Sorry for the wait posting. Been a bit busy, but I promise I will finish this fic. Nothing is more painful than an infinitely unfinished fic. Although I think there's going to be a good bit left. I have the rest of the story outlined, just need to write it. Please read and review!

Chapter 12: To Protect

Inuyasha had really been having a bad morning. First the fiasco with Koga, then Sesshomaru being a vague asshole. Then, he had to go visit Koga's lackies and convince them to help him, which did not go over well. When they had seen Koga's unconscious body, Ginta went after Inuyasha to avenge him. The only thing that had gone well was that while Koga was a confident and skilled fighter, Ginta had some brawn, but he didn't really have any fancy tricks with it. Thus the fight wasn't much different than two humans fighting at a superhuman level, with claws. Inuyasha's physical training and knowledge of martial arts actually made him the winner, easily, which made him seriously consider how good his brother's security team was. A thought for later though as he now had to get Jinenji safely to his meeting.

"This is Hakaku, we're starting on route," came the voice from the radio he now carried. Inuyasha didn't want to change the plan much, he had Hakaku take Koga's place and the mildly injured Ginta took the drivers place, because even an injured wolf was a better defense than an untrained human driver. Seriously, who thought to keep the human driver when they had youkai and knew there was a death threat? It was just asking for a casualty. Unfortunately after questioning the wolves, he learned that Jinenji had to be sealed as a 'human' instead of just an illusion, otherwise he wouldn't fit in the car. So he had to be left a little extra vulnerable. Meanwhile, Inuyasha, who had finally been shown the route, followed via rooftop as lookout, now dressed in full vigilante attire. It wasn't a long drive, about 25 minutes factoring in city traffic. Please let this go smoothly.

For the first half of the drive, it appeared Inuyasha was going to get his wish, but about 15 minutes in, a loud explosion was heard. In the moment Inuyasha had jumped to the next rooftop, the explosion shook the street, the sound painfully piercing his skull. He landed clumsily before attempting to regain his bearing. What he saw wasn't comforting. It appeared the front of the car was badly damaged, though the back was intact. Judging by the center of the blast, did the engine explode? The explosion had to be huge, there was damage to the street and the cars driving beside Jinenji appeared to have been blown away, crashing into the adjacent cars. In other words, the street was completely blocked by damaged vehicles. Inuyasha was hoping to catch any problems before they occurred so he could get away unseen, but it was now too late for that. Instead, he jumped into the alley below, now it was just important that his non-human actions wouldn't be noticed.

He headed towards Jinenji's vehicle intent on making sure they were fine from the blast. Before he reached there though he heard a voice call out, "help!" He looked to his right and saw a woman trapped in her car. The driver's door was obviously damaged, the heat having fused it shut, and the car had been pushed against another car on the passenger's side so that wouldn't work either. She wasn't in immediate danger but he could understand her being confused and terrified.

Inuyasha walked towards the car and thought of the quickest way to get her out, "woman! Turn towards the other side and cover your head." She looked confused, but did as told. Immediately, he punched the window and broke the somehow still-intact driver's window. Inuyasha used his much tougher hands to clear some remaining glass, creating an opening for the woman. He held a hand out, and the woman, with some hesitation, grabbed it and started climbing out the window. Inuyasha held onto her until her feet hit the ground.

"Thank you," offered the woman before heading towards the side of the street and away from whatever action was happening. With her gone, Inuyasha turned back towards Jinenji's vehicle. Hakkaku had managed to get out and was standing clutching what appeared to be a bleeding head wound. That's not good. If he got that injured as a disguised youkai, then Ginta in the front seat and even closer, and Jinenji as a 'human'- Shit.

"Wolf, where's Jinenji?!" he shouted.

The wolf was clearly dazed, probably had a concussion, "Haven't seem 'im, lemme take a loo- AHH." Both jumped reflexively to the new loud sound that worsened his still ringing ears. The sound… I know I heard it from the right, but it went towards my left? Inuyasha looked up at the car to the left. A bullet?! They're using guns? Again! At least if they missed when we didn't know they were there, their aim must be crap. Another loud metallic clank, and another bullet hole, closer though. Yup, shitty. Though knowing he had to stop thinking, and start acting, Inuyasha looked in the direction the bullets seemed to be coming from. He was thankful for his youkai vision, the guy was several buildings away. Inuyasha took off at a run, not hiding his speed. He's reloading? Does the gun only hold one shot? As he got closer, Inuyasha could tell the guy was almost done reloading. It was going to be close who got there first, and even if the guy had bad aim, everyone can land a shot given enough tries. He's reloaded! Wait, he's aiming for the wolf, he hasn't noticed me? I can't let him!

With that thought, Inuyasha let himself land solidly on the rooftop below the shooter and shouted, "hey ugly! Where'd you learn to aim?"

"What the hell?" Well, I got his attention. Rushing forward, Inuyasha observed the shooter, the barrel being turned away from the car and towards him, the shooter by instinct aiming straight for his face. He saw the smallest flicker of the shooter's finger, and instantly shifted his body weight to the side, mere milliseconds passing before the explosion of the bullet's launch pierced his ears. The sound of the bullet cutting through the air continued towards him, passing his left ear, before a harsh impact was heard slightly behind him. He pushed forward again, his hanyou speed easily beating the shooter before he could reload. A single punch to the skull and he was down.

After taking a few moments to calm his racing heart, Inuyasha began his descent back down to the main scene. Most of the civilians had cleared out, but he could see Hakkaku still tearing at the car. As he got closer, he also saw Ginta on the ground unconscious. "Wolf!"

"In…er…red guy," he stuttered in reply. They had a discussion before leaving about not calling him by his name, but given the situation and that most civilians had already cleared out, it was the least of his concerns. "I got Ginta out, he doesn't look too good but Jinenji is worse. I can't move him. There's uh…the metal panel is going through him."

He looked. There was blood, a lot of blood. "Where's the nearest youkai hospital?"

The wolf considered for a second before answering, "the university has a youkai ward".

"We have to get him there. Now." Inuyasha attempted to climb inside the car to where Jinenji was trapped and maneuvered so he could maintain some balance. The panel going through Jinenji was also holding his blood in. He had to get Jinenji out without removing it. "C'mon!" Charge the youki into your claws… and swipe! "Sankon Tessou!" His claws went straight through the metal. Yes! Uh oh. The metal had been holding Jinenji in place, and without it, he began to shift. Inuyasha immediately wrapped his arms around Jinenji and slowly pulled him out of the car. "Wolf, make sure you find the samples Jinenji brought. Whatever bastard is responsible for this ain't getting his hands on em!" With that parting comment, he ran full speed for the hospital. He could vaguely hear the sirens in the distance, finally, but running with hanyou speed would still be faster. "Hang on Jinenji!"

The trip to the hospital probably took less than ten minutes, but it felt like an hour with the way Jinenji was losing blood. Staff greeted him at the emergency entrance, one of which smelled of youkai. A few choice words made sure the medic got the hint that he was dealing with a hanyou and Jinenji was rushed into surgery. Afterwards, Inuyasha left the scene. There was no reason for the crimson vigilante to stick around.

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Welcome to News 6, here is our evening report providing you coverage for all the day's hottest stories.

Following an explosion in the middle of downtown, the crimson vigilante made yet another appearance. Sources say a car traveling from Taisho Industries had its engine suddenly explode, causing damage to an entire city corner. Two of the vehicle's occupants sustained severe wounds. One was Taisho scientist Dr. Jinenji who sustained life threatening injuries. He was rushed to the hospital by none other than the crimson vigilante. He is currently in critical condition, but doctors are hopeful he'll pull through. The car's other occupant, a member of Taisho security, was taken by ambulance and is stable. Another victim at the scene credited the crimson vigilante with helping them flee to safety.

Disturbingly, it's being called into question how much of this is an accident. There were witness accounts that there appeared to be a shooter on scene. The resulting police investigation found bullets lodged in the Taisho's vehicle. They tracked the trajectory and found an unconscious man on a nearby rooftop. Beside him was a rifle, snapped in half. The supposed shooter has been brought in for questioning. While the man remains unconscious, many are speculating the possible involvement of the crimson vigilante in his defeat. Previously, the vigilante had been known for causing odd damage, and the snapped rifle seems to be similar. As you can see on screen, some of this was caught by security footage, although it may be disturbing to some viewers.

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"You were supposed to stop the attack before it occurred," Sesshomaru spoke in his condescending voice.

"Are you kidding me Sesshomaru? How the hell was I supposed to know the engine was going to explode? And what's up with your stinkin security?" Inuyasha was in a foul mood. It seemed like everything would work out in the long run, given that no one died, but the whole situation still stank and had him on edge.

"You have a nose, use it." Was his answer.

Inuyasha growled, "Speaking of using things, the hell is going on Sessh? What's so valuable that I've been attacked twice now with guns?" He was met with silence. "Sessh?"

"I am uncertain. Every large business has security issues, but for the past four months it has been excessive."

"Four months? Wait, this was happening prior to dad?"

"Yes."

"Bastard! How could you not tell me? I've been out trying to get a handle on all this shady business and you didn't think to tell me it could have something to do with dad's condition? I thought it was just since you took over and everyone underestimating ya!" Inuyasha was angry. He still would've done it, but he would've liked to know someone was targeting the company and was perfectly content being violent about it.

"There is no proof of a connection."

"Well using bombs and guns certainly have some similarities that I woulda liked some warning about. You let me think the guns were a one-time thing."

"You were trained appropriately."

"Paintballs are different! I was only lucky this time that he had a crap gun with crap aim!" Inuyasha rubbed a twitching ear. "Ugh, just leave me alone. I have to go make-up my classes." He hung up.

Author's Note: Also in case there's any confusion: In this AU, youkai can blend in with seals which make them 'human'. Using them, they are weakened though. Hanyou who use them typically can't have their youkai blood detected at all, by scent or sense, and are at nearly human strength and take on their human form. Youkai weaken considerably and become hard to detect by both other youkai or spiritualists, although it won't change their scent. Meanwhile, illusions are exactly that, they merely alter a youkai/hanyou's visual appearance.