what the pattern was and couldn't find a damn thing. And… then, one morning, he woke up to the news that another girl was missing. That time, she was just sixteen. He had been there, he was meant to protect them, and yet he had failed. Failed miserably at that.

Just as he had at protecting Ayame...

When rage filled one, hunting was hardly a good idea. Mistakes were always made when someone was mad but he cast aside his common sense to rush out to where the girl had last been seen. It was faint, but he caught a whiff of her scent and was able to follow it… so far, it took him the entire day to find where the train ended.

At the edge of a grove of trees, it wasn't quiet big enough to be a forest but… something could surely hide in there. He took a moment to compose himself, to catch his breath, to think through what he was going to do. Slowly, he unsheathed his sword trying his utmost not to make too much noise before he began to creep through the brushes. He avoided the twigs and leaves on the ground the best he could while he made his way deeper and deeper in until he was certainly at the center.

There, he found a small hut. One that probably was no more than a one room place and looked so run down that if not for the fact that there was a light on inside and smoke coming out of the top he wouldn't have thought anyone was living there. Again, he found himself stopping and at a loss… what was going on?

He ran through a list of supernatural creatures in his head, yes many of them liked to have shelter of some sort but which would seek out a secluded run down hut in the midst of a grove of trees? None that he was aware of… werewolves liked caves in mountain sides to hide, vampires sought something underground to hide during the day, and goblins went for something near rivers. Fairies frequented forest like areas but those little fuckers didn't start fires and hide the trees. Nymphs also liked trees but those bitches didn't clothe themselves let alone feel the need to have a roof over their head.

Demons hid in plain sight so they wouldn't hide in the middle of a grove. So what the hell was going on? He took a deep breath in through his nostril to try and catch a scent of some sort that would help explain to him what was going on but, other than his own, there were just human scents.

Two…? A male and a female. Then there was a disgusting mix of bodily fluids as well.

He was at an utter loss at what was going on as he walked around the house to get a better grasp on the situation, to verify that there was only someone inside instead of out. When he got to the other side of the hut he noticed a series of freshly moved dirt. Curiously, he knelt down next to one of them and began to brush the dirt away until he found himself that caused his hand to go flying up to cover his nose.

The smell that erupted from below the dirt was almost as bad as the sight that he saw beneath it. A decomposing face… of someone familiar. Sister Sayoki was rioting away in the ground. That wouldn't do, she deserved a proper burial. When he looked up to the other areas that seemed to have freshly dug graves as well he could see the number matched for the amount of missing girls, expect for one… the sixteen year old could still be alive.

He stood up and slowly started towards the back door, when he glanced in through a window to see what was going on all he saw was a naked in the middle of the floor, tied up and apparently passed out. At least he hoped she was just passed out and not dead. Gradually, he opened the door to step in but the moment he did that someone bashed him over the head to cause him to the fall to the ground.

He groaned as he flipped around to kick the guy away before he could slam down the bat he held again. It took a moment but after getting a good look at the man he recognized him… he was just a human? That human that Miroku and Sango were looking for. All the horrible things that had happened, those bodies, and Sayoki's death was…? By a human?

He was sent to hunt a human?

"Don't move," was ordered the second he got to his feet. His eyes shifted to the gun in the man's hand. Guns didn't do anyone in his position any good, most of the time bullets only pissed off the things he hunted not kill.

"You're a priest," the guy guessed from his wardrobe, "what do you want?"

"You're killing people," amongst other things, "I was sent to figure out what was going on in this area."

"That's too bad for you," he muttered but before he got to pull the trigger something knocked him off his feet and the gun out of his hand.

"Aren't you lucky we were racking the same guy?" Miroku gloated with a grin once Inuyasha looked up. He was hardly going to dignify that with an answer so he turned his gaze over to the girl that was being covered with a blanket by Sango and helped to her feet, balling her eyes out all the while.

"I was hunting a human," Inuyasha slowly stated while he glanced down to Miroku as he wrapped up the man's hands and feet. "I get supernatural creatures… their needs, the way they work, but humans.. doing this to the other humans I don't get."

"I don't either," Miroku assured him.

"I don't get making a living off of these things either," Inuyasha snapped back to the bounty hunter duo. "Take your bounty, I'm going to back to Aigo."

That was it. Miroku knew better than to attempt to start a conversation with him when he was being so… like himself, so he lugged the thug over his shoulders and headed out with Sango helping the kidnapped girl. Inuyasha knew what he had to do, and that wasn't return to the village. Not yet.

He grabbed the shelve that was inside the hut to go out and start to dig up the bodies of the dead girls. They were murdered and surely deserved a proper burial which entailed burning the bodies then burying their ashes. It would probably take him all night.

He didn't care, Sayoki deserved it and so did all the other girls. Though he did have half a mind to figure out how to get their bodies back to the town so that their families could get some closure but that would have entailed returning to the village and getting a wagon… which he was planning on doing once he finished retrieving all the bodies.

But before he had to actually do that dawn's daybreak came along with the sound of footsteps. He clenched the shelve tighter to prepare to strike if need be but as soon as the person reveled himself he just sighed and set it down instead.

"I noticed the graves as well," Miroku announced as he walked forward over to his former friend, "I see you spent all night finishing the dig."

"Did you get your bounty?" Inuyasha inquired with a bent brow.

To that, Miroku just shook his head with utter annoyance, "I brought a wagon so we can take them back to the village, so that they could get a proper burial."

"Good," Inuyasha answered, that saved him the trouble.

"Sango would have liked to come," Miroku dared to point out, "to help but I figured it was best if she didn't… you know, it was my choice, not hers."

"I don't want to talk, let's just get this done," Inuyasha insisted as he took one of the tarps around the bodies. So, Miroku allowed him that, and not didn't spare a word all day. But, as always, Miroku was instant on saying a goodbye but Inuyasha always had to correct him.

"Goodbye, for good this time."

"You are impossible," Miroku gripped with a wave of his hand.

ЖЖЖЖЖ

Humans… the way they treated each other would always be beyond him. He liked the Order for the very reason that he know how the rest would treat him and how he was meant to treat his brothers and sisters. There were strict rules to follow. That's what he needed, a guideline to keep himself normal.

How one man could do so much damage against others was… he didn't understand. How he was going to explain to the order all that he had done and that Sister Sayoki was dead was beyond him. People were monsters.

"The people that don't listen to our rules," the elder he explained everything to said in retaliation. "That is why we have this Order. It is awful that… that happened, thank you for giving Sayoki a proper burial."

"I got… help," oddly enough, Miroku stayed the entire time to aid in the proceedings.

"By the way," the elder wearily started, "something… happened while you were away."

"Oh?" Inuyasha began. He noticed something different as soon as he got back, usually the elders didn't brief him on his missions. If he completed it then that was good enough, but that time once he entered Aigo someone grabbed him to lead him there. He didn't even have any time to himself.

Sister Higurashi Kagome didn't even have time to find him. It was a ritual they held, she would rush up to make sure he was fine, he'd assure her he was, and then she'd ask him to explain what had happened. Surely, she was waiting outside the door to hear all about the job. She wouldn't enjoy hearing about this one, realizing how horrible humans could be… it wasn't something he really wanted to teach her.

"Yes," the elder slowly drew out while he sat down in one of the chairs and waved towards another to make Inuyasha take a seat. It wasn't until that happened that he said, "there was a break in… vampires."

"Seriously?" Inuyasha awed as he slid to the edge of his seat, "what happened? How could they be so stupid?"

"They… they took four people and managed to get away."

"You're joking," Inuyasha insisted harshly, "they break into our strong hold and they get away?"

"We were caught off guard," the elder argued harshly.

He guessed, "You want me to go retrieve them?"

"We won't be retaliating," he countered with a small shake of his head, "it happened two days ago, they must be dead by now. We sent out a recovery squad but they found nothing so… revenge will do us no good."

"If we don't retaliate then they'll think it's okay to do this again," Inuyasha shouted back, "we can't just let them get away with it."

"If they remain in our area we'll take care of the problem later."

Idiots, that was what he wanted to hiss but he just clenched his jaw and withheld that urge.

"Listen, Father Taiko, it's… important that you know you couldn't have done anything. You weren't here."

"I'm aware of this," Inuyasha assured him dully.

"Two of your trainees were taken," instantly, that caught his attention. "Sister Higurashi and sister… Chiyushu."

He stopped breathing.

Stopped thinking.

Stopped… everything.

Kagome had been taken while he was away, two days ago, and he was only now discovering that? They didn't think to send him word? Didn't think to do a damn thing? They weren't going to do shit about it?

"You're telling me," he wearily began until he found a steady tone, "that my girls are missing and you don't want me to do anything?"

"They aren't missing," the elder countered coarsely, "they are dead. It's been two days they have either been eaten or… worse, turned. Either way, there is no point other than revenge to go after them. We realized our weakness and will not allow the same thing to happen twice. It was a learning experience."

"A," he choked then tried to swallow back the rage that rose up, "a learning experience?"

"Everything happens for a reason, Father Taiko. I understand you were particularly fond of sister Chiyushu but… you must not do anything."

Chiyushu? He had to pause a moment to figure out what he was talking about. Ah, that was right, he had lied in confession and said that the sister that was tempting him was Chiyushu and not Higurashi… he shook his head as he stood up.

"Father Taiko," the elder started, "you are not going to do anything stupid, are you?"

"No, I'm not," he assured him with complete earnestness before he nodded his head then left.

Stupid… no, he wasn't going to do anything stupid. Stupid was acting like everyone else. Stupid was pretending like everything was okay. Stupid was just saying everything happened for a reason and that it was just a learning experience.

Because… she couldn't be dead. She just couldn't.

And… she couldn't have been converted.

He didn't know what he would do if she were… if it were anyone else he'd kill them but Higurashi Kagome? Sweet, innocent, sister Higurashi? Gods, he didn't know what to do.