Chapter Six
Sick and Twisted
Naraku sighed as he leaned back against his chair, folding his arms behind his head and propping his feet on the desk. Today had been good. Very good. He had found out the miko had survived (he couldn't wait to hear her dying sobs and screams as he tortured her… He had been dreaming of it for centuries now…), but more importantly, the jewel shard, he had found the old group's reincarnations, Sesshomaru, the kitsune, and the neko, AND had had a cookie. 'Course, the cookie was a damn good one too…
Suddenly, his feet falling to the floor and his arms coming out from behind his head, Naraku lurched forward, his finger hitting the intercom button for his secretary. "Yasmine! Get in here!"
A young woman, maybe only nineteen or twenty, entered, clutching a folder tightly to her chest. Bright azure eyes glazed passively at Naraku from a pale face. Paler than it should've been. The woman's long pure black hair was done up in a braided bun, the end trailing down over her left shoulder to rest against her chest. Her dark grey suit made her hair look darker and her skin almost a translucent white, and her white under shirt that peeked out from the V neckline of her upper suit seemed to melt into her body. Red painted nails dug into the folder as she looked down at the ground, her red mascara painted lids half closing.
"Naraku-sama," she murmured, her voice a slight breeze against cherry red lips. Naraku smiled. It was almost like old times…
Standing, he turned his back on her, facing out at Tokyo. A smile spread across his lips as his short hair, tinged ever so slightly with silver and graying in many places, was pushed out of his face. "Yasmine. You know what you are." The girl flinched. He could hear it and he couldn't help but feel satisfied by this show of pain. Her predecessor never let him see it, and he liked wringing her of all he could. It was… fun. "You are a hanyou. True, stronger than most, seeing as you stole almost all demonic powers from the nameless faceless sister you might or might no longer have. But still a worthless, filthy, disgusting hanyou."
He turned around to find Yasmine still staring unseeingly at the floor, her hands clenched so tight over the folder she was carrying as tears slowly welled up in her eyes. She bit her lip and they stopped, but her vision, no doubt, was still slightly blurry. Yasmine nodded slightly before looking up, staring past Naraku as he stalked towards her like a lion, and began to circle her, insults spilling over his lips as he degraded everything from her looks, to her species, to her non-existent family, to her intelligence. Finally, she took a deep breath, still staring out at the Tokyo landscape. "I have no family." Her voice was shaky, her breathing painful. "Nobody cares about me and nobody will." It was what he wanted, and she'd be damned if she had to stand here and listen to his insults all day.
Naraku shook his head and a hand trailed over her jaw. Yasmine bit down the instinctive desire to flee. "No…" he purred, his black eyes flashing crimson for a moment. "No… I am your family. I will care about you…"
Finally, he pulled away, walking back to the window, his back once again facing her. Yasmine felt as if she'd collapse on his floor, right here, right now. But he turned back towards her, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Yasmine. I have a job for you…"
Kagome ran her fingers through her hair; a nervous habit she had picked up from InuYasha near the end of their journey, when they had come across many more slaughtered villages than any of them had any desire to see.
"So, let me get this straight again… Naraku, as you said before, is now a successful businessman, as are you, Sesshomaru, has all but my piece of the Shikon no Tama, and now knows where we are and who we are?"
Sesshomaru looked as if he was mulling everything she said over, before giving a brisk nod and accepting some green tear from his secretary. The young girl, only a few years older than Kagome, turned towards the miko, a huge smile plastered all over her face. Long black hair fell about her face in a straight curtain as unruly bangs covered bright sapphire eyes that sparkled with merriment at the slightest joke. Her cheeks were a gentle pink as she served green tear in a t-shirt and jeans. Sesshomaru smiled as he watched Kagome watch the girl. Sitting up stiffly, he flicked his claws hand in her direction, attracting Kagome's attention.
"This, miko, is Jasmine, my secretary. I found her on the streets when she was just a child, and as she grew, I realized I had, once again, saved Rin."
Kagome's eyes stretched wide and her mouth formed a soft 'o' of recognition. "It seems like everybody's here then, doesn't it? I mean…" she sighed and scratched the back of her head. "What is it with five hundred years and reincarnations anyways? I mean, it's as if everybody I knew is centered here as a reincarnation, besides Shippo-chan, you, and Kirara." Said twin tail was purring on Kagome's lap and said kitsune was getting his son and mate to meet with his surrogate mother.
Sesshomaru laughed, something Kagome had never thought she'd hear without dieing a second later. "You see, miko, its not quite that simple. You, as does everybody else, have a task to perform, and you will perform it, whether you like it or not. No, I'm not threatening you," he said, lifting a hand as Kagome began to protest. "But I am saying that you can't stray from destiny. That's what led you to my brother, ne?"
The girl leaned back against her chair and studied Sesshomaru silently. "You've changed a lot, Sesshomaru-sama," she said at last. "Last time I saw you, you were so much colder… so much more… wild."
He laughed. "Five hundred years does that to a person, Higurashi-san," he said, using her name out of politeness' sake. Sighing, he stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. "Five hundred years does a lot to a person, in fact. From this point on… we don't know what's going to happen."
Kagome's lips thinned as she pressed them together. Finally, she took a deep breath. "Neither did my companions when we were in the Feudal Era."
Sesshomaru laughed grimly. "Yes… but your normal time was never effected. Just think… if you had left there forever before you became a living statue, do you think everything would've been the same? Yes, it would've been. If you hadn't had defeated Naraku and had died in the process, do you think everything would've been the same? Yes, it would've too! Everything that has ever happened cannot be changed. Only the future."
Kagome leapt up, clutching Kirara close to her chest. "But that's not true! She cried. "Then doesn't that mean we have no choice in the matter! Then doesn't that mean that whatever we do now, we can't change it so that it doesn't happen!?"
The inu yokai turned slowly back again to the teenager. Jasmine had long since left to entertain the others that waited in the living room for Kagome and Sesshomaru to finish with their little 'discussion'. It suddenly struck to Kagome how… old he suddenly looked. Back in the Sengoku Jidai, he had looked nineteen going on twenty, but now… he looked so much older. Young, yet wise, old, yet childish. 'Ageless is what I'd call him,' she thought, surveying him. Suddenly, she felt as if she was in the presence of the great Inu no Taisho himself. Maybe Sesshomaru grew into the title.
He turned back, his face as stoic as she remembered, but his eyes still burned painfully. "Stop staring at me with such pity, ningen," he growled, glaring at her. Finally, he collapsed in a chair, a clawed hand coming up to cover his face as he sighed sadly. "I never thought I would ask a human this but… what would you have me do… You are the most selfless person among us, and have had the most dealings with Naraku."
Kagome bit back a surprise remark. Yep… he'd changed.
Swallowing, she looked down at her hands, tugging her lower lip between her teeth and chewing it thoughtfully. "Well… Sesshomaru-sama… as I've said before, you've changed… during battle, 'cause I'm positive we'll have to fight Naraku, you'll have to be like you used to. Stoic, unfeeling…" she grinned. Did she dare…? Yep! "And bitchy."
Sesshomaru looked up, the glare he had for the ningen melting as he smiled coolly at her. "My brother has rubbed off on you, miko."
She shrugged. "He grows on you…"
The inu taiyokai laughed and turned away. "Bit like some sort of weed, fungus or some sort of -"
A scream echoed throughout the small manor as the sound of a window shattering alerted Kagome and Sesshomaru to an intrusion. They both launched themselves forward and skidded into the room to find Jasmine and Hanaka running for the door to get Sesshomaru and Kagome, and Shigeatsu lunging for the window. He stuck his head outside and yelled. "ITARU!"
Kagome's blood ran cold. 'Itaru-kun!' her mind screamed at her as she darted to the window herself, her bright brown eyes finding two figures. They were just too small to really tell what they were, but the yells and curses (many of the latter rhyming with 'truck' and 'duck' and 'bore' …. Any guesses what they were?) were painfully obviously Itaru's.
Whirling around, she fixed Sesshomaru with a pleading look. "We have to go after them!"
Sesshomaru nodded and grabbed Jasmine's hand. "Come. The kitsune will know what happened, won't he, Jasmine?" He looked meaningfully at his secretary and adopted daughter. She shifted under his gaze, biting her lip, before nodding.
"Hai, Sesshomaru-sama! Just… be careful… Same with everybody else."
They all nodded and ran out.
Yasmine tugged the boy along. He was struggling away, yelling that she was a "fucking mother bitch of doom" and that she should "fucking let me go you whore!" It was rather… tiring to listen to him screaming at her… Ah well. The brat would soon be an empty shell now…
Before her stood the old woman, her beady little eyes watering as she moved her girth back and forth from the tub, filling it with juices and herbs. Yasmine's nose wrinkled at the foul smell before she thrust the boy at him. "You've got it ready then?" she asked as the boy stilled, looking up at the incredibly fat woman, her dress squeezing her stomach before shooting out and being drenched in hanging jewels and gold and silver like some sort of weird toy.
The woman cast Yasmine a disapproving glare. "Of course I did!" Her voice was screechy, like nails being dragged across a chalkboard to form words.
Yasmine snorted and turned away. "Good, 'cause if you didn't, you'd have to pay with your life…"
Kagome stumbled off of Sesshomaru's back, falling to the ground and biting back vomit. "DAMN IT! MUST YOU GO THAT FAST!?" she yelled at him. He grinned, and Kagome got the distinct feeling he had done that on purpose. 'He's acting more like InuYasha than the Sesshomaru I knew,' she thought, shaking her head and staggering into the cave. Her nose wrinkled and she lifted her handkerchief that had survived through everything to her nose. It smelled like… like…
Something clicked in the back of her head. It smelled like that stuff that had been poured in around her when Kikyo was brought back… 'Nah… I'm just being stupid,' she thought, stumbling forward. "Itaru-kun!?" she called. "Itaru-kun?"
"Kagome!" she heard his voice yell. "Kago-" It stopped suddenly and, as Kagome stumbled into the room, torches lit about what looked like a coffin, she saw his face. He looked like he was about to throw up.
"Itaru!" Kagome screamed, lunging forward, but something slammed into her, making her hit the wall and slump to the floor, blood slowly leaking out of a temple. The world wavered and almost went out as she lifted her head.
A woman stood before her. Her long silver hair done up in an eloquent bun, but straggly whips fell about her face and red eyes, and her pinched features that once spoke of great beauty turned to face lifts made Kagome gag slightly. The woman was almost decorated in expensive jewels and metals and silks. It was truly disgusting. "You will not interfere!" she woman screeched, making Kagome cringe. The voice was truly the worst part.
The woman lifted a hand, a dagger clenched tightly in her fist and brought it down. Kagome's eyes closed, but even behind her closed lids, she could see a flash of light. Something was not right.
(A/N: DAMN! That beginning paragraph has to be the most depressing thing I think I have ever written without having somebody die… Man… Now I'm sad! SHOOT! Ah well… Ja ne!
The Kikyo Hater)
