Saburouta crouched down and leaned as close as he could to the access panel without actually going inside of it.
"Ey, Dean-san, how much longer are you going to take in there? Are you expecting us to bring you lunch or something?"
"I told you, I'll finish when I finish, an' it'll be no concern of yours 'til I do." He twisted his head back towards the shaft's entrance where Saburouta was as he continued speaking. "And for your infor-AAAAUGGGHH!!" The Lackey-turned-crewman's head bounced off the top of the confined space at seeing Saburouta's golden and crimson locks inches from his own head. Various oaths in various dialects from the British Isles emanated from the man's mouth as he finished his task. "I believe I also told yer happy ass to naght stan' so close to me friggin' HEAD!"
Williams Haruko laughed from where she was standing watch a few feet from the panel. She'd learned in her short time with Dean that when he was angered or intense about something, the Scottish (or maybe Irish, she wasn't sure which) blood in his veins came out in force, along with an accent to match. Dean started to writhe his way out of the tube when the Jovian decided to give him a hand. Saburouta reached in, grabbed Dean by his shirt's shoulders, braced his feet against the wall and jumped away from the access point. In the tenth-gee environment they'd been dealing with, both men shot across the passageway and into the wall behind them.
And I thought I told you that if you yell so much you'll attract unwanted attention." The first officer took in how they were entwined against the wall before continuing. "You know, why continue with Haruko when you could have me?"
AAAAUUUGGGHHH!"
reflected that in all likelihood Saburouta had a natural tendency to bring out homophobia in any man around him. It was certainly the case with Little Turncoat Hari, as Dean had begun calling the boy. She was amazed that they had managed to stay hidden on the ship for this long. In the confusion surrounding the chairman's and kanchou's departure, the mutineers weren't sure who was left on the ship and who wasn't. They also assumed that Hari was dead, which was an ace on their side. Still, after so many days of being towed and even though you were the good guys you were considered the bad guys, even Saburouta's patience was wearing thin.
If you boys are quite finished we should get our selves back to the nest and see if your little hack will actually get us into the communication system so we can get ahold of the kanchou."
// \\
Urashima set his teeth and stepped through the door in front of him. He had always hated Thursday evenings because of The Watering Hole. There was no written rule saying that the entire antiquities department of Tokyo University had to gather there every Thursday, but if anyone showed up for work but didn't show up at The Watering Hole that evening, they would be ragged on relentlessly until they swore on the nearest artifact that they would be there the next Thursday. Thus with great reluctance Urashima religiously attended the ritual.
This week he wished to be home even more than usual. His conversation with Sesshoumaru still left found him rattled even though it had occurred days prior. At the same time, he probably could use a drink. He approached the cluster of associate and full professors gathered around the bar, returning their greetings and surprising them all by ordering straight sake instead of one of his usual watery requests.
Conversation drifted among the group, and a few interesting, if inebriated, conversations found him staying a little later than he had originally wished. Normally, the group clung near the bar and didn't migrate to the tables in the rest of the establishment. However, Urashima noticed that one of the newest associate professors had taken sole possession of a table in the far corner of the room. Urashima wandered over to the man, noting that he'd had more to drink that he thought he had if his meandering course was any indication.
He flopped himself into a chair across the table from the younger man, and despite remembering that he'd read one of the boy's papers, he found he was having trouble recalling the fellow's name. Not that he'd remember the transgression in the morning, as he appeared to have consumed far more alcohol than Urashima had. The sensei dug for words to open the conversation with but found hismelf beaten to the punch.
"Baka," the associate said, banging his head against the table lightly. Adams, wasn't that his name? "Baka, baka, baka. Why did we have to listen to him?"
"Listen to who, Adams-san?" Urashima sputtered, slurring his consonants.
"Urashima-sensei, will I ever be forgiven?"
"Depends, what'd you do?"
"It's my fault that Bob's... gone..." he said, referring to the professor who had disappeared along with Kanna's body and mirror.
The pieces finished falling back into place in his drunken and jumbled memory. "Oh, come off it, you found the site, sure, but you didn't know what would happen when we entered the tomb."
"Well..."
// \\
Despite the lateness of the evening before, Ruri awoke early the next morning. She guessed that part of the reason was spending so long on ship standard time made returning to earth a bit of an adjustment. Sitting up, she felt the more immediate reason for her awakening. She glanced around and saw her betrothed sitting on the thick stone banister which encircled the balcony. He was quite obviously attempting to meditate, and even more obviously not doing very well at it, based on the tumult she felt coming from him.
"'Ne, Inuyasha,'" she said quietly, seeking to both announce her presence and not startle him.
'Gomen, Ruri, I didn't mean to wake you,' he apologized, his eyes not straying from the slowly-greying horizon.
'It's okay,' she returned, walking across the room to lean up against the banister next to him. She felt the early-morning chill against her legs. His kimono broke the chill from her arms but was too short to aid elsewhere. 'Kagura on your mind?'
'She's part of it, yes. The return of the scar is the first piece of hard evidence that Naraku really has been released from his prison, and he's gaining strength if he's reclaiming his surviving 'children.'' He turned away from the horizon and stepped down from the railing to stand next to Ruri. 'I'm also worried about your ship. After all,' he added with a smile, 'I'm still Nergal's chairman.'
'It's hard to decide which is more important, isn't it?' Ruri mused.
'Importance, maybe. But it's far easier to decide to what order to do things in. Naraku is very careful and deliberate with his movements, unless his hand is forced. I doubt he'll make another move for a little while, as he must build up his strength after being entombed for so long. Nergal, on the other hand, is much simpler. It's merely a power struggle against me. In preparing for this, I found that most past chairs went through similar trials at the beginning of their terms. An administration is weakest when power changes, and someone is just trying to take advantage of that. They wish to either bend me to their will, or remove me from office and either take the office or place someone more favorable to them in it.
'Akatsuki, maybe?'
'Perhaps. It could just as easily be someone operating wholly in shadow. Akatsuki Nagare certainly retains the means to do this, though it seems he could have retained control of Nergal had he sincerely wanted to. For the time being, however, let's do as you suggested last night and try to reach your basketcase of a bodyguard and my lovestruck former lackey.'
"'Hai,'" Ruri responded, pulling him back into the room with her by the arm.
"Er, something you need me for?"
'Baka. I'm showering, and I just don't want you to be far away from me right now.' She turned to enjoy the blood rushing to his face, though she also knew he wasn't struggling very hard against her grip.
// \\
Yurika awoke not long after her adoptive daughter did and slowly sat up. It was far from the worst hangover she'd ever experienced, but the stresses of the night before weren't helping matters. She glanced around the room, taking stock of who was there and who wasn't. Kagura's futon was of course empty, as the youkai had been changing for bed when she discovered something about a spider-shaped scar on her back. She remembered that Sesshoumaru had staggered into the room later than everyone else and was highly inebriated when he did so. Despite that fact, he had already risen and was elsewhere on the grounds. That left Akito the only other occupant of the room besides herself, and he was sleeping soundly. Whomever had set up the room placed four futons in the room since no one was sure what would happen that evening after finding out some of what was going on. Thus mats for Yurika, Kagura, Sesshoumaru, and Akito had been placed almost in the four corners of the room. Yurika could bear to not sleep by Akito's side but she couldn't have beared someone else sleeping by his side. She had almost wished for individual rooms for each of them, but she didn't trust this Kagura even though she still held absolute faith in her Akito.
She knew that she had no reason not to trust the youkai Kagura, but couldn't prevent her feelings of disquiet. It saddened her that she was grateful that the younger Inutaishou had pushed her to leave them. She knew that the debate she saw in his eyes the evening before was now showing in her own eyes. She rose and pulled the yukata she wore more closely around herself. As she headed for the door to hunt down breakfast she paused by Akito's futon to look down at his still-sleeping face. It was all that she could do not to bend down and kiss him awake, and then hold onto him tightly and never let go. But, she had won once before against stiffer competition than Kagura, competition which at one point had even included her dear Ruri-Ruri. She was not about to lose this fight, either. She listened to Akito's soft breathing for a moment longer before quietly slipping from the room.
// \\
The youkai stepped towards the door when they heard someone knock. By the jaki it was quite obviously his father, so he felt no need for more formality than necessary. He had donned more modern attire than he normally did when he didn't have to in the form of jeans and t-shirt. Ruri had wrapped a yukata around herself, so he felt it safe to let his father in.
'Baka, your hair is still soaked,' Ruri retorted, patting at her own hair with a towel.
He flashed an evil grin over his shoulder and barely gave his beloved time to raise her towel as a shield before he showed his inu heritage and flung droplets of water all over the room. Once the deluge had stopped Ruri wadded her towel and threw it at the back of the youkai's head.
"Baka," she said with a smile. Her youkai didn't bother to dodge the projectile and let it hit him in the head, catching it as it slid down his back before it hit the floor. He made no response with words but returned the smile as he tossed the damp object back to her and continued towards the door.
"Ohayo, Otou-san," he started as he opened the door.
"I have troubling news, son, daughter," Sesshoumaru said, nodding curtly to his future daughter-in-law and cutting off further pleasantries with his son.
"What is it, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Ruri asked, stepping forward to stand beside her youkai.
"I have just spoken with..." Sesshoumaru began as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He paused his speech and began poking at the switches by the door.
"Third and fourth from the right, second row?" his son suggested.
The elder hit the switches and nodded in approval. He waited until the east and west walls closed before continuing. "Arigato. I have just spoken with Urashima-sensei. It seems that every week the antiquities department has a... gathering."
Inuyasha shrugged and crossed his arms. "Every Thursday they all get stinking drunk and bitch about the administration."
After wincing, Sesshoumaru continued. "You are essentially correct, my son. Urashima attended this ritual last night and noticed one of the associate professors underneath him had isolated himself from the group."
"So?" his son responded. "It seems to me that after a colleague disappears because a demon is released that some of them would take it harder than others."
"Such was Urashima-sensei's analysis, since this was also the associate professor who located the grave."
"I was curious about that," Ruri said, echoing her betrothed's thoughts. "How did they locate the grave?"
"The professor had presented Urashima-sensei with a paper which indicated there may have been several undisturbed tombs within Tokyo of 'ancient' origin," Sesshoumaru stated, smirking at the use of the word. "While he was dubious of their existence, there was enough evidence presented to merit a small dig in one location. Though there were more promising locations, the associate presenting the paper was adamant about one particular site. Urashima said that the man claimed he had a 'gut instinct' about it.
"Events from that point forward you are already aware of. However, Urashima found out last night that it was not simply a 'gut instinct' which led to Kanna's grave. That is, of course, unless your gut is made of gold," the youkai finished with a cold smile.
"Feh. So the snake shows his colors. Do we know who paid for him to find it?"
"Urashima could get no true name, as the man only was given an email address of a representative of the one paying him. He was told to simply refer to his employer as 'Hokushin.'"
Ruri's eyes narrowed coldly. "Hokushin is dead."
Sesshoumaru stepped backwards, daunted by the small woman despite himself. "I merely repeat, soon-daughter. You are sure of this?"
"Hokushin was killed by the Prince of Darkness. I saw the remnants of the body after Black Serena's fist crushed Hokushin's cockpit."
"It would appear that we are against a foe equal in cunning to Naraku," Inu said, seeking to calm the sudden anger he felt beside him. He watched as his father raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Perhaps you are correct, as the only other piece of useful information that Urashima was able to extricate during the conversation was that Naraku's release at that point was indeed an accident. The financier wished them to only recover Kanna and her mirror."
"So," his son continued, placing a hand in the small of his fiancee's back. The intended effect was achieved as he felt her relax beside him. "Hokushin's impersonator wished to play chess with his pieces but instead was forced into a game of dice."
Ruri looked up at the slightly taller man beside her. "So what do we do now?"
"Waiting is all we can do, hime-chan. This changes nothing. The Nadesico is a more immediate priority right now. His hand was forced, so this impersonator will most likely be more careful and slower with his next move. One other thing I would ask, Otou-san, did you speak with Gigi of any of these matters?"
Sesshoumaru's face took on a rare look of puzzlement. "The old codger's still around here? I have yet to run into him. Besides, why would these things concern him?"
Inuyasha's and Ruri's faces both darkened at the elder's words, but said nothing as Sesshoumaru continued.
"Also, Seth mentioned something about loaning the Kanchou some 'horsepower' for Omoikane, perhaps you should see him."
// \\
Both youkai and hanyou paused in the doorway of the garage to allow their eyes to adjust to the dimmer light inside as opposed to the bright Mexican sun outside. Once their eyes adjusted, they were greeted by masses of cables pointing out in all directions from the drive arrays which contained Omoikane. Various men and women were mulling around, generally with confused looks on their faces. Seth was standing in the middle of all this, in between the cores, scratching his head.
"Yo, baka," Inutaishou called out, "having problems figuring out how to plug a hard drive in? It's not that difficult."
"One, inoocuh-row," he said, royally destroying the pronunciation, "I have a hangover. Two, no matter how we plug these damn things in, nothing boots. My comp guys have been on this since you brought these things here, three of them even skipping the party last night, and they still got nothin'."
Ruri walked down the length of one of the arrays and pulled every cable and connector that had been attached to the unit away from it. Her future mate followed suit on the opposite array.
"That's because," Ruri started, bending down and selecting the main power and data cables from the mainframe they were trying to connect to.
"You don't know how to plug the thing in," Inuyasha finished, selecting a set of power and data jumper cables from the floor and helping Ruri make the minimalist attachments. The rest of the inhabitants of the room jumped as suddenly the mainframe whirred to life and screens began popping up confirming the beginnings of the boot- and post-strap sequences. "Geez, I'd think that you of all people would have stolen information on these drives and known that there weren't standard drives in the Nadesico-C right now. Well, when we were on her. There aren't any working drives on her now," he finished with a grin.
Ruri allowed herself a brief smile as Omoikane started returning system OK messages. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her fiance smiling down on her. 'Nice to have him back, isn't it?'
'Hai.'
// \\
Dean was at the end of his patience. Everything about the comm system should have been working properly, but without Omoikane in it, it simply refused to work. It reminded him of some of the old computer systems he used to play with growing up. Everything about them would look correct, but they just for reasons unknown would refuse to work right. He cursed in frustration and simultaneously kicked the panel and slugged Hari in the arm.
"What was that for? I didn't do anything!" Hari whined petulantly.
"Oi, Hari-kun," Saburouta said, draping himself over the back of the chair the child occupied, "you were the turncoat that helped those guys take over the ship and forced the kanchou and Omoikane off the ship. So it sort of is your fault."
Hari was about to try to make some reply when the panel before them suddenly blinked to life and the quartet found themselves staring into a very familiar pale face with golden eyes and silver-blue hair.
"V," She greeted them, holding up one handin the familiar gesture.
"Kanchou!" Hari, Dean, Saburouta, and Haruko exclaimed simultaneously.
"Saburouta-san, what is the status of the ship?"
The Jovian leaned over the computer operator, pushing him out of the frame in doing so. "The ship's on a leash, but the dog catchers haven't put collars on everyone yet. Are the lovebirds okay?"
The chairman leaned over the kanchou's shoulder, his slightly lighter hair mingling with hers. "I dunno, how about it, Dean?"
Redness spread into the former Lackey's face as he cleared his throat and tried to think of some way to change the subject, but it was Hari who inadvertently came to his rescue. "Kanchou, we've been trying for days to get any of the comm systems running, why did they suddenly react?"
"I turned some of them back on," she replied, betraying no emotion. Even with his account locked out, he should have been able to at least secure one channel using Haruko's account.
Each side quickly briefed the other on the events of recent days, the two on earth silently agreeing to not mention Naraku at this point. Since the ship was being towed to earth, it was decided that the three now-conspirators and their hostage once-conspirator would remain hidden on the ship until it returned to port in Japan. The Kanchou and Chairman would return ahead of them, and help them get offship. Hari, still off-screen, wanted to plan details further, but the kanchou wouldn't plan further, or at least reveal said plan, at this point.
Finally, they took their leave of each other and signed off the secured channel. Ruri leaned back in the chair she was in, letting her head continue its path until it was resting against Inuyasha. 'Should we have told them about Naraku?'
'It would be a liability for them to know about it, and a liability to us for Makibi to know of it at all. I don't know if he's straightened out yet.'
Ruri silently agreed, feeling the disquiet in him over the whole situation with the boy. 'Let's go find Akito-san and Yurika-san,' she suggested.
He smiled down at her, 'what, you want to see if Tenkawa-san can cook as good as he used to?'
'Baka,' she replied, staring up at him and watching as he bent down to kiss her forehead. She dodged at the last second and brought her mouth to meet his, both of them happily catching from half-closed eyes blushes erupting from those around them who were pretending to not be looking.
'Happily so, hime-chan.'
// \\
Ruri breathed deeply and leaned against her koi's shoulder as the plane taxied onto the runway. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her, holding her close to himself and breathing deeply of her hair. She welcomed the embrace but still disagreed with him.
Inuyasha laughed slightly and rested his chin on her head, staring out the window beside them. 'I know, hime-chan. We're wanted criminals, since everyone believes we were the conspirators who stole Omoikane, and yet we're smuggling him back into Japan under really lame monikers.'
'Hoshino Akurei and his fiancee Inutaishou Aoi? Reeeal original, baka.'
'It's amazing what you can do with a collection of fake passports, isn't it? Also helps that Seth has some experts at... creative identification... in his employ.'
She smiled slightly and took his free hand to hold in her lap as she drifted off to the engine's drone.
Across the aisle from the two Yurika smiled to herself as she watched them, remembering the happier days she and Akito had spent together. Akito, in characteristic ignorance of such matters was thumbing trough Sky Mall, and pondered as he always did when he took a commercial flight how in the world it could last fifty years, much less the several hundred it was claiming. It was utter dreg, completely worthless.
"Ne, Akito."
He guessed the airlines kept it alive so they didn't have to put real magazines on the planes.
"Ne, Akito, Akito."
It was probably just like pretzels and biscuits and the weird half-can of cola. It'd just always been done that way and "OW! What'd you do that for?" Akito asked, rubbing his head.
Yurika smiled brightly at him. "There's my Akito!" Saying the words aloud, though, caused the smile to slowly fade from her face. "I guess we should talk about that."
Akito placed the Sky Mall where he'd found it in the pocket with the emergency "you're screwed now" instructions. "Hai," he said slowly. "Meeting you... again... pieces are slowly starting to come together. Not all of them yet, but, more. I'm starting to remember you chased me for a long time before I... woke up, I guess."
He stared down at his hands in his lap and paused before continuing. "I... I can't say I love you... yet... and I can't just dismiss Kagura, but I think I..." He paused again, unsure of what to say. He watched as a slim hand crossed into his line of vision and placed itself on his own hands. He looked up to see the smile slowly return to Yurika's face.
"It's okay, Akito. We weren't made in a day the first time, we won't be made in a day the second." She let her hand linger a moment more, then softly squeezed for a moment before returning her hand to her own lap.
Behind the reunited couple, Sesshoumaru smiled and stuffed earbuds into his ears to avoid the inevitable snoring about to emanate from Greg. He thumbed up the volume knob on his player and resisted the urge to help Robert Plant with the chorus. Still not quite getting the hang of some aspects of modern life, he had forgotten to charge the player and hoped it would have enough power to keep the Lackey drowned out for most of the trip. If not, there were certainly other means of controlling snoring. Some of them rather painful.
// \\
Inutaishou Inuyasha popped any joint he could think of as they stepped out to the curb of the airport in Tokyo. Shelling out for the low-orbital flight which only took two hours was worth it, but he still hated the confinement. On the other hand, had they opted for the less expensive conventional flight it would have meant 12 hours of nothing to do but curl around Ruri, which he had no complaints about.
'Baka, I heard that.'
'I know you did. Nadesico gets here when?'
'Tomorrow, I believe.'
The youkai added her bags to his own complement and they walked towards a nearby Lincoln which indicated it had been reserved under their assumed names. Greg hurried to join them after making sure the other half of their group was getting situated the Suburban.
'Ruri, do you know where they'll dock the Nadesico? I hadn't bothered paying attention to that part of the Nergal documentation before we had our bout of fun with Makibi and company.'
'It will probably be the same facility where I boarded the first Nadesico. Probably not the same dock, since it won't be moving on its own power. The facility tends to be well defended, however. How do you propose we get in there?' She asked, settling herself into the waiting transportation.
Inuyasha joined her in the car and smiled slightly. 'Beats me. We'll figure it out when we get there, I guess'
// \\
Next up, a kidnapping in a family you do not want to kidnap someone from...