Chapter 5
Locked/Unlocked
Save for the table the woman had requested, the only objects were a chair and the large crystal encompassed hanyou. It had been two years since they had found him. It had cost him a small fortune to get and keep the discovery off the news. Luck had smiled on them and Kagome had not seen the news that morning. From the observation room high above the floor Sesshomaru watched the woman go through her rituals. He knew moments after she started it wouldn't work. Too many attempts by too many mikos, magicians, witches and even once a catholic priest. Nothing broke through the crystal. Not even his poison claws put a scratch in the surface. It broke diamond cutters as if they were made of tissue paper.
Long after the woman had gone, paid her exorbitant fee, Sesshomaru walked around the crystal taking his seat he looked into the unchanging face of his brother. "How do we get you out?" He asked, taking a seat in the only chair in the room. With a deep sigh he leaned forward resting his elbow on his knee. "Why, little brother? Why did you go with Kikyou? Even father would never have demanded that you uphold that promise. You held yourself to a higher standard than anyone else ever did. I envied you. I can admit that now. You were a natural leader, at that time I led by intimidation and fear. I've learned over the years what you knew instinctively."
"You should see your son, otouto. He's six now. So bright and full of mischief, much like you were at that age. Soon Kagome will have to decide if she wishes to teach him a sealing spell or to home school him. Kenmaru, always full of smiles and laughter. His birthday was yesterday. You should see him, he's you made over, with the exception of his mother's gray eyes."
"Your female, Kagome is a remarkable woman. She will soon enter the third and final year of her residency. She made chief resident of the emergency room at the hospital on her own. She almost turned it down thinking I was behind the offer. She will be an excellent doctor. Treating you all those times I suppose. The other doctors say if she is unable to save a patient, they arrived dead." He chuckled and sat up his arm draped casually across the back of the chair. "So, how did you get in there? That is an interesting question, but the more intriguing one is how do we get you out." He asked changing the subject. "Only Rin, Kouga and I know you have been found. Kouga has become quite an asset. Yes, otouto I know all about him and Kagome. From both of them actually. After Kenmaru was born he asked me if he could take her as his. I'm glad I forced him to honor five years of mourning if you were not found. Not that it would change her feelings. Other than Kenmaru she looks at no other man in any way but friendship. Kouga has implanted a birth certificate, credit rating, school history for you in the government computers. Even created a fictitious plane crash to explain your absence. Of course Kagome did give you a last name, Shinwa."
Standing he walked to the crystal, "I think I know how to get you out now. Let's just hope she doesn't purify me for not telling her we had found you, two years ago." Placing his hand on it, the demon lord smiled, "I hope you and I can get along. Good day otouto." He walked out locking the door behind him. He climbed the stairs to the bottom level of the hospital. Making his way to his office he stopped as always in the emergency department. Stepping into the department managers office on some pretext he watched the miko work. Most wouldn't see the violet of her aura. After a few minutes, taking the nonconsequential papers he stepped out of the office, asking for Dr. Higurashi to come by his office at the end of her shift. It wasn't until he reached his office that he discovered the young doctor was working a twenty hour shift.
Kagome leaned back against the elevator, her eyes closed. All she wanted to do was go home. Play with Kenmaru for a bit and then crash. Her twenty hour shift had turned into thirty two hours of hell. No, she thought if it would have been hell Inu Yasha would have been there. OK so it was thirty two hours of .... fighting Naraku. Instead of getting in her car and heading home, she was making her way to Sesshomaru's office. She had only been on four hours when the department head had told her Kagemusha-san wanted to see her at the end of her shift. Twenty eight hours of juvenile, "Higurashi's in trouble" from the other residents. Oh sometimes she just wanted to say, "He's my son's uncle, morons." But, she always denied herself that pleasure. No one knew that there was any type of Kagemusha and her. When she started her residency she had insisted no special treatment because of their connection. He had agreed.
Her fingers absently played with the necklace she wore, rubbing along the smooth ivory and rough wood that made it up. It was the only piece of jewelry she ever wore, except her watch. No matter how bad the case, how rude the family, or demanding her teachers one touch of the necklace calmed her.
The soft ding of the elevator caught her attention, looking up at the floor she stepped off and headed towards Sesshomaru's office. His secretary smiled at her and motioned her to go on in. Nodding Kagome stepped in. "You wished to see me Kagemusha-san?" She asked closing the door.
"Have a seat Kagome, there are some things we need to discuss." She watched as Sesshomaru came from behind his desk and indicated for her to sit on the sofa in one corner of his office. Warily she perched on it waiting, "Do you recall a couple of years ago when the new highway was being constructed going past Mt. Fuji?"
"Hai, I remember. What does that have to do with me?" She was beyond puzzled.
"Good. Well one afternoon the construction crew discovered something. Buried in a five hundred year old lava flow was a crystal." He paused and watched her eyes carefully.
"And.." she finally prodded. Wondering why he was so nervous.
"Inside the crystal was a figure." He tried to soften the blow as much as he could. "I had the press silenced and brought the crystal here. It is in a sealed lab below the bottom floor."
"Sesshomaru why are you telling me this?" Her hand grasped the rosary tightly seeking it's familiar comfort. Fearing his answer. Hoping he would say what she thought he was leading up to, praying he wouldn't.
"Because, Kagome, the figure within the crystal is Inu Yasha."
Kagome took a shuddering breath and then spoke. "I want to see him."
Sesshomaru nodded and helped her to her feet. Without a word they rode the elevator to the basement. She followed him to the hidden door and through it, down a short hall and into the huge empty lab. She ran to the crystal, tears in her eyes as she studied the figure locked within. "Inu Yasha." She whispered. Her hand stretched out, to touch the crystal near his face.
Sesshomaru watched as Kagome's aura filled with white, as her hand reached towards the crystal it shattered. Crystal pieces flew in all directions. He watched as the miko caught Inu Yasha as he fell from the prison which had held him for five hundred years.