Chapter 22: Friends and Foes
When he got to class, Inuyasha couldn't help but drop his head onto his desk, hard. The talk with Sesshomaru ran late, and then he expected to sleep after hearing his father most likely would never wake up unless they retrieved his soul, and he had a bounty on his head?
"Rough night?" And he had to deal with finally talking to Miroku.
"When'd my life get so complicated?" he mumbled into the desk.
"I do believe that was your own choice, my friend." Some things were simpler now that his friends knew at least.
He finally sat up, although leaned heavily on an arm. "Not totally. It's my dad too."
Miroku tilted his head, "has your father's condition changed?"
Inuyasha hesitated answering, but it's not like it really mattered what his friends knew. Though Sesshomaru warned him not to drop Onigumo's name. He didn't want the spiritualists interfering. "He improved some, which let the doctors find some new information. But it ain't entirely good information."
"Oh." He seemed to catch on that it wouldn't be wise to be any more specific, here at least.
"So, Kagome said you had something to tell me?"
"Tell?" he questioned. "No I suppose not. I merely wished to ask you the best cleaner for graffiti. Some kid decided to paint on our temple walls." Inuyasha made a funny sound at the word 'graffiti', but didn't reply with much more than an embarrassed stutter. There was a knowing smile on Miroku's face. "Well, I do believe I was right at least."
"R-right?" He cleared his throat. "About what!" He already knows I'm the vigilante.
Miroku leaned in to whisper, "youkai will usually act with selfish intentions."
That snapped Inuyasha out of his daze, "Miroku?" What? Was I wrong, does he judge me for being half youkai?
Suddenly Miroku burst out into uncontrollable laughter. He was even getting funny looks from other students.
Finally, the laughter died down and he spoke, "Inuyasha, you can not seriously tell me your motivation was not to prove me wrong. It was wholly for personal satisfaction, albeit the action itself was a welcome one." Seeing the increasingly pained look on his friend's face, he continued, whispering, "Inuyasha, there is no such thing as a completely selfless hero. Everyone is driven by their own desires, there are no exceptions, and I mean humans too." He didn't seem to be getting his message across to his stubborn friend. He hardly meant that his friend was a selfish person. He had only been teasing, but he forgot to consider that Inuyasha was likely reeling from the changes in his life. "Consider that ancient fairytale we studied. All of the 'heroes' of the story were motivated by their own desires. The inuhanyou was motivated, at least at first, by greed, and later to avenge. The priestess was motivated by regret and love, albeit she was probably the most selfless. The slayer by revenge, and the monk to have his curse lifted… I know the feeling. The hanyou was willing to steal, but not kill the priestess. The slayer was willing to steal the hanyou's sword. Even the kitsune was motivated by a sense of honor and to protect the ones he needed to protect him. And yet, their primary mission was to eliminate a great evil and save many lives, and they were hailed as heroes for it. No one is perfect and that's ok. It is our desires that drive our will and we are stronger for them. The villain of the story is considered such because he tormented others and killed in pursuit of his greed and false love. Truly Inuyasha, every story of the vigilante impresses me now that I know there isn't a sinister ulterior motive."
"You mean it?" Inuyasha whispered back.
"Yes I mean it. When I made the joke I forgot how sensitive my friend is," he said with a smirk.
"Keh! I ain't sensitive. Way to get all philosophical, monk."
"Ah… Finally acknowledging my skill."
"Don't think I've forgotten you tried to whack me with your staff."
"I missed! You punched me in the face!"
"Might've done you some good. Punch the lech out of ya."
"I should purify you."
"Purify yourself first."
"Settle down class!"
Thanks Miroku.
x
Class that day had started off with a lecture, then the students were assigned to work on a project with partners which they could start in class. Miroku and Inuyasha, of course, paired up.
"Inuyasha," called professor Kaede. "Come with me for a minute, and bring your bag."
He gave a glance at Miroku who just shrugged, before following her into the hallway and then into her nearby office. "Yes, professor?"
She looked him up and down. "A rather clunky object you have on under your shirt there."
He looked down. The beads… they were inconvenient and too much of a clue to his identity. "Kagome… told you, right?"
"Yes. Show me them for a moment as well as your human seal. I assume you have it on you?"
"... yah." He grabbed the 'kendo' sword that was attached to his bag and removed the beads from under his shirt.
"A sword? Rather inconvenient." she commented. He scoffed in agreement. She reached out to grab both objects and he could see her fingers surrounded by a pink light, but it obviously wasn't being used on him so he wasn't concerned. She held them there for a minute before the beads suddenly all turned white. "Huh?"
"There." She released them. "I have reconfigured the beads and bound them to your seal. They are now powerless in your human form, except that still only Kagome can remove them."
"Reconfigured? I thought only Kagome could use them."
She shook her head. "I can not use the beads, merely rework the spell minorly. I am the one who made it."
He thought about that. "So… powerless? What does that mean? Kagome can't use them to force me into hanyou form anymore?"
"Aye. That only happened because your seal couldn't tolerate the spiritual energy and would crack. Now, the energies just flow parallel. It was young Kagome who asked me to change them. It's not as though that ability is necessary, and instead an easy tradeoff for you to be able to hide them." She was right. All white, the beads looked totally different. "Besides, she didn't want to have to worry about saying the word around your human self. Although not as powerful, I doubt it was pleasant."
"Nah, it wasn't." He smiled. "Thanks Professor." He bowed and started walking back to class.
"And Inuyasha," she called out. "Do not expect any mercy on your homework. Ye are still a student despite your extracurriculars."
That sounded like Kaede: a good, kind professor, but strict. He replied, "I'm gonna ace your class, count on it."
x
Thirty minutes further into class…
"So, if we take the root mean square error, then we find- " Beep. Beep. Beep. "ugh, Inuyasha turn your phone off."
But Inuyasha ignored him and took it out. "It's not my phone, it's the dog whistle."
"Dog… whistle?" Inuyasha was too busy staring at the phone to notice Miroku's incredulous stare. Apparently, Kagome didn't know quite everything when she got him up to date.
The psychiatric patient that went missing yesterday was found near Jiai and has been reported fleeing towards the university… Police responded to the sighting… Wielding a sword, the patient managed to severely injure 7 officers… requesting immediate reinforcements.
Shit. That close to the school? He stood up abruptly. "I got to go."
Grabbing his bag, Inuyasha made a break for the door, but was stopped when the professor called out, "Where do you think you're going?"
It was Miroku that answered, "the library to finish. We need a book." Grabbing Inuyasha along, they were out the door before the professor could respond.
"What are you doing?"
Miroku didn't waste the time answering, but since he was still dragging Inuyasha towards the exit of the building, he didn't really stop him. That is, until he dragged him through the parking lot and to a familiar car. It was a large grey van Mushin bought for lugging supplies around to and from the temple. Since the old man was too drunk to drive usually, it was essentially Miroku's. Miroku quickly opened the trunk and before Inuyasha could protest, he was shoved inside. "I saw your phone. The windows are tinted. Change! You think I'm missing this?"
This wasn't going how he expected, but he supposed it'd do. As he was thinking this, Miroku got behind the wheel. "I'll start heading there. Change as we go." Really not what he expected, but the trunk of the van was bigger than the telephone booth he had used, so who was he to complain? He didn't even have to worry about leaving the rest of his stuff. He had gotten used to this- fire rat on, beanie on, shoes off, sword out, check beads for color- thank you Kaede.
"Ready." Miroku slammed the brakes. "Ow, you coulda stopped like a normal person."
He turned to him. "Actually, that wasn't for your sake. There's parking here and you probably don't need the cops seeing you jump out of my car. I see the lights just up ahead. So, get out."
He did. "If you get close, just be careful. I don't need someone I know being grabbed again." For the element of surprise, he jumped on the roof next to the car. He followed the sirens.
"Drop the weapon and put your hands in the air!"
"Sorry officer, you're not handsome enough to tell me what to do," replied the man with the sword. He was wearing hospital clothes.
It was then that the crimson vigilante used a sneak attack to jump straight down behind the criminal and knock him out with a punc-
"What the?" He missed. Well, the man dodged.
"What's this? The crimson vigilante. Fancy seeing you here." The criminal looked him up and down closely. In response, Inuyasha got into a fighting pose. He's a fighter is he? That wasn't in the alert, but I won't back down. But he would let the man make the first move to be safe. He saw movement, he was going to attack- "You're adorable!" the man shouted, sparkles in his eyes.
He tripped. "What?"
"Such a retro outfit. It completes the look perfectly. Draw that sword for me would you, I bet it would make you look even more fetching. But why do you wear that beanie, it doesn't really match you know?"
"..."
"Just surrender, woulda?" Obviously he wasn't going to, but he really wanted the weirdo to make the first move.
"C'mon, take off that hat. I want to see all of you."
He growled lightly.
"You're cute when you're angry."
"Shut up." Even if I don't have surprise on my side, I'm still faster. He readied his stance. I will not maim him. He leapt at the man, but again he dodged. He spun to follow through on the attack- "Woah!" and narrowly dodged a sword to the face.
"Ow!" What? His arm was bleeding. That stings like hell! I know I dodged! He looked around, the blade was… longer? "What is that?"
"It's Jakotsuto, my snake blade. What do you think of it?"
"Inushinku!" That sounded like Miroku! If someone had called out crimson or vigilante, he would have filtered it out from the crowd, but that name? Still, he wouldn't let himself look away from the fight. "The blade! It's like mine, look at it!" Like his? Miroku doesn't have a sword. He has a staff… for spiritual energy. Inuyasha focused on the blade. Instantly, he took a step back. The man doesn't have any power, but that blade, it's infused with spiritual energy. Damn it! A human blade wouldn't have cut through my fire rat.
"Gah!" He was thinking for too long. The man struck again, but fortunately only drew a shallow cut on his face.
"Don't let yourself be distracted." This was a lot more serious now. Reaching down, Inuyasha drew his own blade. "Such a big sword. So handsome!"
"Shut up!" He had to end this fight now. He rushed the man with Tessaiga raised. As expected, the man brought his own blade down. He blocked it and watched for the wrap around. He side stepped it, pushed forward, and raised his Tessaiga to the man's throat. Gotcha! "Surrender!"
"Such innocence polluting such beauty." Before he could consider the words, the man moved his arm and flicked his wrist. All of the mini-blades were suddenly circling his entire body: his arms, his legs, his torso, and a blade on his own throat. He was trapped in a prison of blades. "Sorry, hero. Did you really think I wouldn't call your bluff? Your attacks were too weak. You weren't going for the kill."
He growled, but he knew he was in trouble. "Who are you? Where'd you get the blade?"
"I'm Jakotsu. A very good friend of mine recently made some improvements on it. But on to more important topics!" He should've stayed in bed this morning. He was going to have to listen to everything this maniac said. And the police couldn't help. They'd stayed out of his sudden fight, and now he was the hostage. "Why do you wear such a mismatched beanie?" Before he could even consider replying, the man, Jakotsu, came right up to him and ripped it off. He took one look at the ears that he desperately tried to push down. "You're adorable!"
"You said that already!"
The man seductively licked his lips. "Oh, but you were handsome before, but now you look positively irresistible. Your ears. What are they? That's right, that man before called you Inushinku, so they're dog ears then?" C'mon a couple more minutes. The man took a look around the now busy intersection. "I suppose I can't stick around. Unfortunate we can't play some more, but they will make an excellent souvenir. Bye-bye Inushinku. Of all the men who have died by my sword, I have to say, I like you the best." No, one more minute!
"Do you think you'd like what I look like as a normal human?"
He paused for a moment. "A normal human?"
"Mmhmm. You think this is my natural hair color? I can wash it off in an instant if you want."
The man stopped to consider it. "No, I think you'd look less handsome as a human."
The time for talking was over, he could see Jakotsu's hand start to pull on the blade. Now or never! "Hijin Kesso!"
In that instant, he could feel several blades digging in around his shoulders and legs. Using the blood that had, way too slowly, dripped down his arm from the earlier wound, he flicked his arm enough to create a few blades which dislodged his sword arm. Swinging it in an arc towards his head and over, he managed to unwrap himself. A lot of damage was already done though, he had serious blood loss. The spiritual energy causing the wounds was no doubt making them worse. He was getting dizzy. Despite that, he noticed Jakotsu's blade was now tangled. Taking a deep breath, he leapt forward simply tackling the man to the ground.
"You're heavy! Hey what are you doing, give me back my blade. Jakotsuto! Jakotsuto!" he whined. The moment he tackled him, a brave police officer had rushed in and grabbed the sword.
Seeing others rushing in, he rolled off the man onto the hard concrete, panting hard. He watched them force the man up and into handcuffs. "Sir, you need medical attention." Yah, he did, but not from a human.
"N-n-n-o-o-o," he was close to passing out. He tried batting the man's arm away.
"Hanyou." That woke him right up. It was whispered so low he barely heard it. "You need medical attention." He ceased his struggles. Was the man a youkai? He didn't smell anything, but then again everything smelled like his own blood. Regardless, if the man in a medical uniform knew he wasn't human, then hopefully everything would work out. Regardless, he wasn't sure he could stand. Before long, he could feel someone moving his limp body into an ambulance.
Welcome to News 6, this is our evening report.
Earlier today, police spotted escaped psychiatric patient Jakotsu Shichinintai, who was responsible for the murders of almost 100 men, all accomplished through the use of his ancient sword Jakotsuto. The man had been undergoing treatment for his condition, although doctors comment that there has been little improvement during his two year stay. Several police units responded to his sighting, and whilst attempting to apprehend him, 14 officers received critical injuries and are being treated in the hospital.
The man's attack was actually stopped by the crimson vigilante, who also received life threatening wounds in the process. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where just minutes ago, he was reported missing by staff. Police are baffled by his sudden departure, as his wounds should have been too serious for him to be moving at this point. And although police are left unable to question him, new information also came to light during the fight. One bystander called out to the vigilante and referred to him by another name, Inushinku. Many would have passed this off as irrelevant except for, get this, the vigilante's infamous beanie was removed during the fight displaying what appear to be animal ears underneath. Inu-shinku sounds about right. In addition, this was the first time the vigilante drew his own blade, an absolutely massive curved blade. Police described the vigilante's actions as reckless, but several anonymously admitted that they were thankful for his presence as they had been completely unable to approach. The bystander was also not identified, and described as wearing a black hoodie. He disappeared while Jakotsu was being taken into custody.
Many are uncertain about what all this means, but many are hoping we'll be seeing the vigilante again once his wounds heal. Recordings of the fight are all over social media, you can check them out if you're interested.
x
Well at least they're curious and not just calling me a monster. Not like youkai is the first thing that comes to mind for people these days. The hospital staff snuck him out once his injuries started to heal. He was sure he'd still be in a lot of pain given how bad they still were, but he was on a strong painkiller. He was just ordered to take it easy for the night.
Beep. Beep. Beep. He hesitated answering, but knew he'd only get chewed out worse later if he didn't.
"I fucked up Sessh. You don't need to remind me."
"Indeed, it is a waste of time to tell you what you already know."
"What's that mean?"
"Your annoying monk called."
"You tell him I'm alive? You coulda told me ya had contacts with the hospital."
"Did Jinenji's case not tell you such?"
"I didn't think they served you directly!"
"It is necessary to keep youkai out of public hospitals and having another source for information regarding all serious youkai fighting within the city is valuable."
"Ugh, just stop- Miroku?"
"He was informed you would live. More importantly, he informed me of Jakotsu's weapon."
"Yah?"
"Jakotsu Shichinintai. His identity is well created, but it is fake beyond 3 years ago."
"What?"
"Information is limited, but there are two other criminals with the same last name who escaped jail in the past week. Both are also false identities from 3 years ago. All were convicted of mass murder in seemingly unrelated cases, Jakotsu was just sent to a psychiatric hospital for insanity."
"Sessh… shichi…seven?"
"Likely. Assume they are bounty hunters and will all be using enhanced weapons. Furthermore, Jakotsu escaped on route to prison. I have the wolves trying to pin down his location."
"Fuck."
"You should use caution around the school if you go out as the vigilante. He may have allowed himself to be sighted there because of your prior sighting in the area. Also, -"
"What else!? This is so out of control!"
"I was going to say, call your mother. My phone will not stop ringing."
"Also, -"
"Sessh!"
"Report to the dojo at 6am tomorrow. Your training will be increased." The phone call ended.
It was official- he needed to find an outlet for his frustration.
