(Eeep! Our friends are in Hadori's clutches! He reveals his plans to a shocked Kagome and Sess and Kagome meet an old youkai.. As always, Inuyasha and co belong to Takahashi Rumiko ::bows:: et al.)
Five Days In Tokyo - or - Sesshoumaru's Unlikely Visit - Twelve
Kagome's eyes fluttered open as she regained consciousness. The first thing she noticed was that her head hurt - badly. The second thing that she noticed was that she was strapped to a table. She gasped as she turned her head to see where Sesshoumaru was.
"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome saw him lying on a table next to hers, his arms and legs secured by metal retraints. The youkai-lord did not respond and Kagome knew that whatever knocked her cold had done the same to him.
She definitely wasn't home that was for sure. Overhead lights were recessed into the ceiling and Kagome could see that this was some sort of laboratory.
Hadori..Kagome thought angrily. Everything had happened so fast! One moment she was looking through the peep hole at Hadori and his two bodyguards, and the next the door blew open, sending she and Sesshoumaru flying to the opposite wall of the living room. She was barely up when Sesshoumaru charged with his poison claw extended and his sword ready to kill Hadori, but then Sesshoumaru was suddenly wracked with a pain that must have peirced his ears - something that Kagome could not hear.
Something that dogs - or a dog-demon could hear, but not humans!
One of Hadori's bodyguards then sprayed a mist onto Sesshoumaru, and he collasped. She remembered running towards Hadori and then blackness overcame her.
They were in trouble now. Kagome knew that most likely this lab was hidden and that only Hadori and his co-horts knew anything about it.
She heard something and tensed. Someone was coming!
"Ah, you are awake. Good morning to you, Kagome-chan.." An amused voice said. Suddenly Hadori came into her line of sight.
Kagome refused to speak to him. How could someone that was supposed to be Inuyasha's son be capable of such evil? She saw that he was not dressed in his suit but in a dark black kimono made of silk. A red dragon was upon the breast and in the middle of that red dragon was a -
~A - a - spider!~ Kagome's eyes widened inperceptively.
Naraku? No, surely not!
"I see you are surprised at my appearance. Well, even an up and coming taiyoukai must relax. Besides it is morning. You and my dear uncle have slept the night away."
"How dare you!" Kagome spat. "There are laws against what you've done!"
Hadori chuckled. "Kagome, you are refreshingly naive. Quite endearing to a man of the world such as myself."
He came closer to Kagome and leaned down, touching her hair with his hand. "But you see - I am above the petty laws of humans."
He drew away from her and studied her face closely.
"You look like my mother..but then not. There is a certain quality about you that I cannot define. I have hazy images of my mother, but her face I can remember."
Kagome turned her head away, not wishing to listen.
"You will face me when I am speaking to you, Kagome!" Kagome felt her chin roughly grasped and her head was faced to where she had to look upon Hadori once more. Again it was his golden eyes that reminded her painfully of Inuyasha.
"You will help me or I shall make sure the remainder of Sesshoumaru's days are filled with agony that he will beg me to die."
Kagome's eyes narrowed. "Sesshoumaru would never beg you for anything!"
"Ah, but technology and magic are on my side, Kagome. There is only one thing I lack and that is the power over the past."
"I won't help you!" Kagome felt a chill as his eyes regarded her coldly.
He let go of her chin and he said, "You see, time is much like a rock thrown into a pool of water - the rock creates ripples that go outward beyond the span of the rock itself. So it is that time is like that pool of water. Each event, however insignifigant has it's effect. I, in this time can affect everything that goes on from now and into the future..." He paused, his eyes gleaming as he watched Kagome's face closely. "But the past now..if I had access to Japan's past, then I shall have it all..everything.."
"You - want to take your technology to the Sengoku-Jidal, don't you?" Kagome asked.
"Why you are most intelligent, Kagome. I do so admire a woman who has such a keen mind as well as beauty." Hadori chuckled.. "Yes, I do in a part, but I also wish to take the youkai and bend them to my ends, duplicate them with elements that would be of use to me."
"Cloning!" Kagome head shot up in alarm. "You want to clone the youkai? But - cloning has only been done on animals!"
"There's that delightful innocence that I so admire." Hadori smiled. "Do you really believe all that you read in the papers or the internet? Human cloning experiments are taking place in secret all over the world, don't you realize that? Humans have always wanted to perfect themselves, be like gods." He scowled.
"But they have been going about it all wrong. Hitler, Stalin, pomgroms, 'ethnic cleansing', massacres, cloning..all in the pursuit of human perfection. But I shall best them all." Hadori's smile was cold and menancing. "You see, I have already begun cloning limited numbers of youkai - the blood slugs to be exact."
Kagome paled visibly.
"Oh yes.." Hadori said softly. "I have bred them to be more - formidable than their ancestors. Of the original parents, I have many hatchlings, healthy and strong. They feed upon the homeless denizens of Tokyo and the surrounding towns. My program of irradicating homelessness has certainly been a success, hm?"
Kagome felt sick. She and everyone else had heard of the Hadori Corporation 'HomeWorks Program' that was designed to train people in technology profession so that they could be become viable members of society by becoming productive employees and homeowners. It had been lauded worldwide as an overall solution to homelessness and joblessness in third-world countries. Even the United States and England were working to adapt such a program to their administrations.
"I can tell by your face that you are angry, Kagome." Hadori loomed over her once more. "But really now, why waste resources on the weak and clinging? We, the strong - you and I - must survive. I admit I favor the Sengoku-Jidal era much better. They were most practical then. Now, everyone seeks to be like the great United States, suckling on the tit of weak, decadent democracy. I intend to change Japan's future by changing it's past."
"You really think you can get away with this?" Kagome asked.
"I already have, Kagome. As I said, I only need your help to go into the past and rectify some things. I shall begin the process of claiming territory - starting with the Western Lands."
Kagome turned her heads towards where Sesshoumaru lay unconscious. The Western Lands were Sesshoumaru's!
"You have no right to them!" Kagome turned her head back to where she could see Hadori smugly grinning, his hands behind his back.
"But of course I do!" Hadori's eyes were twinkling with mirth. "I am the only heir of the line of the great dog-demon Inutaisho, since I am the issue of Inuyasha and Kikyou the dark miko."
"Sesshoumaru is still alive.." Kagome seethed.
"Ah, but in the time past he disappeared from the Western Lands - never to appear again." Hadori laughed harshly. "His lands fell to the squabbling youkai and hanyou who wanted the territory for their own. Soon the foriegners came to Japan, the old ways erroded and the youkai and hanyou were decimated by the diseases that the foriegners brought as well as their odd weapons. The Four Territories of the Demon Lords were but a legend by the turn of the century. What youkai and hanyou remained hid away and faded from human sight."
"You - lived though all this time.." It was just dawning on Kagome just how long Hadori had really lived.
"I - don't know." For the first time Kagome saw confusion on the hanyou's face. "I remember my childhood and my young adult life, training with the youkai. I remember preparing to war upon the humans and then the next I knew I was upon the debris of buildings at Hiroshima, the skies pitch black although it was daytime."
~Hiroshima!! Then he was there when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima?~ Kagome stared at Hadori in amazement.
"Enough of this." Hadori said impatiently. "I require your help since you can travel through time and sense the Shikon no Tama. You will help me and together we shall be great..."
"I won't help you do this!" Kagome's temper flared.
"You will." Hadori said coldly as he brought his face to hers, his fingers against her cheek. "You will help me. After all, you have no family now.."
"N - nani?" Her family was on vacation!
"They had an accident last night." Hadori said smoothly. "A fire raged through the hotel that they were staying in. There were no survivors. It is suspected that there was an electical short in the wiring." Kagome felt numb as Hadori continued to stroke her cheek.
"So, I shall take you in as my ward.." Hadori said smoothly. "In fact the paperwork has already been processed, although it won't matter soon enough. You are mine to do with as I please, Kagome. Unless you would like to see my dear uncle suffer - and believe me, I can make him suffer - you will help me become taiyoukai of the Four Territories. I promise I shall reward you highly. Perhaps I shall make you my lady wife. A power such as you carry should not be wasted upon weak human bloodlines."
She felt sick. She wasn't Hadori's mother thank god, but she was the reincarnated soul of Kikyou herself and her very image. What he suggested harkened to almost a type of offhanded incest. She saw the small blue spider almost pulse within the stitched dragon on his kimono and again thought of Naraku and then the fate of her family threatened to overtake her mind once more.
She managed to speak, her mind in a vortex of pain, trying to grasp anything to hold off her tears.
"You are - no - youkai.."
Hadori placed a mocking finger on Kagome's lips. "But that is what I need the complete Shikon no Tama for - to become a full blooded youkai."
He rose and said, "I shall give you some time to think about your options, Kagome. I am quite sure you will make the right decision."
He left and Kagome felt the tears run down her face. She wanted to scream but she had no voice. He killed them! He killed her family!
And he was right. She had no one. No one except Sesshoumaru.
****
It was hours later when Kagome's mind registered that the door to the lab was opening. If it was Hadori she didn't care. She turned her head away from the sound - slow footsteps accompanied by a tapping sound as if someone were using a walking stick.
"Eh?" An ancient voice croaked out. "Sesshoumaru-sama! This old servant knew it was you!"
Kagome opened her eyes and saw -
"Jaken?" Never in her wildest nightmares had she thought she'd see the toad youkai again - or wanted to.
But Jaken had changed. He looked positively ancient with wrinkles that lined his face and a stoop to his walk. His eyes were sunken and dulled but Kagome could see a spark within them.
"Eh?" Jaken stopped and then glanced over her way. "Augh! Tis you! What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for the end.." Kagome sighed deeply as Jaken ignored her and started to shake Sesshoumaru.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Tis your old servant, Jaken!"
"He's out, Jaken.." Kagome said dully.
"No, no..he's right here, you insipid girl!" Jaken shook the old wooden staff at her. Kagome noticed that it was just an oridinary staff and not the old staff of heads he used to carry.
"Jaken.." Kagome pushed the hurting thought of her family being dead away from her mind. They needed to get out of here. "Can you release us?"
"Eh?" Jaken blinked.
"These bindings!" Kagome flexed her hands. "There must be a switch somewhere."
"Hai..hai..many switches.." Jaken winced. "Many pains..many - switches..Hadori-sama is a hard master.." The toad like youkai stood there shivering.
"JAKEN, find the switch!" Kagome felt frustrated, but still he stood there.
~How did Sesshoumaru talk to him?~ Kagome thought and then she remembered.
"Jaken, do as I say or I will use your head for a football.." Kagome's voice was low and calm - and quite a remarkable imitation of Sesshoumaru's if she thought so herself.
This seemed to snap something in Jaken's old brain for he hastened with quick speed over to a console. Evidently the old youkai had seen someone work the tables before, for he pressed a button that released Sesshoumaru and Kagome. Kagome jumped from her table only to realize that she was no longer in her old clothing, but in the old fashioned garb of a miko. In fact, the outfit was identical to Kikyou's. She frowned but did not reflect on just how sick in the head Hadori was. She rushed to where Sesshoumaru still lay still.
"Sesshoumaru! Speak to me! Wake up!" Kagome was gently patting his face.
"Aiii! Get away from Sesshoumaru-sama, human female!" Jaken was shaking his staff at her.
"Oh shut up!" Kagome snapped. Jaken WAS irritating at any age.
"Sesshoumaru..wake up! We've got to - eeep!" Kagome felt Sesshoumaru's arm grab her around her waist and pull her down to him. His face was buried in her hair and she could feel him inhale deeply.
"Kagome.." Sesshoumaru growled lowly as he started to nuzzle against her neck. Kagome's eyes were wide with shock.
"Sesshou..." Kagome sighed, enjoying the momentary comfort that he gave her, but there were more pressing matters to attend to. She managed to pull away with a frown. He had to wake up, but she didn't know how she was going to do - wait, what was that on counter?
Kagome walked over ignoring Jaken's mutterings and saw a variety of items. Evidently they had rifled through her grandfather's room, for she saw a variety of books, scrolls and even a necklace that was similar to the cursed one that Inuyasha used to wear. She hadn't even realized that he had things like these.
~Grandfather..Kagome felt her sorrow well up in her once more. ~Sota, Mama..I will never see them again.~
~How dare he take Grandfather's things!~ Kagome felt anger welling up inside her, replacing the sorrow. Looking about the room, she saw a closet and raced to it, opening it and rumaging through the contents. There she found a carryon bag at the bottom. Good. That would do. She gathered her grandfather's things and placed them in the bag itself.
And then she saw three things that gained her attention in the far corner of the room.
~Sesshoumaru's swords.. and the Shikon shard!~ Kagome saw them floating in mid-air and knew that they were in a holding field of some sort. She gazed at the Shikon shard as it seemed to glow, aware of her presence. Kagome reached her hand out as if she were posessed and the Shikon shard moved of it's own accord out of the field. It passed into Kagome's hand as her eyes widened.
~It's going into me!~ She thought as she felt the surge of power ebb and flow within her. The shard stopped it's progress at the base of her breastbone, where it glowed for a moment and then disappeared into Kagome. Suddenly Kagome realized that she was within the field itself, and so she grabbed Sesshoumaru's swords without another thought.
"Jaken..we need to get Sesshoumaru out of here!" Kagome exclaimed.
"Hai, hai.." The old youkai said. "But this old Jaken - he cannot carry Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Kagome sighed. She wondered if she would be able to. She had the shard but she didn't want to use it that way for fear it would corrupt her.
"Jaken has the perfect idea!" The old youkai suddenly exclaimed and raced to another larger closet where he brought out a -
"Rascal Scooter!" Jaken proudly brought out the three-wheeled scooter, which was very similar to ones that Kagome had seen the elderly and disabled in the malls ride.
~We're going to make our escape - in a SCOOTER?~ Kagome thought as she struggled to get Sesshoumaru up on his feet.
The youkai lord seemed to stir as he leaned heavily upon Kagome.
"Sess-chan?" Kagome said softly.
"Where - ?' Then his eyes snapped open as he first looked at Kagome and then the room itself. He spotted Jaken and his eyes widened.
"Jaken?" Gods, he looked like a prune left out to moulder!
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken said happily as glomped onto Sesshoumaru's leg with surprising speed considering his age. "This Jaken is very happy to see you alive!"
"Get - off - me.." Sesshoumaru growled at the old servant and Jaken complied.
"Where are we?" Sesshoumaru turned to Kagome as he straightened up somewhat. He felt like his head was filled with cotton, it hurt so badly.
"I don't know but Hadori has us. Sesshoumaru, he intends to claim the Four Territories - the very world itself! Kagome exclaimed.
Sesshoumaru growled. The mutt's offspring dared to take what was his as well as what belong by right to others? For that he would die! Sesshoumaru took his swords from Kagome and stepped forward, feeling a wave of dizziness that stopped him cold. What had the hanyou done to him?
"We need to get back home.." Kagome still held onto him,steadying him. Sesshoumaru did not like the fact that it was Kagome that was helping to support him, and yet he derived a strange comfort in that fact. He noticed that she said 'we' instead of 'you' just now, and this made him wonder.
"This is your home." Sesshoumaru said.
"No, it's not." Kagome's eyes filled with sorrow. "He killed my family. I have nowhere else to go but in the past. He's made arrangements to where I'm legally bound to him."
Kagome was surprised to hear Sesshoumaru curse lowly in his throat. "He will not have you. Not as long as I live."
"T- thank you, Sesshou.." Kagome said softly, overwhelmed by his reply.
"Come.." Sesshoumaru said. "Jaken, get off that thing."
"Hai Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken got off of the scooter and waited for Sesshoumaru and Kagome to join him. With Kagome's help, Sesshoumaru was able to make it to the door and lean against the wall. This - weakness - he hated it!
Kagome opened the door and peered out. "We're - we're in the mountains..there's a road that's leading away from here..but I see a car with a driver right outside. He's got a semi-automatic on him though."
"We shall take the carriage." Sesshoumaru said. He did not have any idea just what a semi-automatic was and wasn't going to ask now.
"You're not driving.." Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru.
"No." He looked almost amused.
"Jaken will help you, Sesshoumaru-sama!" The youkai tottered out the door before either Kagome or Sesshoumaru could do anything about it.
They saw the driver level his gun up to Jaken as he walked up to the driver, waving his stick.
"Aiii! You! You took my staff!" He yelled at the driver, who suddenly relaxed.
"You have it right there, you wrinkled prune.." The driver knew of Jaken's presence and like all the others at this complex treated Jaken like a pet at best, and at worst something to vent their frustrations on.
"No, no! I do not! My staff! The staff of heads!" Jaken clamored.
The driver decided to have some fun with the little idiot and so he snatched up Jaken's staff. "Now you don't have a staff at all, you prune!"
"Give back! Give back!" Jaken tried hopping up but he didn't go very far. The man who held his staff laughed derisively. It was a boring shift that he pulled up here, at least it was alieviated somewhat by the antics of this thing.
THWACK! The driver suddenly fell like a stone, his head cleaved in two. Jaken grabbed his staff and proceeded to beat the dead human with it. Sesshoumaru picked up the youkai with a grimace as though the effort cost him.
"Enough. Get in, Jaken." Kagome opened the door and Sesshoumaru threw him into the back seat. Kagome was already in the front seat when Sesshoumaru ran around the other side and joined her. Fortunately for them, the keys were in the car. Kagome started the engine and gunned the car forward, ignoring the thump of Jaken rolling against the front seats.
As they roared off, Hadori Takeieo came out of the doors of one of the adjoining buildings along with his ever present bodyguards. He was now dressed in a Seville Row buisness suit of charcoal grey, his appearance immaculate. He did not seem too upset about the apparent escape.
"I knew Jaken would come in handy one day." Hadori said softly. He pressed a small button at his lapel and said. "All units. You will follow them - make it look real, but do not kill them. I shall be on route shortly. Hadori out."
Hadori smiled. The wench had done as he thought she would. Remarkable spirit, that wench. She would lead him to where the times converged and soon his plans would bear fruit.
Five Days In Tokyo - or - Sesshoumaru's Unlikely Visit - Twelve
Kagome's eyes fluttered open as she regained consciousness. The first thing she noticed was that her head hurt - badly. The second thing that she noticed was that she was strapped to a table. She gasped as she turned her head to see where Sesshoumaru was.
"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome saw him lying on a table next to hers, his arms and legs secured by metal retraints. The youkai-lord did not respond and Kagome knew that whatever knocked her cold had done the same to him.
She definitely wasn't home that was for sure. Overhead lights were recessed into the ceiling and Kagome could see that this was some sort of laboratory.
Hadori..Kagome thought angrily. Everything had happened so fast! One moment she was looking through the peep hole at Hadori and his two bodyguards, and the next the door blew open, sending she and Sesshoumaru flying to the opposite wall of the living room. She was barely up when Sesshoumaru charged with his poison claw extended and his sword ready to kill Hadori, but then Sesshoumaru was suddenly wracked with a pain that must have peirced his ears - something that Kagome could not hear.
Something that dogs - or a dog-demon could hear, but not humans!
One of Hadori's bodyguards then sprayed a mist onto Sesshoumaru, and he collasped. She remembered running towards Hadori and then blackness overcame her.
They were in trouble now. Kagome knew that most likely this lab was hidden and that only Hadori and his co-horts knew anything about it.
She heard something and tensed. Someone was coming!
"Ah, you are awake. Good morning to you, Kagome-chan.." An amused voice said. Suddenly Hadori came into her line of sight.
Kagome refused to speak to him. How could someone that was supposed to be Inuyasha's son be capable of such evil? She saw that he was not dressed in his suit but in a dark black kimono made of silk. A red dragon was upon the breast and in the middle of that red dragon was a -
~A - a - spider!~ Kagome's eyes widened inperceptively.
Naraku? No, surely not!
"I see you are surprised at my appearance. Well, even an up and coming taiyoukai must relax. Besides it is morning. You and my dear uncle have slept the night away."
"How dare you!" Kagome spat. "There are laws against what you've done!"
Hadori chuckled. "Kagome, you are refreshingly naive. Quite endearing to a man of the world such as myself."
He came closer to Kagome and leaned down, touching her hair with his hand. "But you see - I am above the petty laws of humans."
He drew away from her and studied her face closely.
"You look like my mother..but then not. There is a certain quality about you that I cannot define. I have hazy images of my mother, but her face I can remember."
Kagome turned her head away, not wishing to listen.
"You will face me when I am speaking to you, Kagome!" Kagome felt her chin roughly grasped and her head was faced to where she had to look upon Hadori once more. Again it was his golden eyes that reminded her painfully of Inuyasha.
"You will help me or I shall make sure the remainder of Sesshoumaru's days are filled with agony that he will beg me to die."
Kagome's eyes narrowed. "Sesshoumaru would never beg you for anything!"
"Ah, but technology and magic are on my side, Kagome. There is only one thing I lack and that is the power over the past."
"I won't help you!" Kagome felt a chill as his eyes regarded her coldly.
He let go of her chin and he said, "You see, time is much like a rock thrown into a pool of water - the rock creates ripples that go outward beyond the span of the rock itself. So it is that time is like that pool of water. Each event, however insignifigant has it's effect. I, in this time can affect everything that goes on from now and into the future..." He paused, his eyes gleaming as he watched Kagome's face closely. "But the past now..if I had access to Japan's past, then I shall have it all..everything.."
"You - want to take your technology to the Sengoku-Jidal, don't you?" Kagome asked.
"Why you are most intelligent, Kagome. I do so admire a woman who has such a keen mind as well as beauty." Hadori chuckled.. "Yes, I do in a part, but I also wish to take the youkai and bend them to my ends, duplicate them with elements that would be of use to me."
"Cloning!" Kagome head shot up in alarm. "You want to clone the youkai? But - cloning has only been done on animals!"
"There's that delightful innocence that I so admire." Hadori smiled. "Do you really believe all that you read in the papers or the internet? Human cloning experiments are taking place in secret all over the world, don't you realize that? Humans have always wanted to perfect themselves, be like gods." He scowled.
"But they have been going about it all wrong. Hitler, Stalin, pomgroms, 'ethnic cleansing', massacres, cloning..all in the pursuit of human perfection. But I shall best them all." Hadori's smile was cold and menancing. "You see, I have already begun cloning limited numbers of youkai - the blood slugs to be exact."
Kagome paled visibly.
"Oh yes.." Hadori said softly. "I have bred them to be more - formidable than their ancestors. Of the original parents, I have many hatchlings, healthy and strong. They feed upon the homeless denizens of Tokyo and the surrounding towns. My program of irradicating homelessness has certainly been a success, hm?"
Kagome felt sick. She and everyone else had heard of the Hadori Corporation 'HomeWorks Program' that was designed to train people in technology profession so that they could be become viable members of society by becoming productive employees and homeowners. It had been lauded worldwide as an overall solution to homelessness and joblessness in third-world countries. Even the United States and England were working to adapt such a program to their administrations.
"I can tell by your face that you are angry, Kagome." Hadori loomed over her once more. "But really now, why waste resources on the weak and clinging? We, the strong - you and I - must survive. I admit I favor the Sengoku-Jidal era much better. They were most practical then. Now, everyone seeks to be like the great United States, suckling on the tit of weak, decadent democracy. I intend to change Japan's future by changing it's past."
"You really think you can get away with this?" Kagome asked.
"I already have, Kagome. As I said, I only need your help to go into the past and rectify some things. I shall begin the process of claiming territory - starting with the Western Lands."
Kagome turned her heads towards where Sesshoumaru lay unconscious. The Western Lands were Sesshoumaru's!
"You have no right to them!" Kagome turned her head back to where she could see Hadori smugly grinning, his hands behind his back.
"But of course I do!" Hadori's eyes were twinkling with mirth. "I am the only heir of the line of the great dog-demon Inutaisho, since I am the issue of Inuyasha and Kikyou the dark miko."
"Sesshoumaru is still alive.." Kagome seethed.
"Ah, but in the time past he disappeared from the Western Lands - never to appear again." Hadori laughed harshly. "His lands fell to the squabbling youkai and hanyou who wanted the territory for their own. Soon the foriegners came to Japan, the old ways erroded and the youkai and hanyou were decimated by the diseases that the foriegners brought as well as their odd weapons. The Four Territories of the Demon Lords were but a legend by the turn of the century. What youkai and hanyou remained hid away and faded from human sight."
"You - lived though all this time.." It was just dawning on Kagome just how long Hadori had really lived.
"I - don't know." For the first time Kagome saw confusion on the hanyou's face. "I remember my childhood and my young adult life, training with the youkai. I remember preparing to war upon the humans and then the next I knew I was upon the debris of buildings at Hiroshima, the skies pitch black although it was daytime."
~Hiroshima!! Then he was there when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima?~ Kagome stared at Hadori in amazement.
"Enough of this." Hadori said impatiently. "I require your help since you can travel through time and sense the Shikon no Tama. You will help me and together we shall be great..."
"I won't help you do this!" Kagome's temper flared.
"You will." Hadori said coldly as he brought his face to hers, his fingers against her cheek. "You will help me. After all, you have no family now.."
"N - nani?" Her family was on vacation!
"They had an accident last night." Hadori said smoothly. "A fire raged through the hotel that they were staying in. There were no survivors. It is suspected that there was an electical short in the wiring." Kagome felt numb as Hadori continued to stroke her cheek.
"So, I shall take you in as my ward.." Hadori said smoothly. "In fact the paperwork has already been processed, although it won't matter soon enough. You are mine to do with as I please, Kagome. Unless you would like to see my dear uncle suffer - and believe me, I can make him suffer - you will help me become taiyoukai of the Four Territories. I promise I shall reward you highly. Perhaps I shall make you my lady wife. A power such as you carry should not be wasted upon weak human bloodlines."
She felt sick. She wasn't Hadori's mother thank god, but she was the reincarnated soul of Kikyou herself and her very image. What he suggested harkened to almost a type of offhanded incest. She saw the small blue spider almost pulse within the stitched dragon on his kimono and again thought of Naraku and then the fate of her family threatened to overtake her mind once more.
She managed to speak, her mind in a vortex of pain, trying to grasp anything to hold off her tears.
"You are - no - youkai.."
Hadori placed a mocking finger on Kagome's lips. "But that is what I need the complete Shikon no Tama for - to become a full blooded youkai."
He rose and said, "I shall give you some time to think about your options, Kagome. I am quite sure you will make the right decision."
He left and Kagome felt the tears run down her face. She wanted to scream but she had no voice. He killed them! He killed her family!
And he was right. She had no one. No one except Sesshoumaru.
****
It was hours later when Kagome's mind registered that the door to the lab was opening. If it was Hadori she didn't care. She turned her head away from the sound - slow footsteps accompanied by a tapping sound as if someone were using a walking stick.
"Eh?" An ancient voice croaked out. "Sesshoumaru-sama! This old servant knew it was you!"
Kagome opened her eyes and saw -
"Jaken?" Never in her wildest nightmares had she thought she'd see the toad youkai again - or wanted to.
But Jaken had changed. He looked positively ancient with wrinkles that lined his face and a stoop to his walk. His eyes were sunken and dulled but Kagome could see a spark within them.
"Eh?" Jaken stopped and then glanced over her way. "Augh! Tis you! What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for the end.." Kagome sighed deeply as Jaken ignored her and started to shake Sesshoumaru.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Tis your old servant, Jaken!"
"He's out, Jaken.." Kagome said dully.
"No, no..he's right here, you insipid girl!" Jaken shook the old wooden staff at her. Kagome noticed that it was just an oridinary staff and not the old staff of heads he used to carry.
"Jaken.." Kagome pushed the hurting thought of her family being dead away from her mind. They needed to get out of here. "Can you release us?"
"Eh?" Jaken blinked.
"These bindings!" Kagome flexed her hands. "There must be a switch somewhere."
"Hai..hai..many switches.." Jaken winced. "Many pains..many - switches..Hadori-sama is a hard master.." The toad like youkai stood there shivering.
"JAKEN, find the switch!" Kagome felt frustrated, but still he stood there.
~How did Sesshoumaru talk to him?~ Kagome thought and then she remembered.
"Jaken, do as I say or I will use your head for a football.." Kagome's voice was low and calm - and quite a remarkable imitation of Sesshoumaru's if she thought so herself.
This seemed to snap something in Jaken's old brain for he hastened with quick speed over to a console. Evidently the old youkai had seen someone work the tables before, for he pressed a button that released Sesshoumaru and Kagome. Kagome jumped from her table only to realize that she was no longer in her old clothing, but in the old fashioned garb of a miko. In fact, the outfit was identical to Kikyou's. She frowned but did not reflect on just how sick in the head Hadori was. She rushed to where Sesshoumaru still lay still.
"Sesshoumaru! Speak to me! Wake up!" Kagome was gently patting his face.
"Aiii! Get away from Sesshoumaru-sama, human female!" Jaken was shaking his staff at her.
"Oh shut up!" Kagome snapped. Jaken WAS irritating at any age.
"Sesshoumaru..wake up! We've got to - eeep!" Kagome felt Sesshoumaru's arm grab her around her waist and pull her down to him. His face was buried in her hair and she could feel him inhale deeply.
"Kagome.." Sesshoumaru growled lowly as he started to nuzzle against her neck. Kagome's eyes were wide with shock.
"Sesshou..." Kagome sighed, enjoying the momentary comfort that he gave her, but there were more pressing matters to attend to. She managed to pull away with a frown. He had to wake up, but she didn't know how she was going to do - wait, what was that on counter?
Kagome walked over ignoring Jaken's mutterings and saw a variety of items. Evidently they had rifled through her grandfather's room, for she saw a variety of books, scrolls and even a necklace that was similar to the cursed one that Inuyasha used to wear. She hadn't even realized that he had things like these.
~Grandfather..Kagome felt her sorrow well up in her once more. ~Sota, Mama..I will never see them again.~
~How dare he take Grandfather's things!~ Kagome felt anger welling up inside her, replacing the sorrow. Looking about the room, she saw a closet and raced to it, opening it and rumaging through the contents. There she found a carryon bag at the bottom. Good. That would do. She gathered her grandfather's things and placed them in the bag itself.
And then she saw three things that gained her attention in the far corner of the room.
~Sesshoumaru's swords.. and the Shikon shard!~ Kagome saw them floating in mid-air and knew that they were in a holding field of some sort. She gazed at the Shikon shard as it seemed to glow, aware of her presence. Kagome reached her hand out as if she were posessed and the Shikon shard moved of it's own accord out of the field. It passed into Kagome's hand as her eyes widened.
~It's going into me!~ She thought as she felt the surge of power ebb and flow within her. The shard stopped it's progress at the base of her breastbone, where it glowed for a moment and then disappeared into Kagome. Suddenly Kagome realized that she was within the field itself, and so she grabbed Sesshoumaru's swords without another thought.
"Jaken..we need to get Sesshoumaru out of here!" Kagome exclaimed.
"Hai, hai.." The old youkai said. "But this old Jaken - he cannot carry Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Kagome sighed. She wondered if she would be able to. She had the shard but she didn't want to use it that way for fear it would corrupt her.
"Jaken has the perfect idea!" The old youkai suddenly exclaimed and raced to another larger closet where he brought out a -
"Rascal Scooter!" Jaken proudly brought out the three-wheeled scooter, which was very similar to ones that Kagome had seen the elderly and disabled in the malls ride.
~We're going to make our escape - in a SCOOTER?~ Kagome thought as she struggled to get Sesshoumaru up on his feet.
The youkai lord seemed to stir as he leaned heavily upon Kagome.
"Sess-chan?" Kagome said softly.
"Where - ?' Then his eyes snapped open as he first looked at Kagome and then the room itself. He spotted Jaken and his eyes widened.
"Jaken?" Gods, he looked like a prune left out to moulder!
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken said happily as glomped onto Sesshoumaru's leg with surprising speed considering his age. "This Jaken is very happy to see you alive!"
"Get - off - me.." Sesshoumaru growled at the old servant and Jaken complied.
"Where are we?" Sesshoumaru turned to Kagome as he straightened up somewhat. He felt like his head was filled with cotton, it hurt so badly.
"I don't know but Hadori has us. Sesshoumaru, he intends to claim the Four Territories - the very world itself! Kagome exclaimed.
Sesshoumaru growled. The mutt's offspring dared to take what was his as well as what belong by right to others? For that he would die! Sesshoumaru took his swords from Kagome and stepped forward, feeling a wave of dizziness that stopped him cold. What had the hanyou done to him?
"We need to get back home.." Kagome still held onto him,steadying him. Sesshoumaru did not like the fact that it was Kagome that was helping to support him, and yet he derived a strange comfort in that fact. He noticed that she said 'we' instead of 'you' just now, and this made him wonder.
"This is your home." Sesshoumaru said.
"No, it's not." Kagome's eyes filled with sorrow. "He killed my family. I have nowhere else to go but in the past. He's made arrangements to where I'm legally bound to him."
Kagome was surprised to hear Sesshoumaru curse lowly in his throat. "He will not have you. Not as long as I live."
"T- thank you, Sesshou.." Kagome said softly, overwhelmed by his reply.
"Come.." Sesshoumaru said. "Jaken, get off that thing."
"Hai Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken got off of the scooter and waited for Sesshoumaru and Kagome to join him. With Kagome's help, Sesshoumaru was able to make it to the door and lean against the wall. This - weakness - he hated it!
Kagome opened the door and peered out. "We're - we're in the mountains..there's a road that's leading away from here..but I see a car with a driver right outside. He's got a semi-automatic on him though."
"We shall take the carriage." Sesshoumaru said. He did not have any idea just what a semi-automatic was and wasn't going to ask now.
"You're not driving.." Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru.
"No." He looked almost amused.
"Jaken will help you, Sesshoumaru-sama!" The youkai tottered out the door before either Kagome or Sesshoumaru could do anything about it.
They saw the driver level his gun up to Jaken as he walked up to the driver, waving his stick.
"Aiii! You! You took my staff!" He yelled at the driver, who suddenly relaxed.
"You have it right there, you wrinkled prune.." The driver knew of Jaken's presence and like all the others at this complex treated Jaken like a pet at best, and at worst something to vent their frustrations on.
"No, no! I do not! My staff! The staff of heads!" Jaken clamored.
The driver decided to have some fun with the little idiot and so he snatched up Jaken's staff. "Now you don't have a staff at all, you prune!"
"Give back! Give back!" Jaken tried hopping up but he didn't go very far. The man who held his staff laughed derisively. It was a boring shift that he pulled up here, at least it was alieviated somewhat by the antics of this thing.
THWACK! The driver suddenly fell like a stone, his head cleaved in two. Jaken grabbed his staff and proceeded to beat the dead human with it. Sesshoumaru picked up the youkai with a grimace as though the effort cost him.
"Enough. Get in, Jaken." Kagome opened the door and Sesshoumaru threw him into the back seat. Kagome was already in the front seat when Sesshoumaru ran around the other side and joined her. Fortunately for them, the keys were in the car. Kagome started the engine and gunned the car forward, ignoring the thump of Jaken rolling against the front seats.
As they roared off, Hadori Takeieo came out of the doors of one of the adjoining buildings along with his ever present bodyguards. He was now dressed in a Seville Row buisness suit of charcoal grey, his appearance immaculate. He did not seem too upset about the apparent escape.
"I knew Jaken would come in handy one day." Hadori said softly. He pressed a small button at his lapel and said. "All units. You will follow them - make it look real, but do not kill them. I shall be on route shortly. Hadori out."
Hadori smiled. The wench had done as he thought she would. Remarkable spirit, that wench. She would lead him to where the times converged and soon his plans would bear fruit.