A/N: Alright, I know that Inuyasha and Kagome didn't appear at all in the
last chapter, and I apologize in advance, because they won't feature much
in this one either. However, the moment many of you have been waiting for
has come. . . Well, one of the moments. No shower scene in this chapter,
but Sesshomaru confronts Nakamura Kyosuke. I feel a little vindictive
saying that I hope you all enjoy this chapter, but hey, I don't like the
guy either.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Synthetic Emotions
Rin woke up slowly, sunlight in her eyes, the calming presence of her hero near by, keeping the bad things away. She had come here to sleep when he was gone. The bad things happened in her room, but here she felt safe, even when he wasn't here.
The girl sat up and stretched. Blinking away the clinging remnants of sleep, she looked around Sesshomaru's room for the youkai himself. Her hero sat in a chair, his deep golden eyes looking thoughtfully out the window. Rin sat patiently, waiting for him to act. She trusted him to know what to do and when.
She trusted her hero implicitly. He had said he wouldn't let 'it' happen again, and she believed him.
He would not lie.
After a long moment, Sesshomaru shifted his gaze from the window to the girl on the bed. There was no more expression on his face than ever, but Rin could tell immediately that something had changed. It was in his eyes. They were no longer entirely opaque. Now there was a soft glow in them, like candlelight reflected off polished metal. When he spoke, Rin knew she wouldn't have to wait anymore.
"Would you like to leave here?" he asked her.
Rin didn't try to suppress her smile as she nodded vigorously. Her hero was going to take her away, just like she knew he would the first moment she saw him. Just like she'd been praying for him to do since before she could remember.
"Get whatever you'll need."
Rin hurried to obey.
*~*~*
Miroku hadn't realized what time it was until he noticed the sun peeking through his curtains. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to clear his blurry vision. It didn't work. The computer screen was still out of focus, the letters swimming about nonsensically.
Myouga had been searching since yesterday evening for any clue what Naraku was looking for, but the more Miroku thought about it, the more sure he became that the answer wouldn't be found in Inutaiyoukai's files. Or if it was there, neither he, nor the flea youkai would know how to recognize it.
Shippo had been on the right track when he asked if Naraku wanted to network more youkai, and Inuyasha when he commented about youkai doing what they were programmed to do. Just because a youkai had turned rogue, didn't mean it had escaped its codes, or the purpose its makers had instilled in it.
Miroku gave a self-depreciating half smile. It had never occurred to him to ask a youkai what another youkai might want.
His smile faded. If it was true that on some level or another Naraku was still trying to do what he was made to do, then the answers Miroku needed were not in Inutaiyoukai, but Kazaana. Unfortunately, there was very little information left about Kazaana, and even less about its last, failed endeavor.
'Damn it,' the young man thought, turning away from the monitor, 'what was Naraku supposed to do once he had all those youkai integrated?'
He was missing something, he was sure of it. He was missing something so obvious that once he figured out what it was, he'd laugh at himself for being so stupid. He was missing something simple. . .
He'd been awake for twenty-odd hours now, and he could hardly think, let alone come up with the single stroke of genius that would make everything he knew fit together. Miroku shut down his computer and stumbled over to the couch. Maybe after a quick nap he could force some order on all the facts he'd been staring at for the last ten hours or so. Maybe Myouga would have found out something that would help shine the right light on the subject.
What could Naraku want, if he were still at least partially bound by his original programming? What had Kazaana's mysterious investor meant to do with the youkai once it was finished?
There was something there, he just couldn't see it.
*~*~*
It wasn't a long wait before Rin reappeared carrying a small backpack. Sesshomaru eyed the bag, noting how little it carried. Evidently, the girl didn't feel she would miss too many things when she left this place. "Are you ready?" he questioned her. "If there is anything you need, you had better have it now."
Rin nodded, giving him that grin that she somehow managed to find despite everything. It made her look very young, smiling like that. It was such a whole hearted smile. Sesshomaru felt that feeling again, like something hot were filling him, his circuits buzzing with power that wanted to be spent. He wanted to hurt the man who had hurt Rin.
Sesshomaru ground his teeth, fighting to control the unexpectedly strong emotion. So, this was what it was like to feel vengeful.
"Come," he commanded the girl, and led the way out of the room Ryoko had given him that first day. Rin followed him willingly.
At the head of the stairs, Sesshomaru stopped and listened for the sounds of Rin's parents. He could hear Ryoko's unfeminine snoring in the master bedroom, and smell the lingering odor of the opium she had been indulging in the night before. Judging from the slow cadence of her breathing, she was still dead to the world. As for the other, the youkai's senses couldn't find him. After a long moment, he judged that the man must have left the house.
Motioning for Rin to be quiet, Sesshomaru made his way to the side entrance. There were fewer surveillance youkai that way. He wasn't afraid of them, but he wasn't sure how they would respond to their master's daughter leaving without his permission, and the farther he got before anyone realized that the pair of them were missing, the better. Rin tip- toed behind them with exaggerated care.
Sesshomaru realized his mistake he moment he opened the door.
Standing there before him was Nakamura Kyosuke, his arms crossed over his chest. He wore an expensive suit and his hair was greased back, even in his own home. His dark eyes settled on Rin.
Sesshomaru glance over his shoulder to see the girl's reaction. She met her father's gaze fearlessly. There was no hesitance in her expression, only the same confidence in Sesshomaru's ability to protect her. There was no affection either.
"Did you really think you could leave without me knowing?" Nakamura scoffed, casting a pointed glance at an owl youkai perched behind his left shoulder. "I know who comes in and who goes out. And I know who comes back in again."
"I suggest getting out of my way," Sesshomaru said steadily.
"Or you'll what?" Nakamura asked. "I told you before, you belong to me. And so does she."
"And I told you I don't." The youkai said coldly, " Neither does she. I already told you to get out of my way. I don't like repeating myself."
The man's face darkened with anger, his brow lowering threateningly. "Or you'll what?"
The desire to damage this man was slowly building in Sesshomaru. Rin still stood behind him, a steady, expectant presence. This man had dared to hurt her, to use her however he pleased. He didn't understand, though. The girl might be his daughter, but Sesshomaru was the one who chose to protect her.
And that made her his, more than this nauseating man's ability to sire her ever could.
He wanted to make Nakamura pay for what he had done. He wanted the man to hurt a hundred times worse than Rin. For every disgusting transgression, Sesshomaru wanted him to be punished. He didn't just want to kill the man; he wanted the man to feel pain before he left this world. Sesshomaru's sight narrowed, and a red haze tinted his vision. His lips pulled back in a snarl, baring his teeth.
Then the Tenseiga program pulsed, distracting the youkai. Rin was still behind him, waiting to see what he would do.
Sesshomaru willed himself calm. He refused to let himself be ruled by these emotions Taisho had decided to 'gift' him with after so many years.
Nakamura had taken a step back when he saw Sesshomaru expression change. Sweat beaded on his brow. The youkai could hear his heart beating irregularly, and he could smell the sour scent of the man's fear.
He was not worth the effort.
He was, however, still a danger to Rin.
The whip appeared in Sesshomaru's hand with a thought. The man's eyes bulged at the sight. A flick of his wrist and the light whip lashed out, passing through Nakamura's body as though it were nothing at all. The man fell to the ground, lifeless.
"Are you ready to go, Rin?" he asked without looking back. He felt a pang, wondering what look she would be giving him now. Not that it mattered, he supposed. When the police came, they would find Ryoko in her bed, surrounded by all the accessories of her addictions, and Rin would be sent to a foster home somewhere. . .
"Yes, Sesshomaru," a high voice answered from behind him, surprisingly clear even after years of disuse. The youkai half turned to see the girl's face, and saw that while she was not smiling, she still had every intention of following him.
"Come along then."
*~*~*
Inuyasha came alert at the sound of Kagome closing the bathroom door. He stood slowly, but found that all of yesterday's damage had repaired itself. He heard the shower turn on, and wondered about the girl stepping into it.
Where the hell did he stand with her?
The hanyou remembered her lips pressed against his. He would not have thought that he could be so affected by a kiss. He could feel emotions, true, but that did not mean that he expected his own reactions to her touch. . . There were more things about himself he didn't understand than things he did.
He sighed, still with no idea why he did that, and went into the kitchen to start Kagome's coffee. The girl was most certainly not a morning person, he thought wryly. Maybe she should look into some sort of caffeine IV. Then they could start the drip about an hour before she had to face the outside world.
"Inuyasha?" Shippo said, startling him as he jumped onto the counter.
"What?" Inuyasha tried to cover his surprise. The fox youkai rarely spoke to him unless Kagome was involved. Other than that, the two of them tended to ignore each other.
"What do you want?" Shippo asked, angling a sharp green gaze on the hanyou.
"What?!"
"I've been trying to think of what a youkai might want, and I can't think of any reason why Naraku would be killing people like this. Unless he was made to kill people, but I don't think a company like Kazaana would make that kind of thing." He crossed his arms and gave a few short, irritated flicks of his tail. "So what does a hanyou want?"
"Don't be stupid. Naraku isn't a hanyou," Inuyasha said, finally getting over his shock.
"That isn't the point! He's still a machine, so he has the same codes as the rest of us. What does he want then?" Then Shippo's eyes narrowed. "You're the one being stupid. Haven't you even wonder what he wants?"
"Of course I have," Inuyasha protested.
"Well, what have you come up with?"
"Well," Inuyasha huffed, "either he wants to do whatever it was he was programmed to do, or. . ."
"Or what?"
"Or. . ."
"Or he wants to do something else," he finished lamely.
*~*~*
A/N: That's it for today. I hope I haven't made what Naraku's after too obvious. Anyway questions and comments really do help me get the next chapter out quicker, so review.
Until next time.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Synthetic Emotions
Rin woke up slowly, sunlight in her eyes, the calming presence of her hero near by, keeping the bad things away. She had come here to sleep when he was gone. The bad things happened in her room, but here she felt safe, even when he wasn't here.
The girl sat up and stretched. Blinking away the clinging remnants of sleep, she looked around Sesshomaru's room for the youkai himself. Her hero sat in a chair, his deep golden eyes looking thoughtfully out the window. Rin sat patiently, waiting for him to act. She trusted him to know what to do and when.
She trusted her hero implicitly. He had said he wouldn't let 'it' happen again, and she believed him.
He would not lie.
After a long moment, Sesshomaru shifted his gaze from the window to the girl on the bed. There was no more expression on his face than ever, but Rin could tell immediately that something had changed. It was in his eyes. They were no longer entirely opaque. Now there was a soft glow in them, like candlelight reflected off polished metal. When he spoke, Rin knew she wouldn't have to wait anymore.
"Would you like to leave here?" he asked her.
Rin didn't try to suppress her smile as she nodded vigorously. Her hero was going to take her away, just like she knew he would the first moment she saw him. Just like she'd been praying for him to do since before she could remember.
"Get whatever you'll need."
Rin hurried to obey.
*~*~*
Miroku hadn't realized what time it was until he noticed the sun peeking through his curtains. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to clear his blurry vision. It didn't work. The computer screen was still out of focus, the letters swimming about nonsensically.
Myouga had been searching since yesterday evening for any clue what Naraku was looking for, but the more Miroku thought about it, the more sure he became that the answer wouldn't be found in Inutaiyoukai's files. Or if it was there, neither he, nor the flea youkai would know how to recognize it.
Shippo had been on the right track when he asked if Naraku wanted to network more youkai, and Inuyasha when he commented about youkai doing what they were programmed to do. Just because a youkai had turned rogue, didn't mean it had escaped its codes, or the purpose its makers had instilled in it.
Miroku gave a self-depreciating half smile. It had never occurred to him to ask a youkai what another youkai might want.
His smile faded. If it was true that on some level or another Naraku was still trying to do what he was made to do, then the answers Miroku needed were not in Inutaiyoukai, but Kazaana. Unfortunately, there was very little information left about Kazaana, and even less about its last, failed endeavor.
'Damn it,' the young man thought, turning away from the monitor, 'what was Naraku supposed to do once he had all those youkai integrated?'
He was missing something, he was sure of it. He was missing something so obvious that once he figured out what it was, he'd laugh at himself for being so stupid. He was missing something simple. . .
He'd been awake for twenty-odd hours now, and he could hardly think, let alone come up with the single stroke of genius that would make everything he knew fit together. Miroku shut down his computer and stumbled over to the couch. Maybe after a quick nap he could force some order on all the facts he'd been staring at for the last ten hours or so. Maybe Myouga would have found out something that would help shine the right light on the subject.
What could Naraku want, if he were still at least partially bound by his original programming? What had Kazaana's mysterious investor meant to do with the youkai once it was finished?
There was something there, he just couldn't see it.
*~*~*
It wasn't a long wait before Rin reappeared carrying a small backpack. Sesshomaru eyed the bag, noting how little it carried. Evidently, the girl didn't feel she would miss too many things when she left this place. "Are you ready?" he questioned her. "If there is anything you need, you had better have it now."
Rin nodded, giving him that grin that she somehow managed to find despite everything. It made her look very young, smiling like that. It was such a whole hearted smile. Sesshomaru felt that feeling again, like something hot were filling him, his circuits buzzing with power that wanted to be spent. He wanted to hurt the man who had hurt Rin.
Sesshomaru ground his teeth, fighting to control the unexpectedly strong emotion. So, this was what it was like to feel vengeful.
"Come," he commanded the girl, and led the way out of the room Ryoko had given him that first day. Rin followed him willingly.
At the head of the stairs, Sesshomaru stopped and listened for the sounds of Rin's parents. He could hear Ryoko's unfeminine snoring in the master bedroom, and smell the lingering odor of the opium she had been indulging in the night before. Judging from the slow cadence of her breathing, she was still dead to the world. As for the other, the youkai's senses couldn't find him. After a long moment, he judged that the man must have left the house.
Motioning for Rin to be quiet, Sesshomaru made his way to the side entrance. There were fewer surveillance youkai that way. He wasn't afraid of them, but he wasn't sure how they would respond to their master's daughter leaving without his permission, and the farther he got before anyone realized that the pair of them were missing, the better. Rin tip- toed behind them with exaggerated care.
Sesshomaru realized his mistake he moment he opened the door.
Standing there before him was Nakamura Kyosuke, his arms crossed over his chest. He wore an expensive suit and his hair was greased back, even in his own home. His dark eyes settled on Rin.
Sesshomaru glance over his shoulder to see the girl's reaction. She met her father's gaze fearlessly. There was no hesitance in her expression, only the same confidence in Sesshomaru's ability to protect her. There was no affection either.
"Did you really think you could leave without me knowing?" Nakamura scoffed, casting a pointed glance at an owl youkai perched behind his left shoulder. "I know who comes in and who goes out. And I know who comes back in again."
"I suggest getting out of my way," Sesshomaru said steadily.
"Or you'll what?" Nakamura asked. "I told you before, you belong to me. And so does she."
"And I told you I don't." The youkai said coldly, " Neither does she. I already told you to get out of my way. I don't like repeating myself."
The man's face darkened with anger, his brow lowering threateningly. "Or you'll what?"
The desire to damage this man was slowly building in Sesshomaru. Rin still stood behind him, a steady, expectant presence. This man had dared to hurt her, to use her however he pleased. He didn't understand, though. The girl might be his daughter, but Sesshomaru was the one who chose to protect her.
And that made her his, more than this nauseating man's ability to sire her ever could.
He wanted to make Nakamura pay for what he had done. He wanted the man to hurt a hundred times worse than Rin. For every disgusting transgression, Sesshomaru wanted him to be punished. He didn't just want to kill the man; he wanted the man to feel pain before he left this world. Sesshomaru's sight narrowed, and a red haze tinted his vision. His lips pulled back in a snarl, baring his teeth.
Then the Tenseiga program pulsed, distracting the youkai. Rin was still behind him, waiting to see what he would do.
Sesshomaru willed himself calm. He refused to let himself be ruled by these emotions Taisho had decided to 'gift' him with after so many years.
Nakamura had taken a step back when he saw Sesshomaru expression change. Sweat beaded on his brow. The youkai could hear his heart beating irregularly, and he could smell the sour scent of the man's fear.
He was not worth the effort.
He was, however, still a danger to Rin.
The whip appeared in Sesshomaru's hand with a thought. The man's eyes bulged at the sight. A flick of his wrist and the light whip lashed out, passing through Nakamura's body as though it were nothing at all. The man fell to the ground, lifeless.
"Are you ready to go, Rin?" he asked without looking back. He felt a pang, wondering what look she would be giving him now. Not that it mattered, he supposed. When the police came, they would find Ryoko in her bed, surrounded by all the accessories of her addictions, and Rin would be sent to a foster home somewhere. . .
"Yes, Sesshomaru," a high voice answered from behind him, surprisingly clear even after years of disuse. The youkai half turned to see the girl's face, and saw that while she was not smiling, she still had every intention of following him.
"Come along then."
*~*~*
Inuyasha came alert at the sound of Kagome closing the bathroom door. He stood slowly, but found that all of yesterday's damage had repaired itself. He heard the shower turn on, and wondered about the girl stepping into it.
Where the hell did he stand with her?
The hanyou remembered her lips pressed against his. He would not have thought that he could be so affected by a kiss. He could feel emotions, true, but that did not mean that he expected his own reactions to her touch. . . There were more things about himself he didn't understand than things he did.
He sighed, still with no idea why he did that, and went into the kitchen to start Kagome's coffee. The girl was most certainly not a morning person, he thought wryly. Maybe she should look into some sort of caffeine IV. Then they could start the drip about an hour before she had to face the outside world.
"Inuyasha?" Shippo said, startling him as he jumped onto the counter.
"What?" Inuyasha tried to cover his surprise. The fox youkai rarely spoke to him unless Kagome was involved. Other than that, the two of them tended to ignore each other.
"What do you want?" Shippo asked, angling a sharp green gaze on the hanyou.
"What?!"
"I've been trying to think of what a youkai might want, and I can't think of any reason why Naraku would be killing people like this. Unless he was made to kill people, but I don't think a company like Kazaana would make that kind of thing." He crossed his arms and gave a few short, irritated flicks of his tail. "So what does a hanyou want?"
"Don't be stupid. Naraku isn't a hanyou," Inuyasha said, finally getting over his shock.
"That isn't the point! He's still a machine, so he has the same codes as the rest of us. What does he want then?" Then Shippo's eyes narrowed. "You're the one being stupid. Haven't you even wonder what he wants?"
"Of course I have," Inuyasha protested.
"Well, what have you come up with?"
"Well," Inuyasha huffed, "either he wants to do whatever it was he was programmed to do, or. . ."
"Or what?"
"Or. . ."
"Or he wants to do something else," he finished lamely.
*~*~*
A/N: That's it for today. I hope I haven't made what Naraku's after too obvious. Anyway questions and comments really do help me get the next chapter out quicker, so review.
Until next time.