This truly is a milestone for me! Chapter 10! I plan to have about 5 or more so chapters plus an epilogue, so this story is almost over! It kind of makes me sad, but I have three other stories that I will be working on soon, to be released respectively: A Sango/Miroku humour fic, an InuYasha legal thriller and an InuYasha drama-ish (I don't really know how to describe it without revealing the story) fic. So I'm FAR from gone! Sorry it has taken so long for me to update! The next chapter will be out sometime next week. So until then, please enjoy Chapter 10 of Anything but Paradise!
Disclaimer: As much as any Inu-fanfic author would love, I do not own InuYasha or anyone associated with him, he is under pure ownership of Takahashi-sama and the mighty company of VIZ. Too bad I don't have a few million dollars...
Chapter 10: First Assassination Attempt
The room was dark and musty. The inconsistent sound of water dripping from the pipelines in the hallway echoed throughout the building. Sometimes, one could hear a rat or two scurrying about. It was the perfect hideout for any mafia gang.
Musou examined the room around him. There was only one fluorescent light which flickered constantly, making Musou's eyes hurt. On his left was a tattered brown leather couch that sagged when anyone sat in it. He also noted the few bloodstains on it as well, making him a twinge nervous.
To his right was a bare cement wall, with fresh coverings over cracks and whatever else. Musou figured this is what made the room cold, but he could think of something else that made this room unwelcoming.
Naraku sat at his desk in the center of his "office" sipping on a martini occasionally while polishing his revolver. How he cherished that thing. To Musou's recollection he spent over 50,000 yen on that thing. You would think he would buy a new place to do business.
"So what did you find?" Naraku asked, his eyes not leaving his beloved gun. Musou walked a little bit farther in the room. He regained his posture and began speaking.
"What we found was a little…unexpected," he started. Naraku continued polishing his gun. "When we came across the crash site where we landed, we spotted an uncharted island about 45 degrees west of our position," Still polishing. "And when we looked a bit closer we saw people," Still polishing. "And those people," Musou paused, taking a breath, "were the same people that were on the plane,"
Naraku stopped polishing his gun. He put it down. His crimson eyes shot up at Musou; a chill was sent up his spine.
"So…you're saying…they survived?" Naraku asked, hinting no emotion so far. Musou nodded meekly. He stood up at his desk and paced about 2 paces to his left, leaning against the desk.
"And Kagura? Has she taken care of Sesshomaru?" he asked.
"She's doing that as we speak, master," Musou explained. Naraku was now examining his nails.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Musou turned behind him to see Kanna, his older sister in the doorway with a much larger man behind her. Naraku turned around and headed back to his chair.
"We'll discuss this later, for I have other business to attend to. Just remember-I do not tolerate failure," Naraku said, "You may leave now," Musou did as he said, nodding to the man standing in the doorway.
"Come in, come in," he heard Naraku say pleasantly to Kanna and the guest. "Kanna, please close the door,"
She did as she was told. Musou stood outside the door, trying to listen in on what's going on. He didn't make out what anybody was saying; he just heard muffled voices. He heard some people laughing. Suddenly, a gunshot ran through the building. The voices had been silenced. Musou found himself sweating.
That could've been me just now, and it will be if something else messes up! Kagura, you better not screw this for us!
Sesshomaru sipped his chardonnay. Himself, InuYasha's secretary Shippo, his own secretary Rin and Jaken were all dining at the Shikon no Tama restaurant in uptown Tokyo for the evening, all paid for by Sesshomaru, of course.
Rin was doing her best to conceal her excitement; she had never eaten at a five star restaurant before. Sure, Sesshomaru-sama and Jaken-sama must do it all the time, but plain old Rin? It was also kind of overwhelming…everyone so dressed up and being so proper…let's just say that it wasn't the environment Rin grew up in.
She noticed that everyone was rather quiet tonight, not that Sesshomaru-sama did that much talking in the first place. But Jaken-sama…even Shippo-san. It must be because of the meeting with Bankotsu-sama and Jakotsu-sama earlier…
Earlier that day…
Bankotsu stood in front of Sesshomaru's desk in the study of his grand suite. He was wearing a navy suit with a bright red tie; an obvious addition by Jakotsu, who was standing two feet behind them in a bright pink kimono with green and light purple sakura flowers embroidered in, and his face delicately painted on.
"A new update, I assume?" Sesshomaru asked with his arms and legs crossed. Bankotsu nodded.
"Definitely. I wouldn't be dressed up in a suit if we didn't have one," Bankotsu said.
"Aw, but Bankotsu-kun, you look so nice in a suit!" Jakotsu commented from behind. Bankotsu scratched his head in slight embarrassment.
"Any way, we got a picture of this Naraku guy from the surveillance footage from InuYasha's mansion," Bankotsu said, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket. He handed it to Sesshomaru, who examined it thoroughly.
"Excellent. You may continue on with your work," Sesshomaru stated simply. They did as they were told.
Now he was that much closer to hunting Naraku down.
Rin just sipped her water. She never really understood any of that espionage stuff anyway. She decided she was just going to enjoy herself, and start up some conversation.
"So, Shippo-san, how long have you been working for InuYasha-san?" she asked. He seemed surprised that she was talking to him, but replied nonetheless.
"For about three years, I think. My dad was his dad's advisor, so I've known Inu-kun since I was younger," he explained.
Rin was about to ask another question when the waitress came by. She placed their clam chowders neatly infront of them. Rin noticed that she had very daring red eyes.
Is she a demon…?
"Please enjoy," she said politely. She walked off to serve other tables, glancing back at their table often.
The chowder smelled delicious, and Rin couldn't wait to try it. She picked up her spoon and began to take a bite.
"Don't eat it," Sesshomaru ordered. Rin looked really confused. The others weren't eating it either…was there something that she didn't know?
"What's the matter, Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked.
"It's poisoned," Shippo said, staring right into it.
"Poisoned? Are you sure?" she asked, still confused.
"Of course we're sure, silly human girl!" Jaken hissed. He looked as if he was about to continue, but Sesshomaru lifted his hand telling him to stop.
"What are you going to do, Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked, somewhat disappointed that her first meal at her first five star restaurant was poisoned.
"I will deal with it. I know who's behind it," he replied with his emotionless voice.
"Are you sure, my lord? I can take care of it if you wish," Jaken suggested, but Sesshomaru had already stood up and was walking towards the entrance.
"Well, what do we do then?" Rin asked Shippo.
"We sit and wait until he comes back, basically," he responded.
Rin looked back up at the entrance way, but Sesshomaru was gone. She turned her head and glanced at the kitchen doors, where the waitress with the red eyes was entering. She looked like she was in a hurry.
Kagura threw her apron off in frustration as she fled to the back alley. Just like Musou to give her the wrong kind of poison!
I told him! An odourless poison! Now he might be on to me!
She turned to flee, but standing in her way…
…was Sesshomaru.
The sun was streaming and the ocean breeze was blowing lightly. The birds on the island were singing sweetly as the tide gently hit the shore. It was a beautiful day.
Not so for a few of the human inhabitants though. When Sango woke up, she seemed to wake up with amnesia; she nearly killed InuYasha's ears with her shriek. But her memory sure came back quickly when Miroku woke up, as she apologized for waking him up and asked if he was okay and rushed off to get him another cool cloth. He sure played the part; what kind of guy wouldn't love the attention of a beautiful girl? InuYasha (having no clue) just thought he was playing sick to get out of doing stuff.
Well, that didn't last too long, when he proved himself healed when he groped Sango…again. Now, as punishment he was doing the laundry that didn't get done yesterday. Everyone else was sitting in the airplane chairs in the shade relaxing. Kagome and Sango managed to crack open some coconuts, so all three of them were sipping on some coconut milk. InuYasha was laughing at Miroku's plight.
"That's what you get for playing hooky, you perv!" InuYasha yelled across the lagoon. Miroku just glared at him. The girls just giggled.
"Hey, Miroku…I think you missed a spot!" Sango called out. Miroku just sighed. The things he did for women.
When Sango decided he had enough punishment, to InuYasha's disappointment, Miroku sat in the vacant chair and emptied his coconut in a single gulp.
"Surely it couldn't have been that hard," Kagome said, sipping from her own coconut.
"You would think with all the girls he hits on he'd at least be in touch with his feminine side," InuYasha mentioned. Miroku just sighed.
"What I put up with…" he began. Sango just punched him in the arm.
"Oh suck it up!" she said playfully, leaning back in her chair. Miroku was rubbing his 'injured' arm.
"Ha, well, when it comes to taking pain, he acts like a girl," InuYasha sniggered. Kagome punched InuYasha in the arm.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked. InuYasha was now rubbing his arm.
"What was that for?" InuYasha asked angrily. Kagome giggled.
"Oh, what? InuYasha can't take the pain?" Kagome teased. InuYasha smirked.
"You want pain?" he said. Kagome screamed and began running away, InuYasha chasing after her. They were both laughing.
"You can't run from me!" he taunted as he chased her around the chairs. She tried to out maneuver him and run towards the path back to the beach, but he caught her.
When he threw his strong arms around him, she let out a playful scream. He picked her from behind and began to spin her around. Both were acting as if they were the best of friends, or maybe more. Sango took notice to this and leaned over to Miroku.
"They seem to be getting rather close lately, eh?" Sango whispered.
"I'll say," he whispered back.
After they had their fun, they returned to the chairs, huffing and sweating. Both were letting out some last minute laughter too. Sango and Miroku noticed that they were holding hands.
Kikyo massaged her temples. Who knew that running a huge international corporation could be so tiring? The phone never stopped ringing. People always needed advice or something or other. She slouched in the big leather spinning chair. The phone rang for the 114th time today.
She groaned, but picked it up anyway. Where the hell was the stupid secretary, the kitsune? She couldn't remember his name. Oh well.
"Hello?" she said into the receiver.
"Hey, it's Naraku. You sound tired," Naraku said on the other end of the phone. Finally someone worth her time!
"Oh, it's okay. Just a long day," she replied, regaining her energy.
"Well, I'm calling to let you know, that I had some of my guys check it out, and no one survived, so you can stop worrying," he explained. Kikyo felt a bit better.
"Thanks," she replied.
"Say, before I come buy, I'll buy you something, okay?"
Kikyo squealed in delight. "Okay! Please hurry!"
"I will. Bye,"
"Bye!"
She hung up the phone. Now Kikyo was operating like the energizer bunny. She ran to the mirror in the office and began to fix herself.
Musou stood in Naraku's office once again. He hung up the phone. Musou couldn't understand why Naraku just told Kikyo that there weren't any survivors. His face stated his confusion and Naraku took notice to it.
"It's to keep her quiet and happy. She was starting to get nervous, and I don't want her to crack and go the authorities," Naraku explained.
Musou nodded. He just hoped that she wouldn't find out.
Kagura was petrified. Sesshomaru was the strongest demon known and now she was standing face to face with him, unarmed. And he looked angry. He began walking forward, and she moved back to try to flee. But she ended up just walking into a wall. He blocked any potential escape routes, not that it would matter; he could catch her instantly anyway.
He looked at her intently. "Who do you work for?" he asked quietly.
She remained silent. If she told, she would certainly be in a worse fate than suffering at Sesshomaru's hands. He held her by the neck.
"I said, who do you work for?" he repeated. She swallowed and shook her head.
"You don't want to die…the fear in your eyes says it all," he observed. "If you will not tell me who you work for, then maybe you can tell me where I can find my pathetic half-brother,"
Kagura still remained silent. Her forehead was occupied by tiny droplets of perspiration. I won't tell, I won't tell, I won't tell, I won't tell…
He looked at the name tag which she forgot to take off and then back up at her.
"Kagura, is it? We shall meet again, then," he said, removing his hand from her neck. Then he turned around and started walking away. She stood there, perplexed for a moment, but took the oppourtunity to flee.
I know she works for Naraku and knows where InuYasha is. I will let her go, so she can lead me to him…he thought, pulling out the remote that turned on the tracking device that he placed on Kagura's neck. It was a new design, created by Sesshomaru himself that was so small that not even the demon eye could see it.
Sesshomaru went back into the restaurant and sat down with the others. The poisoned soups and long since been returned back to the kitchen to be disposed of. Sesshomaru once again sipped his chardonnay like nothing happened.
It was all coming together…
And there it is! Not much happening on the island, but I'm saving it for later! Thanks to all my reviewers too!
Another disclaimer: I do not own the energizer bunny.
Please review!
