Chapter 24: Livid
I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Kagura's number. Kohaku and Kagura had both worked for Naraku before and I wanted one of them to be present to see if Souten's information made sense. Obviously, since I had just sent Kohaku off to track down Rin's poisoner, Kagura was the best choice.
"Hello?" Kagura asked from the other end.
"Kagura. I've got an informant on Naraku. Come to the hospital right now."
"But what about Kana?"
"Bring her as well, I suppose. The house is no longer safe."
"I'll be there." Kagura sighed and I hung up. I wondered what Kagura thought about my comment about my house. Actually, I wasn't too worried about my house being dangerous. The, now poisonous, air of my house would not actually harm a full youkai in anyway. However, with the growing problem of Naraku and a new informant, I had decided that it was best to keep all my top employees nearby. I sat down at the edge of Rin's bed and nodded for Souten to begin.
"First of all, while I'm not one of the lowest henchmen, I'm not in the inner-most circles. You must forgive some of my ignorance." Souten sighed. "The basic plan is that five of a seven man gang have been sent out to do different jobs. One was sent after a man named Miroku; another after a woman named Rin. Another was sent after you brother, Inuyasha, and the fourth was sent after a man named Kouga. The last one was sent after two women named Kagura and Kana. Naraku wanted to remove those six and then he would send a direct challenge to you."
"That's all?" I asked. "That's the plan?"
"Yes. At least, as far as I know."
"And what was your part?"
"In order to learn the identity of my brother's murderer, I had to kidnap Shippo." Souten admitted, looking a little guilty. I let out a sigh.
'Naraku's got a certain ironic 'flare'. I'll give him that.'
"What else do you know about the seven man group?"
"I think… they're old."
"Elderly? As in their later years?"
"No. They speak with an accent."
"So they aren't from around here?"
"No. They're from Japan. Feudal Japan."
"Do you think this is a farce?"
"NO! Somehow, Naraku managed to resurrect the bodies of five warriors from ancient Japan. They were part of a seven men group and they were all executed for many horrific murders."
"So why only five?"
"I think… from what I could put together… the sixth was also raised, but for some reason he would not work for Naraku."
"And the seventh?" Ayame asked, speaking for the first time in a while.
"I don't think he was resurrected, for whatever reason." Souten shrugged.
"There wasn't enough of his flesh left. He was barely human." The male nurse sighed, from a corner of the room. I had almost forgotten he was there, and so had everyone else, judging by the way they jumped. "Gin was left as almost a human tank, I suppose you'd call it, after an unfortunate accident."
"How do you know?"
"My name is Suikotsu. I was the sixth member of the gang. We called ourselves the Shinchintai."
"What'd I miss?" Kagura asked, as she walked into the room, closely followed by Kana.
"Only Naraku's whole plan in a nutshell. Nothing you can't forget." I heard Shippo muttered.
"Where were you?" I asked, blatantly ignoring Shippo's comment, which was just soft enough for Kagura, even with her demon hearing, to miss.
"Just a bit of a delay, that's all." Kagura sighed. The door opened behind her and Kohaku walked up, unstrapping his facemask.
"I think the hospital staff is starting to get angry." Kohaku sighed as he found an empty space and slumped against the wall.
"I would imagine so. Did you do your job?" I asked.
"Yes. It was definitely him, but he wasn't much of a fighter. However, he had this in his neck." Kohaku sighed as he held tossed another piece of pink glass at me.
"Not another one." I sighed, frowning slightly.
"Another what?" Souten asked and I showed her the piece of glass Kohaku had just given me. "OH! Shikon shards. They're what resurrected the warriors. If you don't remove them, the warrior won't die."
"Are you serious?!" Kagura gasped, before snapping her fingers in annoyance. "Dammit! And I just left him there, too."
"Whatever, Kagura. I'm sure you'll get another shot." Kohaku sighed, with a shrug. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, and decided that Kohaku was indeed thankful that Kagura had not killed the man.
'Please. Pacifists.' I though while mentally rolling my eyes.
"Did I miss anything?" Kohaku asked, after a minute of silence.
"You can see who is here with completed missions and that we now have an informant." I replied, before waving Jaken into the room. My servant handed me the large duffel bag and bowed before quickly shuffling out. "Oh. Sango and Miroku are also here."
"Really? I suppose it would be best for me to leave then." Kohaku replied, and as quickly as he had arrived, he was gone.
"I'd better go too." Ayame nodded. "I'll need to gather the clans."
"Why?" Kouga asked, but no one bothered to answer him. We all knew that Ayame would take him with her and that she would explain the situation to him, over and over again, each time he forgot.
I nodded to show that I agreed with Ayame and they quickly left saying that they would take Hakkaku and Ginta with them. I sighed as the room fell into silence once again. Kagura and Kana took the seats Ayame and Kouga had vacated; Kana let out a soft sigh and moved so that she could rest her head on Kagura's shoulder. Kagura wrapped her arm around Kana's shoulder and, after looking around to make sure no one was looking, began to soothingly stroke her sister's hair. The nurse, Suikotsu, eventually sat down on the floor, since I growled loudly every time he moved to leave. Souten and Shippo seemed to be uncomfortable with the silence and, as they were both of a fidgety nature, both eventually left to explore the hospital, promising to stay within hearing range.
I moved my hand so that I was holding Rin's hand and frowned, silently praying that Rin would be okay. I knew that I would try to bring her back, but I wasn't sure if Tensaiga would work. I knew that Tensaiga worked on healing wounds, but I also knew that Tensaiga could not heal old age or someone who had been dead for too long. The problem was that I wasn't sure if Tensaiga would heal poison. If it was embedded in Rin's system and Tensaiga did not remove the poison, she might never recover, and I didn't know what I would do if she died.
I had been replaying the day's events over and over in my mind, carefully analyzing each second and trying to figure out what I should have done differently. I couldn't help but kick myself.
'I should have noticed! Aren't I a demon?! What use am I if I can't even protect my mate-to-be from a pathetic attack like that gas?! I'm a failure!' I mentally berated myself. 'Why didn't I look more closely at the package? Wasn't there a smell? Why didn't I get Rin out faster? Why didn't I…'
"Oi!" Inuyasha shouted as he came into the room, followed by his doctor, Dr. Higurashi. Giving Rin a visual once over, Inuyasha looked over at me and frowned. "What happened to her?"
"There was… bit of a difficulty and Rin was hurt." I shrugged coldly, feeling an anger build in my mind.
'How dare he? How dare he?! That half-breed! IT'S HIS FAULT, THAT BASTARD! This never would have happened if he had never been born! IT SHOULD BE HIM IN THIS HOSPITAL BED, NOT RIN! Rin was never involved! Why should she be hurt and he be walking around Scot-free?! It makes me sick!' I mentally raged, my anger at my brother growing more and more rational. In fact it took an indescribable amount of effort not to change into my demon form and eat Inuyasha for dinner. I was having a hard time controlling my emotions and I was more than a little surprised at myself, since I usually managed to control my feelings, thought it was always harder when the emotions were related to Rin.
"So what's the big deal?" Inuyasha asked, looking closely at Rin's form.
"The attack was led by a Hanyou, Naraku, who has tricked the factions into following him. The attack was a direct result of my opposing him." I explained, fighting the urge to crushed Inuyasha's head. I know my voice was bitter and I saw Inuyasha stiffen.
'THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S YOUR FAULT! YOUR FAULT!'
"Oh." Inuyasha frowned. "So… I… I guess…"
"You guess what?" I snapped coldly.
"I guess… you'll be dropping this fight then. I mean… as I'm such a danger to you and Rin." Inuyasha sighed. "Oh well, it wasn't like you were going to fight this war anyway. I mean…"
"Inuyasha." I interrupted. "Shut the hell up. You have no idea what you're talking about. I may be irrationally angry with you, and I might be illogically blaming this entire situation on you, but I am only more determined to fight this war. Now close your mouth. You'll catch flies."
I turned away from Inuyasha's stunned face and looked out the window.
"If Naraku thinks he's going to intimidate me, he's got another thing coming; I will not be daunted. For hurting Rin, he deserves death, and I will make sure he receives it." I continued. "I will see him die."