Puppet Without Strings

Chapter 2

Sesshoumaru flicked the screen of his com-link close just as his half-brother's recorded message started to unleash a train of its most colourful language on him. The idiot just didn't know when to quit. He muted the device and focused his eyes on the road once more.

Inuyasha could wait.

Sesshoumaru had much more pressing matters to attend to. He'd been woken abruptly from his slumber forty minutes prior and told to hurry to Sengoku's Central Government Headquarters. An urgent meeting was to be held with the Chief of Defense.

He wondered what issue would deem itself so critical that a private council had to be called at five in the morning on a non-working day. His musings were cut short when he pulled to a stop astride the guard unit at headquarters. He flashed a gleaming name card and put his thumb to azure print scanner to be let through.

He parked in his usual spot behind the storage block of the immense fifty-storey structure that was his work place. He'd liked that it was secluded and had claimed the lot for his own when he'd first taken up his position asYoukai Devision Chief two years ago.

The sun had just begun to break the surface of the horizon as Sesshoumaru headed briskly toward building 1A's lift-lobby. He was surprised to find General Makoto already there and awaiting his arrival. Sesshoumaru immediately grasped that the direness of the situation when he saw the general flanked by not his usual entourage of bodyguards, but by only his head of security Hidetoshi Akio. To Sesshoumaru, this meant the meeting was to be of utmost confidentiality.

Hidetoshi lead the two men into the elevator and inserted his access key into the control panel. Various keycodes were entered before an additional option to travel down to the lowest underground level of the complex became available. Not many people at headquarters knew of this feature. It had been designed during the war to house leaders of importance in the event of nuclear fallout. Sesshoumaru had scoffed at the absurdity of this idea. Saving themselves so they could emerge later on to govern a people that would hate them for their cowardice? He failed to see the point.

Now this place served to provide an environment of privacy for ones who would require it. The elevator doors slid open and the three men stepped out. Makoto motioned for him to enter one of the sound-proof rooms in the vicinity. When the two men were inside, Hidetoshi shut the door and stood watch outside.

General Makoto was a stern man in his late fifties who sported a coarse moustache and head of graying tresses. He had been made Chief of Defence by President Higurashi himself and was now serving his fourth year in that position. His gray eyes met Sesshoumaru's golden ones. Funny how so much about the man was gray. He started speaking.

'I know you are one who does not like to beat around the bush so I'll get straight to the point.'

Sesshoumaru waited for him to continue. How considerate of the man to state the obvious.

'President Higurashi did not die of a heart disease. He was assassinated in his own summer home. The killer was never identified. I doubt he even saw it coming.'

He paused to allow Sesshoumaru to contemplate this bombardment of information. It did not take long. The youkai leader had already had his suspicions, what with the abruptness of the entire situation and the lack of information provided. He motioned for Makoto to continue.

'He'd wanted to take time off to spend with his kids. The lack of privacy irked him. He refused to have an entire brigade of guards trailing after his family, so he'd lessened security. Just one unit was allowed. Almost all personel present at the time were killed trying to protect him.'

If it was possible, Sesshoumaru's gaze became even more serious. An entire unit defeated?

'How many attackers were there?'

If the grave expression on Makoto's face and the hesistation in his voice were any indication, Sesshouaru doubted he'd much like the answer to that question.

'According to surveillance videos and accounts from the general's children. Just one,' the General frowned at the absurdity of it all.

The slight raising of Sesshoumaru's right eyebrow forced him to continue.

'The president was well-protected. Do not doubt it. The guard unit was eight strong, three of whom were, in fact, youkai. Does the name Hizashi Kouga ring a bell?'

Sesshoumaru, though stunned, showed no outward sign of it. He gave a small nod.

'I served with him in the war. Why was this not brought to my attention? Was he killed?'

'As you know we have kept this matter under a tight government leash. Hizashi Kouga was probably the only individual at the scene who was able to actually harm the intruder. It seems that whoever he was, was wearing some sort of protective suit. Weapons were useless against it. The attacker had assassinated the President and been going for the daughter when Kouga confronted him.'

The General sighed and brought calloused fingers up to the bridge of his nose.

'God only knows how but Kouga managed to damage the suit and injure the killer. He seemed to have been scared off after that. Probably didn't count on sustaining any injury at all. However, Kouga took a severe beating in the processand has yet to wake from the ordeal. He is being held in Basement Four of this very building. There was the risk that the assassin might return to finish him off so we needed to keep him under surveillance.'

Kouga hadn't been sent to a hospital. That explained why he had not known about the man's condition. Come to think of it he hadn't heard from the wolf demon in almost a year, ever since he'd started his bodyguarding duties. Sesshoumaru pushed that thought aside. He waited for the general to continue.

Makoto's head had started hurting again. His fingers twitched for a cigar, not so much to smoke, but to feel its familiar weight between them. It was a force of habit; to have something normal, habitual to grasp on to; to keep the inconsistencies of life from getting the better of you. Or at the very least, it helped to alleviate stress.The general pushed his urge aside and met Sesshoumaru's eyes once more.

'However, the fact remains that had Kouga not intervened, Higurashi Kagome and her brother Souta might not be alive right now. This was no young radical. Whoever it was, has certainly been trained to perfection; probably working under someone else's orders.'

'A hired killer?'

'Or a follower of some sort, yes.'

Sesshoumaru went into stoic contemplation mode with head slightly bowed and bangs partially obscuring his distant eyes. Why would someone want the Higurashis' dead? As far as he'd known, the late President was well-loved among humans and demons alike. He'd put an end to prejudice between the two races by willingly fighting side by side with demons in the war. It made little sense. Makoto's voice cut through his musings.

'We believe there are still radical factions out there who desire the segregation of humans and demons. But not everyone knows this.'

This, Sesshoumaru understood only too well. Most of Sengoku's people had struggled through the hardships of war. Many clung to the fervent belief that their hard-earned peace would not simply shatter from under them. This was why it was necessary to hide the true nature of the president's death from the public. The unrest that would haven been caused would likely have been catastrophic otherwise.

President Higurashi had, after all, been a central figurehead to the idea of equality between humans and demons.

'If word of the assisination got out, humans would blame demons because no normal human being would have been able to accomplish what this assassin has accomplished. Demons would retaliate. It could start an internal conflict.'

Sesshoumaru nodded silent agreement.

'So what would you require me to do?'

The general nearly smiled at this.

'Straight to the point, as always.'

The resemblance between Sesshoumaru Taisho and his father were uncanny.

'I'm putting you in charge of the investigation. All possible eye-witnesses were taken care of by the assassin. The Higurashi children aren't of much help since they never actually came into close contact with the killer. The only reliable source we have is lying in a coma six floors up. We still have traces of the assassin's blood that we retrieved from under Kouga's claws. But all DNA testing has pulled up nothing. No files. No matches. Youkai senses would probably be of far more use to this investigation than any technology we could provide.'

'I see. And what of the young Higurashi 's? The assassin might strike again.'

The General waved this off.

'They have already been assigned protection.'

Sesshoumaru once again fell into his quiet musings. In the event that the assassin returned, there was a chance he would not be present at the scene to capture or identify him. In such a case he wouldn't want strangers protecting the General's children. He'd want somebody who understood his investigations. Someone he could trust with his findings. He'd need someone who was strong enough to fend off such a skilled assailant. Someone whose senses worked as similarly to his as possible so he could relay information that Sesshoumaru could understand and use.

This someone his mind was conjuring. He looked awfully similar to…

Sesshoumaru cringed. Inwardly of course. He tried sifting through his thoughts for other alternatives but found none. Kouga had used to be that person. But now, only one other face kept popping up...

'General Makoto. Might I suggest that I assign people of my own choosing to guard the Higurashi children?'

Makoto looked inquisitive.

'Who do you have in mind?'

Sesshoumaru sighed. There was no other choice then. God, how he hated life sometimes.

'My brother, Inuyasha.'