Present Time.
Inuyasha Fanfiction
By alandrem
Chapter 17
Disclaimer: Blah, Blah, Blah. Same as chapter one.
Author Note: Sorry guys for taking so long in updating, I really had a bad case of writer's block and no matter how many good ideas telosphilos sent I just couldn't write anything.
In this and all future chapters as well as some of the previous ones I have to give Telosphilos co-writer status, she really helps giving some great ideas and developing the story. Thanks Telos!
On this chapter there is also some mention of sex, but I think it's not enough to bother anyone.
Also this chapter ended being too big, so it was cut in two. Chapter 18 should be up in a couple of days. (It is done already so no worries that I'll take long posting) And the same with the lemon, so for those hentais, just have patience (and I really hope you like it since, I've talked so much about it that I really hope it came out right.)
Also remember from the next chapter on no warning about OOC, but they will be.
Also thanks to my editors evercool resurrected, Naoko Cat girl and lightning.
Enough rants, now on with the fic.
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As Kagome and Sota did the dishes and put the food away, Lieutenant Watanabe stopped by briefly to tell Kagome which shifts of the surveillance teams had youkai on them; so that she would not worry about them. He had also warned her not to 'Sit' Inuyasha where they could be seen again, because it would make the humans curious. The surveillance team had noticed, but thankfully, he was able to convince them the young man fell down the tree.
Sota had laughed at that and started trying to tease his sister about it as they worked. Especially because he knew the dog demon was not going to like the explanation the cop gave. As the kid kept teasing, Kagome was rapidly reaching the conclusion that little brothers were easier to handle in small doses. And she would not rescue him from his hero's wrath once he managed to incur it. Knowing Sota and her hanyou's short temper the young Miko was sure that would happen rather soon, and she would let him suffer.
"You're gonna get it, you little twerp." She told her brother, annoyed at using the word Inuyasha used to describe Shippou at his most hyperactive.
"Wow, new word! But nah, I won't." Sota said laughing. "You can't 'Sit' Inuyasha nii-chan anymore, but knowing your temper you're gonna do it; and I want to hear how you explain that!" He laughed again. "Mama doesn't want you to do that either." That only got him a very demon like growl, which only served to make him laugh harder.
"Just wait until I'm finished here." Sota could be a bit annoying some times, but at the moment she did not really have the presence of mind to retaliate like she used to.
Dinner had gone well as far as she was concerned, but she was starting to worry about where Inuyasha was, since he did not return after talking to Lieutenant Watanabe. Now that she had the time to cross a few words with him, Kagome realized she had over reacted since the neko's aura and youki did not feel evil at all. He seemed to be quite a pleasant person, and she guessed she was going to get to know the hanyou a bit better, because of her situation. The young woman also pondered about what he had talked to Inuyasha about. He had not seemed very happy to see him and she was sure it was not just because he interrupted them, she thought and blushed a bit; there was anger there.
Asami was also getting worried. She had begun to understand more about the young man, he had a very healthy appetite, and if food was available and good he would not pass the chance. So whatever the neko told him she suspected it had upset Inuyasha. His sole presence would probably have that effect, after the reaming he gave him the day before, not counting that he had been in an emotional roller coaster for a few days. She decided it was best to go out and look for him, to perhaps offer to listen if he felt like talking again.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha was reclining in his favorite branch of the Go-Shimboku tree. He was watching the last of the sunset and working on mulling over all of the things he had to think about, which was no easy task. His mind was in turmoil and he could not find a way to slow down all that went by. His emotions were no better, he was happy, depressed, sad, angry, worried, and afraid at the same time; and the poor hanyou did not know how to deal with that, he always kept those at bay. Among all those emotions, there was one that threatened to take control over the chaos. It was frustration at his inability to deal with all that was happening to him, and it made the young man want to scream and he seriously wondered if it would be that bad. Before he decided, he scented his foster mother coming toward him and looked for her on the ground. There she was, walking right to the tree.
"Inuyasha? Is everything all right?" Asami asked in concern.
"I don't know. Too much is happening all at once." He replied.
He could not seem to pinpoint why he felt so comfortable around her. It seemed to have something to do with how she really did treat him like one of her kids, and yet she had not once tried to take neither his autonomy nor his freedom from him. She was welcoming without being confining, just like Kagome was most of the times.
"I know. I suspect the changes are getting bit overwhelming at times." Asami wondered what had happened this time. "I was worried when you missed dinner. Do you want me to put your food away for later?"
"Nah, I'm a bit hungry. I was thinking of spending some time in the park for a little while this evening." He told her and Asami nodded. She knew that he meant he was going to try to catch the killers' scents and track them down.
"All right, I'm going to have a long talk with Kagome about everything after you finish eating. Is there anything you would rather have me leave out from yesterday?" He jumped down in front of her and shrugged. "Okay, go get something to eat. I didn't want to upset you by having you overhear us talking about you and the pack and not knowing what was going on." Asami noticed he was holding another manila folder. "What's that?" She asked him.
Instead of answering, he handed it to her. She looked inside and saw the special dispensation in there. When she saw the signature at the bottom, her jaw dropped a bit. Putting it together with her phone call from Rin that morning she understood. Rin's comments about the youth's mating sprung to mind. Her dear friend had insisted they meet to talk more about that, and she had actually been adamant. But the closest date they could agree on was Friday morning for breakfast at her place, leaving the rest of the day free, since the conversation would probably be long.
"Is this from whom I think it is?" She asked after a moment.
"Yes, that is Sesshomaru, my half brother." His voice was full of hate, but it became laced with puzzlement as he went on. "I don't know what to make of it, that asshole did a lot to make things harder for me and now he turns around and does me a favor. It's frustrating. What's more, is that he told the neko about the well, but not about the Shikon no Tama." She put a hand on his shoulder to try to reassure him as they waked into the house.
"I'll put this away some place safe. Perhaps in time we will be able to figure this out." She offered and the young man just nodded, his mind going back to some of the chaos, for the moment his 'brother' took precedence.
Inuyasha chowed down his dinner rather quickly, packed up his skateboarding gear, and was out the door. He had not liked the idea of the protective stuff, but as his foster mother pointed out; if he fell, his lack of injuries would be much easier to explain if attributed to the gear.
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Inuyasha went down the shrine stairs at a leisurely pace, he was in no hurry to reach the park, and wanted time to sort out his reeling mind and emotions before meeting anyone. The hanyou was sure that Dayu guy would ask some questions and so would the rest of his group, so he hoped he could also get to make some discrete questions of his own and see what he could find about the Park Killers.
Finding out things was something he did a lot back home, even if the rest of his companions was not really aware of that ability. He did not let them see what he did on purpose, not wanting to know what they would think about that, since it contrasted with the tough image he presented. Normally he would gossip with some of the forest inhabitants, letting them do all the talking and only once in a while providing some information heard elsewhere that might be interesting. He really didn't like doing it and he had no friends among those he talked to, but most tolerated him well enough after he was unsealed.
It was usually the lesser demons who had no interest in the Shikon no Tama, or water sprites. Man! Those things sure knew a lot of stuff; it was only hard to get the important things sorted out from all the useless things they babbled about. He had even talked every once in a while with dogs, and it was surprising what the mutts could tell him. Rarely did he spy on humans and he had not spoken to them unless he was traveling with the rest of the pack, but still his superb hearing and hunting abilities had been useful on occasion; when he had to find out about demons that probably had a Shikon no Tama shard.
In his mind Inuyasha decided to replay the events of the day in hopes of getting them sorted out, and the first thing had been the visit to three of the previous crime scenes. Nomura-jiji had purposely chosen the most recent ones in hopes that he could get some leads. But there was nothing he could do on any of them but curse the cops as loud and proficiently as he could.
The places where a chaos of scents and tracks on the ground, too many people had been about after the bodies were found, and not just from the police. By the third site he was mostly able to tell individual scents of those who had been about, and even a few that should not have been there, including the killers; but the scents overlapped too much making it impossible for him to point in any direction. He was considering pointing the extra people out to Nomura-jiji once he had an idea of who they were, but that was going to require him to sniff the forensics team and the reporters.
The only thing they had been able to gain from those visits was the conviction that no one was to set foot on the scene of the next crime until the hanyou had gone through it. In Inuyasha's opinion that was not an option; he hated to have to wait until those thugs tortured someone else. Nomura-jiji agreed with him and went so far as to tell him how frustrated he felt at having to wait for the next murder in hopes of getting a break, since he and Kojiro had to cope with that for the better part of two years. In a way the young man felt sorry for the cops, it was frustrating to say the least.
After returning to the shrine still feeling frustrated and a bit unnerved because Kagome's scent was driving him nuts. He had that damn fight with her that broke his heart, only to have it patched up a few moments later when she finally listened to him, for a change, and ended up agreeing to be his mate. They had kissed and he had not felt happier in his life, only, he had to fight against himself to keep from claiming her right then.
It was not the time for them to have pups, and if they mated it would be a sure thing. He was still a bit uncertain about taking her; since from what he had managed to understand, she was too young by her time standards, barely a child, even if in his era she was more than ready to be married. He wanted to give her time, to do things her way for a change. He also needed some time to adjust to the idea of having her as mate. It made him extremely happy, but at the same time afraid that he might hurt her, or she him.
Not wanting to dwell so much on his doubts he turned his mind toward his other big problem, his asshole of a brother, Sesshomaru. He was really having a hard time believing his half brother had changed. But he had to admit to himself that there was probably some truth there. He had gotten the information from two entirely different sources that had nothing to do with each other. The scrolls his Ofukuro's reincarnation had left him spoke of the great demon wars and that his bother fought for the hanyous' right to live as well as an alliance with the humans. He had not finished reading that part, but he guessed he would find out that, indeed, his prick of a brother had mated the little girl Rin as the neko said he did. To him, that was funny, really funny.
Even with that knowledge, he was not ready to accept their words. Inuyasha had no love for his half brother. That bastard had done enough during his 16 years around to earn more than a couple of lifetimes of hatred. And yet, he was not the kind to let grudges fester for that long a time. He had forgiven Kykyou for killing him, and he would never be the one to attack Sesshomaru first. He of course defended himself and his pack from him, and would kill the damn cur during a fight… Well… he had not killed him in that one fight where Tenseiga bailed him out, although he could have. Actually, he had avoided him for all those years, only seeing Sesshomaru again when he went to search for Tetsusaiga.
And now that damn mutt had just sent word that he regretted his actions and had even accepted and sanctioned his mating to Kagome. It was… as if Sesshomaru had done him a favor, by supporting his right to claim Kagome. According to Kojiro, that paper he signed would be helpful against other demon's protests. His older brother's actions confused him, especially since he felt like the asshole was giving his approval. Not that it mattered to him what Sesshomaru thought… Of course it did not matter, why should it? He was his closest relative, the one that should have taken care of him when his Ofukuro died.
"Feh! I don't give a shit what he…" He started grumbling to himself, only to stop when he heard angry voices arguing and got a whiff of a familiar scent.
Thinking hard he put a face to it, Dayu, the guy that had invited him to join his friends at the park and taught him a few tricks on Sunday. He also smelled surprisingly similar to one of Kagome's friends, the angry one. The kid was afraid and in pain. Curious as to the reason why, he followed the scent to a darkened and deserted alley, he was surrounded by eight other kids that were taking turns at hitting and kicking him. His first reaction was to jump in, but he decided he would wait a bit to know what that was about.
"Watch out guys! We don't want to hit him on the face and have his father on us." One of the kids warned the others, when a tall guy with spiky hair did hit Dayu's face.
"Why should it matter? We'll beat the shit out of his old man too."
"Don't be stupid Jun, his father's a cop. The boss warned us to be careful around this sissy; it seems the guy has contacts."
"So we're gonna rat to daddy?" The spiky one asked, he appeared to be these thugs leader. He placed a hard kick to the kid's kidneys, sending him sprawling against another guy he received with a punch on the guts.
"I… don't… need… him… to… fight… my fights… assholes." Dayu panted, but managed to land a nice punch to the guy who hit him on the stomach. That would leave the thug a black eye as a memento. He turned to charge at the spiky haired guy only to be stopped by two of the other guys, to let their leader kick him again, he managed to twist enough and the kick ended hitting him on the hip.
"Yeah right, we're gonna leave you as an example of what will happen to your gang if Fujimaro does not leave the park. So you better inform him well of what Takeshi wants."
"Tell him yourself motherfucker!" Dayu struggled to get free, but the guys were bigger and stronger than he was, and he had already been beaten for a while. "What is your boss scared off? We beat… ooof!" He was not able to finish as someone landed a kick to his back.
Inuyasha had enough of watching, the Dayu guy was getting beaten to a pulp, and even if he should probably befriend the other guys if he wanted information on the killers, he just did not like their methods. Besides, the Dayu guy had been friendly and helpful the other day. There was still the chance that he and his group could tell him enough about the other gang to be able to track the killers.
'Oh what the heck!' He thought as he stepped out of the shadows he was hiding.
"I don't think that's a fair fight; that guy's half dead, if you want a challenge, then you fight with me." Nine pairs of eyes turned to look at him, and for a moment they just stared at the odd white haired man; the alley had little light provided by a single dirty lamp. His eyes glittered strangely, reflecting light like a wild animal, creeping the thugs out and surprising Dayu.
"Get the fuck back to wherever you came from, creep. This is none of your fucking business." The thug closest to him said disdainfully.
'He's that odd looking guy from Sunday.' Dayu thought as recognition flooded his mind. 'I invited to come over to skateboard with us; I thought he was not interested when he did not show up Monday. These guys don't want me dead yet, but they might kill him.'
"Wrong word asshole, I'm not a creep." Inuyasha told the guy and before the others were even aware of what he did, the hanyou was standing beside him and landed a punch to his jaw sprawling the guy on the ground. "Now who's next?" he asked, cracking his knuckles. Physical intimidation should scare off those foolish humans very easily; he only needed to do enough damage to frighten them.
"What the…" a couple of them mentioned, before launching themselves at him, a third trying to attack from behind.
Inuyasha just somersaulted out of the way at the last moment letting them crash against each other. Two were knocked out cold, probably hit their heads, the other caught himself on time, then launched a kicking assault that the hanyou easily blocked before punching him in the face and breaking his nose. He was being careful of not using his full strength, he really did not want to kill humans, just scare them away.
"By all the seven hells! You call this fighting? And here I thought you were going to offer some challenge, I'm getting bored." He taunted the remaining guys, and he sounded quite disgusted. Four were out and still four to go.
Dayu momentarily forgotten, the two kids holding him went at Inuyasha with all they had, but the young man just avoided their punches easily. He was much faster than any of them, stronger too, so they would end with more than a couple of bruises. Wanting to try another of the kicks he saw on that movie, he jumped, hitting each guy with a foot and sending them sprawling against a wall. None moved, too stunned by their collision.
Inuyasha's ears twitched and gave him just enough warning to turn and avoid getting hit by a knife; he caught it in mid flight and returned it the way it came. The weapon embedded itself on the light post behind the thug that threw it, on the way it managing to cut some hair on the way. He was always good throwing things at far distances, and the post was several yards behind the guy.
"I did not miss, if I had you'd be dead." Inuyasha told them in a 'matter of fact' tone of voice.
"Who the hell are you?" The spiky haired guy asked, stunned, that wasn't supposed to be possible and the lamppost was metal.
"Feh!" The hanyou snorted derisively.
"Damn it who the hell are you? Police?" Spiky demanded.
"Pick up your trash and get the fuck out of my sight." The hanyou ordered him instead.
"No fucking way, I'm going to enjoy cutting you in tiny pieces." Spiky said taking out a bigger knife and wielding it menacingly. It was a sashimi knife, the kind the yakuza liked to use because of its keen edge.
"Please no knives! We don't want to get the police here!" Dayu told spiky, Inuyasha had started laughing when he saw the knife; both the thug and Dayu looked at him like he was crazy. Sashimi knives could cut through flesh and bone without much trouble.
"YOU want to cut me with THAT?" He managed to say between laughs; to him it was really hilarious. He had been run though with poisonous claws, and shot through the heart with an arrow. For the young hanyou that knife was like a toothpick compared to some of the stuff he had been slashed or cut with before. He opened his backpack and took Tetsusaiga out; in the dim light they would not notice it looked old and rusty. "You want to cut someone, you use something like this," he did a couple of wrist movements with the untransformed sword. "Not a toy," he said making it clear that he did know how to use it. The thugs' eyes ogled and then beat a hasty retreat.
"Man you were awesome!" Dayu exclaimed moving slowly closer, he was in pain from the beating. "Is that sword real?"
"Yeah, it is."
"Can I see it? And where did you get it? Most dudes would prefer a gun." Dayu couldn't help sounding both exited and pleased.
"I don't like guns; Tetsusaiga was my father's sword, now it's mine." He said letting Dayu see it but not touch, again taking advantage of the dim light.
"You did not tell me your name the other day only…"
"I did," he interrupted Dayu's flow of words.
"Your name really is Inuyasha?
"Yes, Shirosenshi Inuyasha."
"I'm Ando Dayu, anyway thanks Inuyasha, those guys are a pain in the ass." Inuyasha just shrugged as he sheathed Tetsusaiga. "I thought you were not interested in joining our group when you did not appear on Monday."
"I was busy," he said, as he started walking toward the lighted street, the other kid followed him walking slowly. Inuyasha adjusted his pace to his. "What was that about?"
"Oh, they want to take over our area." Dayu told him as he ogled the knife stuck in the hollow metal post.
'Geez he must be strong.'
'Territorial? I guess some things don't change. Fights like this are frequent back home, and not just among humans either.' The young hanyou thought, it was nice to see that some things did not change through the centuries.
"The park used to be a very nice place until a couple of years ago, but then those guys came and began trying to sell us drugs. Most of the guys don't agree with that stuff, so when we did not buy, and they couldn't make money from us they decided to make us leave." Dayu explained. It was something that was well known among the kids of the area and even some of the cops, although they did nothing to stop it.
"So? Why didn't you?" This guy seemed to be very talkative, so he might as well start looking for information with him.
"We all live close by, and most of us have known each other for years. This is the only place around where we can hang out. No way were we going to let them have it, so one of the guys, Fujimaro, ended organizing the rest to keep those assholes away. So far we had, but lately they are getting more violent." Dayu looked understandably upset.
"Yeah I can see that," he commented as they walked. Their pace was really slow and the other kid was limping noticeably, he wondered if he lived nearby as they were not heading toward the park anymore. He was keeping his senses on the alert, but so far the thugs were not following them.
"So are your parents moving to this area? I had not seen you around before." Dayu was really curious about this guy, the fact that he was strange looking was one of the reasons, but he had also dispatched the other gang almost in a flash and had not even been hit. Eight against one were really hard odds.
"I have no parents," he responded, his voice flat and unemotional.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Dayu apologized, and Inuyasha just shrugged. "That day at the store you were with Higurashi-san and Kagome-chan…"
"I'm staying with them… Higurashi-sama is… my foster mother." Inuyasha did not want to tell Dayu yet that he hoped to marry Higurashi-sama's daughter and make her his mother-in-law, but it was on his mind. He really liked it and was grateful for her help.
"Wow that must be great! Higurashi-san is a really cool Lady. We've known the family for a long time."
"Higurashi-sama is very kind… I'm glad she took me in." That much he was willing to admit aloud. So far she had been treating him like her own son, and giving him the acceptance he was lacking since his mother died, and that only Kagome and the pack had given him. She had gone so far as to help him work out the engagement to her daughter and did not try to find fault with the fact that his instincts were not easy to control.
"Yeah she is really nice. But we've never seen her take any other kids she's been treating before." He said assuming Inuyasha was one of her patients.
"Treating?" Inuyasha asked puzzled, so far he was not aware that Higurashi-sama was some kind of healer. And he was not sick at all, a bit confused and overwhelmed by all the new stuff, but certainly not sick, demons did not get sick.
"You're not a patient?" Dayu was frankly surprised; he would have to ask Yuka what she knew about him and the Higurashis later. Inuyasha shook his head. "Well… whatever, anyway Kagome-chan is my twin's, Yuka, best friend."
"So… that's why you seem so alike." He made a pause to sort their scents on his mind, and then added. "I don't like her."
"Yep, I have to say that most of the time me neither." He admitted with a sigh, Yuka meant trouble most of the times for him or some of the guys in the gang. His sister was just too bossy for her own good. "She can be a pain in the ass, but sometimes she is not that bad." He heard his companion snort in disbelief.
"I'll believe it when I see it," Inuyasha grumbled.
He had really disliked that girl, not only bossy but nosy too. The gall of her following them around and tying to pretend they were not. Who did she think she could fool? Even Shippou would have noticed since they were also upwind.
"She gave you trouble?" He asked with a groan, it was not a good start if his sister was already bothering the guy. The gang really needed someone who could fight as good as he did. Besides, even if he was not really talkative so far, he thought they might get to be friends.
"She wouldn't leave Kagome and me alone," he sounded really annoyed. "I didn't want to bother with people yesterday, and she started yelling at me. She followed us more than halfway back to the shrine, thinking we wouldn't know she was there, it was fucking annoying." This was accompanied with another groan from Dayu.
"That was Yuka all right, although she is pretty good at stalking people, one of our b…" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow.
"Where I come from she wouldn't have survived with those skills. She was too noisy; any prey would have heard her and ran away before she was close enough to do something." His tone was sarcastic; if they considered her good what would they consider him?
"The other girls must have been around. Believe it, Yuka is really good. Anyway she is usually very protective of her friends, you didn't argue with Kagome in front of her did you?"
"Of course I did. That baka wench is always arguing with me… it's not like I start it… most of the time anyway." He added the last in his defense, and wondered why? It was not like he really cared what this Dayu thought of him.
"Huh uh, wrong thing to do in front of Yuka. Man! She defends Kagome like a watch dog, and she is also quite bossy."
"That wench doesn't need defending from someone like her! Kagome can defend herself better than you'd think. Besides, she knows I would do it for her." That last comment got him a raised eyebrow from Dayu.
'Hmmm… seems like Inuyasha and Kagome-chan are together, but Yuka has not said anything about that… now… I think I remember she did mention she was going out with a guy that was two timing on her. Could he be the one?' Dayu looked at Inuyasha from the corner of his eye. 'Hard to tell and I don't think he'd take it kindly if I asked about that.'
'Yeah right! Of course she needs protecting! That baka wench probably did a better job than you. You failed to protect her on Friday!' That weird little voice in his head reminded the inu hanyou.
'I didn't know it was dangerous here!' Inuyasha argued against the voice that was probably his negative or guilt ridden self. 'Even Kagome agrees it wasn't my fault.' He pushed his guilty thoughts away; it was not the time to dwell on them.
"And anyway it fucking hurts when she hits you…" Inuyasha added as an after thought.
'What the fuck?! He doesn't need to know about that! Arg! I sound like a wimp! Grrrr!' He told himself angrily, he was running looser at the mouth than his normal self and he began to attribute it to the stressful day he already had. 'It is also my fucking job to protect my mate, no one else's… well perhaps the other members of the pack, but not a bossy human wench's!'
"Don't I know it, and welcome to the club," Dayu said with a sigh. "There was another kid that played with us, and he ended with a bloody nose once. So you're damn right she hits hard. Also, when we were kids and I used to annoy Yuka, Kagome-chan always came to the rescue. And the worst thing was that I couldn't hit back, man it was so frustrating!" Inuyasha chuckled, he understood the feeling well, he still wanted to get back at her when she overdid the 'sits', although he would never really do it. "She is also quite stubborn too."
"You're telling me!" Well at least someone else agreed with him that she was obstinate. "It's nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks so. And if a bloody nose was all he got, then he got off lightly."
"Don't know how those two manage to get along without fighting. But then, I always thought they were crazy." Inuyasha snorted at that comment, sometimes he did think Kagome was a bit odd, but perhaps now that they had agreed to talk things over he might understand why she acted the way she did. But he still was not going to let anyone else but himself refer to his mate as crazy.
"Kagome's not crazy, but that sister of yours is another story. And anyway Kagome could take her any day in a hand to hand fight if she wanted." Inuyasha chuckled, she would be really surprised that he thought highly of her as a fighter since he never told her… well he might have mentioned something on Friday, but he was sure she did not remember or notice it. He was wrong though, since she had noticed.
"Naw, I don't think so, you have not seen Yuka fight with the gang. She can be just as though as any of the guys." Even if he sometimes could not stand his sister, he had to admit she was just as good as any of them. Their father had insisted that they practice Aikido and Jujitsu since they were little. He really should have done better against all those guys, but his training was really for one on one fights. He did not really know how to handle that many at once. He was going to have to talk to his sensei at the dojo about that fight since his skills had never been tested outside the classes.
"I doubt it." He really sounded skeptical, and against his usual ways he felt like should not put her down before others. "Kagome could break Yuka's bones before she could do much. She has gotten much better than she was when we first met. Besides, she is starting lessons soon."
'I still don't know how I'm going to manage to teach her something, but I promised her and I intend to keep this promise.' He reminded himself, there had not been the time to start lessons, but he was keeping it in mind for when they had some free time.
"Really? That would be interesting… and she didn't do more to that kid because the sensei came to separate them before she could do more. She's getting lessons? I always thought she wouldn't." Dayu commented and Inuyasha shrugged.
"I'm making damn sure of she does." He stated firmly, perhaps he would not worry so much for her safety once she was able to defend herself better against youkai. At least until he arrived to protect her.
"Any reason why? Yuka was worried about a bruise the other day… You… you didn't by any chance hit her, did you?"
Seeing Inuyasha's expression darken made the kid worry that perhaps he had said too much. For a moment he began fearing that the white haired guy walking beside him was going to give him a worse beating than Jun and his cohorts. If looks could kill he would have probably dropped dead right there. The glare he was given was downright frightening, especially with those golden eyes. But he had to know, Kagome was a dear friend, and even if he was beginning to like Inuyasha, she was his friend first.
"How dare she think that I would never lay a hand on her like that?" He exploded furious, "she doesn't know me, and it seems she doesn't know Kagome that well either if she thinks Kagome or her mother would stand for something like that!" He almost trembled, girl or no girl, if Yuka had been present he would not have stopped himself from at least punching her.
'You wanted to kill her at first.' That unmerciful voice in his heard stated.
'That was because I thought she was Kykyou!'
'Even after you realized she wasn't, you still wanted to kill her,' the voice went on.
'It was before I got to know her, before she… became my first friend. Before I… fell in love with her.'
"It's because no one knows you that she thought you…" He did not finish as Inuyasha grabbed him by the front of his jersey and picked him up about a foot from the ground.
"I. DID. NOT. HIT. HER! Understood? I'll die before I do something like that to her… She's… I… I… I lo…" He was about to say to this guy's face that he loved her so he stopped short and said instead. "She got into a fight on her way home from the movies and won."
"Sorry for that," he said in an appeasing manner. The fact that he almost said he loved his friend did not go unnoticed by the young man, even if he was scared shitless at the moment. "It's… it's not like I think you would, but Yuka actually thinks it was you who hit her. And well, she didn't buy the excuse she gave. I really meant no offense." Dayu stumbled a little bit from being dropped.
"Yuka can shove it up her ass!" He said trying to cool off and let go of the kid, he really was not to blame if his sister was such a bitch. "Your sister was bitching with her about it yesterday…"
"So you heard her…" Dayu asked not surprised that Inuyasha did not like his sibling, who would if you were accused of hitting your girl. The white haired boy nodded.
"I talked to that Eri girl about helping keep people from pestering her about it. She has enough worries as is, to add another one. So you better not bother…"
"Why would I? She is a really good friend! Besides I told you my sister is nuts."
"I fucking noticed that! To think that I would ever harm Kagome…" His hand for a moment went to the rosary beads that were hidden under his shirt.
The rosary was her protection, they had kept him from harming her long enough to get to know her. He worried that if he ever turned demon, he might loose all reason and attack her… but he secretly hoped that if she ever became his mate, his youkai side would recognize the bond and spare her. It went against youkai nature to kill one's mate. Dayu noticed that he fingered something under his shirt, in the dim light he could not tell what it was although he supposed it was some kind of necklace.
'It's odd that Kagome got into a fight… she… doesn't hang around with any of the gangs,' Dayu started thinking. 'Some of the other guys from the other gang might have tried to mug her or… could she be the one that escaped the Park Killers? And they are not saying to protect her? It would make sense. That stupid Yuka forgot to tell her not to go through at night. Just in case Kagome is the girl that escaped I better not tell sis or the whole country would find out.'
"You should tell Kagome-chan not to go about the park at night; it has been dangerous and not just because of the gangs." Inuyasha nodded in agreement, they had already found out the hard way.
"What has been going on?" He asked feigning ignorance, although he was not good at it and the other kid noticed he was trolling for information. Anyway Dayu decided to play along just in case he was right and Kagome was the girl that got away.
"Well, a couple of girls got raped; the guys got beaten until we decided to move in pairs. Although every once in a while the other guys would bother a girl, hope they were not the ones that fought Kagome. They are nasty."
"Whoever they were, they are dead if they try again." He stated firmly and Dayu realized that Inuyasha meant it literally. After seeing him fight, the young man had to admit, he just might be able to do it.
"And, well… the park killer started working in our park…" He watched Inuyasha's reaction and just as he thought he seemed to be aware that Sakura Park had become the 'hunting grounds' as they referred to it on the news. "Actually he started working about the same time than the other gang appeared, my theory is that it is one of them." Now that comment seemed to catch Inuyasha's interest.
"Does anyone else think the same?"
"Naw, maybe a couple of the older guys, Fujimaro included. But the police would not listen to us," he got a raised eyebrow. "They don't think highly of kids opinions. Of course the uniformed cops come and ask if we have seen anything strange, but they really don't listen, actually I think they have not told Nomura-san what we tell them. Thinking it's just because of a territorial war."
"And is it?"
"No, a couple of the girls killed were members of our group," he added sadly. "We really want to catch this guy."
"So why were you alone?" The young hanyou was filing all the information he was obtaining through Dayu. His choice in defending him was proving to have been the correct one.
Inuyasha realized that no one at the police had mentioned something remotely like what the kid was telling him and yet it seemed very plausible. The killers had been with those who started the war, they moved unnoticed through the park, so they were known to some degree. Only a youkai, a dark priest or Miko could have pulled disappearing acts like those needed to plant the bodies. And Kagome would have sensed them if they were youkai, so that left dark priests or some kind of sorcerers. He would too for that matter or have smelled youki; these guys were human and mingled among human kids, so they probably didn't look that old. He decided to keep this to himself until he could find out more. He wondered if Kojiro would be able to do anything useful with that information.
"I was doing an errand for my mom, and well they had never attacked anyone outside the park before." Inuyasha nodded accepting his answer. "They fucking had to attack when I left my gun at home."
"Gun?"
"Yeah, since they almost killed Jichiro last year all of us have started using guns. He was shot in the head, and barely survived for a while. He is alive now, but he can't do anything by himself anymore. It scared the shit out of us; he used to be Fujimaro's second, and was really against using drugs, his brother had died because of them."
"I see…" those smelly and noisy things. He was probably going to learn more about them than he really wanted. "Why guns?"
"We were also angry, we knew who they were and the police didn't arrest them. They use guns; a knife is no use against a .38 or a .22 rifle."
"No shit, why didn't the police arrest them?" Inuyasha had started to gain some understanding of how the police system worked and found this strange. He wondered what the numbers meant, but figured Kagome could tell him later. He did not want to sound dumb.
"We don't know, and I really can't ask my dad, he is a police man. He'd probably kill me if he knew I have a gun... actually Yuka too since she also owns one." Inuyasha just nodded and wondered if he had already met the man, but decided it was unlikely since there were so many police officers there. Still this kid family name was Ando, and he had met an Ando on Monday. "But well, things work that way. I bet their gang has someone in the police working for them."
"I wouldn't know, but I doubt it. Why didn't you tell him what happened before you got the gun?"
"Yeah right, he'll forbid me to go out. Besides if I told, I could have gotten the rest of the guys in trouble. We really don't want to fight, we just have to." Inuyasha shrugged at the comment, he really did not understand much about gangs and the loyalty among members. He had always been just himself and was just beginning to learn about companionship and friendship from his pack. "Why would you know if they had someone? Not even our best guys have found out how it is they manage to escape every raid." He was starting to wonder if this guy had contacts with the police, but then, the Higurashis would not be providing for an undercover agent since they wanted that kind of thing kept well away from them.
"They could always trick them into setting up the raid and then moving their stuff when they know it is going to be coming. It's an elementary tactic to get the enemy to do what you want them to instead of what they want, and it isn't that hard to do." Inuyasha offered an opinion; although he usually acted impulsive, he had learned a bit about tactics and strategy when he was a pup. He had also watched from the sidelines more than a few battles to gain more understanding of some of the principles involved in designing the campaigns.
"Hmmm, sounds interesting… Fujimaro might like to know about things like that."
"Has he not studied tactics and the art of war?" Inuyasha inquired surprised, even he had learned a bit about that. He really did not think much of that guy's leadership if he did not even understand the basics. His conscience nagged him a bit and he had to accept that he did not use them much back home, but still, he did know about it.
"Where would he? Actually, where did you? That is something they teach to the military and sometimes the high ranking police officers." His dad had taken several courses through out his career to be able to learn how to plan a good raid. Although his partner Goroko-chan always said he was a natural.
"I did war games as a child… I picked up more later." Inuyasha told him with a shrug, for him it was the most normal thing. "It isn't that hard, besides, if he is going to make any progress he needs to learn quickly, you are on the defensive and you need to regain your advantages back."
Male children from daimyo families in the past were taught about war almost since they were born. He might have been considered a worthless hanyou, but his father was a great Taiyoukai and his mother the daughter of a powerful daimyo, and his grandfather had demanded that he be taught. The old man had even played with him before he died.
Inuyasha was surprised at that memory, he really never thought about his early childhood, when the old man was alive things had not been so bad for him. He never tolerated that others referred to him as a worthless hanyou or an abomination, but then he was really too young to understand. He did not want to remember the few happy times, because he tended to brood about what his life would have been if the old man had not died. In the end those memories were buried deep in his mind and he forgot.
"War games? Where? We usually played to be cops and robbers." Dayu asked really curious, Inuyasha was silent for such a long time that he thought he would not answer. He leaned against the wall of a building since they had stopped walking the moment the white haired young man had grabbed his jersey and not resumed it.
"At my grandfather's knee." Inuyasha finally said, not really looking at the other kid.
"Was he some sort of military guy?" Dayu was still curious; Inuyasha's answer did not really explain why he learned tactics. "Anyway, do you think you could teach some of it to Fujimaro and a few of the guys?"
"He was in a sense," he responded looking away, seemingly distracted at the sound of truck. Dayu did get the hint that talking about the theme was probably not a good memory. "I might." Was his response about teaching the other guy.
'Never taught anything to anybody and now in less than five days I've been asked twice.' He smirked at the irony of it and the huge changes in his life.
"It must have been interesting, to learn that. Last Friday we won, but things are starting to get really bad, two of our guys died…" He voice not only sounded worried, but also full of regret.
"How many of your friends were there?" Inuyasha asked curious and also to start analyzing the situation. "Two were killed and how many injured?"
"There were 27, nine of them were girls. Three of the girls were injured; one, Kumiko, is still in the hospital. Two of the guys are wounded too, Anzai is still in critical condition and… well they don't really think he'll make it with that head wound."
"All in all, it's not that bad of a toll. Five wounded, two dead, against four of them and… any idea how many wounded on their side?" The young hanyou asked 'matter of factly' as he analyzed the toll.
"You don't have to sound so callous, all of them are friends!" Dayu said sounding a bit outraged at his tone.
"I'm not being callous. I'm just seeing this as an outsider. You could at least have avoided the girls' wounds. None of you were paying attention to the five people smoking that damn drug under the tree. Damn stupid way to go about it, if you tell me." Continuing to analyze against what he had seen, he believed at least one of the five was specifically aiming for the girls. That one, might have been targeting them to take out his frustration at having lost his victim of choice.
"We were! Sanzo was killed while keeping watch over them, as soon as they got ready to move the mother fuckers just shot him in the head point blank!" His voice denoted great pain and anger. Inuyasha realized the kid might have been a good friend, so against his usual wont, he toned down his next words.
"I'm sorry… but no one would have died if more of you were paying attention to the enemies within your midst."
"So you're saying it's our fault?" Now the anger was directed at the inu hanyou.
'How can he blame us? He wasn't even there! Or was he?' Dayu thought angry and getting suspicious, the only ones there had been the members of both gangs; if he wasn't with his friends then he was with the others.
"How they hell do you know all of that?" He asked through narrowed eyes, a part of him knew Higurashi-san would not take into her home someone who was using drugs or was a member of a violent gang, but the guy beside him could have fooled her.
"I was there, you just didn't see me," was his response. He knew what direction Dayu's thoughts were going. His would have been going the same way.
"You were? Where? I did a round and called Sanzo to keep an eye on them. I never saw you around."
'So… he feels responsible for the other kid's death. Well nothing can be changed about that.'
"The guys were dancing, playing games and skateboarding. The girls were gossiping and having fun. This Sanzo guy was watching the girls dancing and gossiping with a friend of his. If he had paying attention to them he would be alive and you would never have had to deal with feeling guilty for his death."
"You still have not told me where you were. As the only other people there were the guys from Takeshi's group."
"Wrong, they were not the only ones. None of you looked up; you only looked within your normal visual plane. I wasn't on the ground." He corrected the kid, he really did not think much of the way they organized themselves.
"So it was you on the tree?" The young man was clearly surprised. "I thought I saw something red there, but when I looked again there was nothing. You're with them," he accused full of hatred, and moved slightly away, looking weary, even if Inuyasha had saved him those kinds of tricks had been done before.
"No, I'm not. I was tracking the ones Kagome got into a fight with. The trail led to a small group of five that sat under a tree smoking that drug and getting high off of it. There's where I lost it."
"Well... they do get in fights with the girls e... wait a sec, what does a drug have to do with letting you track?" That sounded so strange, how did he learn to track and why?
"The damn drug covered it over and made me sneeze." He responded truthfully, somehow it did not occur to him that tracking by scent would sound strange to the other boy.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I track by scent as well as sight and sound, and just discovered Friday that I'm allergic to the fucking drug." That last part was admitted ruefully.
Inuyasha still could not believe that his demon blood had defects, but he was discovering in this time that youkai were not perfect. Dayu was torn between gaping and laughing, the allergy was funny and he was the first he ever heard of someone being allergic to dope. But he did not really believe the part of him tracking by scent.
"Oh come on what do you think I am, stupid? Only animals track by scent, we humans have bad noses. Or at least that's what my dad says."
"I track better than a dog can. I've proved it to those guys at the university Monday." He bragged, and since he really had proof that the humans of the time could understand he sounded even cockier than his usual self.
"Oh come on you're teasing me! Dad works with k9 in narcotics and well no one beats those dogs. Rurouni has proved that several times." Dayu stated and saw Inuyasha shrug indifferently.
"I beat Rurouni and all his pack on Monday." Inuyasha said to himself almost too low for the other kid to hear, but he did and raised his eyebrow puzzled. It was his problem if he did not believe him, then he changed the subject back to the war. He needed to find more information about the gang the killers seemed to be part of, besides he really did not like talking about himself. "Look, Friday I had a clue something was up more than ten minutes before they opened fire."
"How could you? None of us did, and we have been around those guys for a long time. In fact none of us really believed it would escalate to an all out war. Weapons were more of a precaution and a way to keep things from going too far. They backed up whenever they saw us armed well enough to match them. I just don't know why they finally attacked." This last was said more to himself than to the white haired young man.
"I was up the three they were sitting by. I arrived there before them and since I didn't feel like being seen, I went up. I heard two of them talking about attacking. The fucking war startled me and I had to leave shortly after that so that Kagome could patch me up. I heard them talking about bringing more guys in with more guns. It was cryptic, but it was clear that they were being aggressive."
"You got hurt?" Now he sounded worried, and with some disbelief as Inuyasha seemed healthy enough.
"Hai, only a scratch though. But I couldn't stay longer, besides the damn drug gives me a headache from hell." He said disgruntled, he could have probably caught the killers if the fucking stuff had not cloyed his nostrils.
"Anyway I still can't believe that you track, it's not something you hear about often."
"It's what I do." Inuyasha said very matter of factly.
"That's what you do?" He had a very puzzled look on his face
'Does he mean that is what he does for a living? He can't be that much older than me… 18 at the most although I doubt it.'
"Hai, I track," Inuyasha responded simply, like it was some every day occurrence.
"Are you some sort of hunter?" He was still intrigued, hunting in his day an age was mostly done as a sport. It was usually expensive and did require the use of guns, which Inuyasha had already told him he disliked.
"You could say that." He admitted without offering any more information. He had hunted for food back home and he also hunted for Naraku and the assortment of demons that ended possessing a piece of the Shikon no Tama. So his answer was true.
"How come you were able to hunt? There is nothing in Tokyo for that, nothing to hunt in a city."
"I'm not from around here."
"If you're not from around Tokyo then, how did you meet the Higurashis?"
"Kagome got lost while on the woods," he said with a sigh. He realized he would probably have to offer more information about himself than he had already done. He really did not like the idea much, but there was nothing he could really exchange in return for what he wanted to find out about the gangs. "I found her or vice versa... I wasn't in very good shape at the time and she was in more trouble, than just being lost. So she helped me and I helped her. In the end she brought me here, I just arrived Friday and I'm still getting used to this place."
"You had never been to a city before?"
"Not that I recall… I remember I was born in Kyushu*, though."
"Wow! Where did you live then?" Dayu asked curiously.
"In a forest," Inuyasha said. The other kid raised an eyebrow and scratched his head looking puzzled.
"You mean in a town near the…"
"No, I mean in the woods." Inuyasha interrupted
"No town?" Dayu was incredulous; he really could not believe that.
"What part of forest don't you understand?" He started to sound bit annoyed.
"No electricity?" He really sounded in a bit of a shock, as he could not picture a life without the modern conveniences. He was a city guy having nothing to do with nature; except for cutting the grass of his home's garden. He had never even gone camping.
"No." Inuyasha responded shaking his head at the odd expression on Dayu's face, he could not really pinpoint what it meant. "No running water either before you even think of asking about it."
"NO VIDEO GAMES!" He exclaimed and this time the young inu hanyou realized his expression was a mixture of disbelief and horror.
'What can be that terrible about not having video games? Sota was equally shocked about that.' Inuyasha scratched his head puzzled.
"Actually I've been wondering what the heck those are." He said allowing his tone to sound puzzled and had to hide a smile as Dayu almost keeled over in shock.
The Ando boy could not picture a life where video games did not exist, as there had been one sort of games or another since he was born, and his father still owned an Atari from the time before he was born! And with no electricity or running water, Inuyasha sounded like some sort of hermit. No wonder he was so good at fighting, there was probably nothing better to do than practice all day. He had to admit though that for a guy with no contact with modern things he had learned to use a skateboard faster than many who had seen them around all their lives.
"My god, poor you! No wonder you're so good at fighting, you were missing the greatest things in life!" Inuyasha looked skeptical at that, those video game thingies could not be all that good. For him, a nice dawn or sunset from his favorite branch on the Go-Shimboku or running as fast as he could through his forest just for the joy of it, where among the greatest things in life. "But we can solve that," Dayu went on saying, "drop by my place anytime and I'll show you."
"Sure, Sota wants to teach me too; anyway I think I better walk with you to your house. Those guys might come back."
"Thanks, eight were a tad too many for my tastes," he said as they started walking again. "Now… Sota has a play station… I'll call and see what stuff he has; kiddy things are no fun… I'll lend you some of mine. Let's see… resident evil is a cool one, lots of freaks and monsters to kill…"
"I've met enough monsters in real life, not sure what to think of them in a game."
"There are no real life monsters. They are only tales to scare us as children and get us to behave." Dayu states and Inuyasha just grinned, he would really be surprised if he found out that he was an inu hanyou and a couple elderly people walking in front of them were actually hawk youkai. Not to mention a weasel hanyou on the other side of the street. The hawks were somewhat amused by the comment, but they did not say anything.
"I don't know, being nearly eaten by a bear isn't pleasant and I know a lot of people consider wild boars to be pretty nasty. They are interesting to hunt, and they are really dangerous opponents."
"But those are wild beasts, they are not really evil. But… you were almost eaten?" Dayu ogled while Inuyasha snickered wickedly.
"True, a couple times, when I was a p… child."
"Man that must have been scary."
"Aa it was. I've been in the wilderness since I was five; it was bound to happen sooner or later." He said as some memories from his childhood when he was still too small to defend himself from humans and wild beasts popped into his mind. So he added, "There are also evil people. Some of them are real monsters."
"Gods I can't believe that. You were there alone? Since you were five?"
"Aa, it can be pretty nice sometimes, more peaceful than a city, I…" he stopped himself as he was about to say that he actually missed being back home, even if there were some things he liked about Kagome's time, the forest had been his home for a long time.
"Sota is not a bad player, but with Higurashi-san there I think he doesn't have anything interesting." Dayu changed the subject when he realized Inuyasha was not going to finish what he was about to say. He was really puzzled about the other boy, his story just seemed so weird.
"You would be surprised by her open mindedness." Inuyasha snickered and grinned quite wickedly thinking about what happened with Kagome.
"I didn't mean that, she just doesn't like violence much." Dayu said remembering what had happened to her husband and how that had affected the family.
"Well… she likes me, or she would not have taken me into her home."
"Yeah… if I'm to believe Yuka then you're violent among other things. And I have to agree that some humans are monsters, Spiky's gang leader is a monster all right," Dayu said.
"I'm not evil or cruel, like that spiky kid, and being violent has kept me alive." He stated and decided not to tell Dayu all the different types of monsters he had encountered in his life, some of them quite human.
"I can believe you're not cruel or evil dude, someone else would have killed those guys today." He agreed, and the young hanyou just shrugged again. He really did not like killing humans unless it was absolutely necessary.
"No point in killing them. I just had to teach them a small lesson about picking their targets, although killing them would have been easier." He stated nonchalantly since that was really the case.
"It would?" To the Ando boy it seemed he had ogled more than he had in his life during his conversation with Inuyasha.
"It's easier to rip out a throat than it is to knock some one out. If I'm not careful I could kill them on accident and that was not really my aim. It would have been bad." Dayu shuddered, the guy talked about killing like he had experience at doing it.
'Of course if he hunted for food, he's probably used to killing animals.' The young man thought.
"Of course it would, killing is bad…" Dayu began.
"Killing isn't bad, the predator kills its prey, and it is a fact of life for the most part. Sometimes it's either you or them." Inuyasha explained as if it were self-evident.
"In the woods maybe, but here in the city it is bad. And yes I get some of your meaning none of us like the idea of killing, but it is either that or be sent six feet under."
"I don't think your situation reached that point yet, but if you don't start planning and organizing it'll be." Dayu did not like the subject and decided to change to something less violent.
"Anyway, if you want I'll show you around and also all the stuff there is to do in a city. Been to the movies yet?"
"No," Inuyasha replied, glad he finally knew what the heck movies were.
"Great! There are a few good ones showing, you might want to ask for permission and we could go on Saturday after school."
"Kagome and her Ofukuro are teaching me more about living in a city. And I don't need permission. Higurashi-sama isn't like that."
"Wow, what I would do to trade my parents for her! I have to ask for permission. They usually grant it unless Yuka is being annoying."
"Well, she knows I can take care of myself and Kagome too. But I think Saturday might be spoken for already though, Kagome has to make up her mind." Inuyasha seriously considered taking him up on it since he was quite informative, but Shippou came first. As pack leader he had to be responsible for the pup.
"About?" Dayu figured it was a date or something like that.
"Whether or not to pick up a friend." He responded cryptically, Dayu had stopped in front of a two-storied house with a nice garden in the front. He guessed that was his home, the scent from his sister was present.
"Ah ok, well she has my phone so you can tell me if you can make it. This is my place want to come in for a soda or something?" Dayu wanted to extend the conversation and get to know this guy better.
"Ah… no thanks, I think I better go back to the shrine." Inuyasha said not really wanted to deal with as many people as there were scents for in the house.
"Really, come in, we'll play something on the play station." Dayu pressed a little. The guy was really interesting to talk to even if he did get the impression he did not talk much. His dialect was a little strange too.
"Dayu? Is that you? Mama is not going to like that it took you so long to do her errands." Yuka's voice was heard from the second floor window. The young man saw his white haired companion flinch, and look inquiringly at him. Then he remembered, Inuyasha might not want to deal with Yuka since she believed he was capable of harming Kagome.
"Yeah that's Yuka. You know how to get back?"
"Yeah, I just have to follow my own scent back." He said his ears flattened because of Yuka's yelling.
"If you say so, anyway, I won't be going to the park tomorrow, but maybe on Friday, so why don't you drop by so I can introduce you to the guys? The way things are I don't think they are going to let you close unless someone introduces you."
"Ok, I'll see you then or… have Kagome call you." He added the last not really used to the new ways of communication people of the future had.
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