Author's Notes: Okay, at the time I'm writing this, there are a lot of other things I should be doing... but I'm not. I feel like a dumbass for it, but whadda ya gonna do? Getting these thoughts out of my head and on paper, so to speak, makes it easier for me to focus later and eventually get to sleep.
I'm pleased to see so many people happy with the story so far. As you can imagine, there's a distinctive challenge in writing for this one. True sci-fi is about the people, not the techno-babble. And yet I have to write from two very different perspectives. On the one hand, Kagome takes all of the futuristic technology I've dreamed up for granted, so I have to write it in subtly, as if it's perfectly routine. But when I write for Inuyasha, he's seeing this stuff for the first time.
So I have to tread a fine line here and make sure the setting doesn't end up upstaging the characters. Let's see how well I pull that one off.
-x-
Dawn of a New Age
Chapter 3- Trust
Kagome cast a few curious glances at Inuyasha throughout the entire trip home. She could only begin to imagine what had happened to him. Whatever it was must have been pretty traumatic if he was so vehemently opposed to talking about it. She would have to find some way to get him to open up and trust her. But that was going to be easier said than done. It was pretty clear already that he had some pride issues. And waking up from what seemed to have been a rather unpleasant life to discover that fifty years were gone in the blink of an eye was going to rattle anyone's cage.
"Inuyasha," she started carefully.
He just glanced over at her once before staring back out the window, obviously engrossed in all the sights. Hadn't he ever seen a city before? Every passing minute with him just raised further questions.
"Listen," she went on, "I think it would be best if we took a few days at my apartment to get you settled in. This Tuesday we'll take a chance and go out to get you some clothes. Is that okay?"
Inuyasha's response was a simple grunt. "Keh."
"I'm going to assume that meant 'yes,'" Kagome said flatly. They'd only been together for an hour and he was already being a pain in the ass. This was going to be harder than Kagome had first thought.
They pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building and climbed out of the car which Inuyasha still seemed slightly uncomfortable around. Kagome remembered a couple old movies she saw set in the 1980's. Things looked pretty different back then. It must be kind of a culture shock for him.
As they went up the stairs to her floor, Kagome glanced back at Inuyasha as he solemnly followed her. "Make yourself at home when we get in. I'll make us some coffee if you want any. I just want to take a minute to sit and ta-" She was abruptly cut off by a sharp yelp followed by a crash. She whirled around to see Inuyasha sprawled out on the ground face-down in obvious pain.
"Inuyasha are you okay?"
Inuyasha picked himself with some colorful language. "Just tripped," he grumbled. But something seemed to be bugging him. As if he was thinking hard but getting nowhere.
"Okay," Kagome said uncertainly. "Like I was saying, I just want to sit and ta-" She was cut off once again. This time, it was obvious he didn't trip. He practically threw himself to the ground. What the hell was going on here?
After a moment of lying in pain, Inuyasha got up once again. This time, a sudden flash of recognition and realization hit his face and he looked at Kagome in a mixture of irritation, horror, and anger. She felt a little nervous under his gaze until he stood up and brushed himself off. His language was even more colorful than before.
"What just happened?" Kagome asked, completely lost.
"It's nothing," Inuyasha grumbled. "Just... just don't say that word."
"What word?" Now what was he talking about?
Inuyasha paused for a minute. "Sit," he growled out. Saying that obviously was a huge blow to his pride. But it didn't really clarify things. Why shouldn't she say "sit?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her expression and answered the unspoken question. "Everytime you say 'sit' I end up kissing concrete." He then grumbled something that Kagome almost didn't catch. "Like a fuckin' lapdog."
Once again, that brought even more questions. Why did that word cause him to do that? Of course, it seemed he was pretty self-aware of his canine appearance. The way he talked, that "sit" thing must have felt pretty demeaning. Not that she blamed him. But how did this all come about?
"This just brings me back to where I started," Kagome sighed as she moved to her door. "I want to help you, Inuyasha. But until you're ready to talk to me, there's not much I can do." She looked over her shoulder as she got the key to her apartment out and saw Inuyasha giving her a very considering look before their eyes met, at which point he quickly glanced off to the side. Well, that was something like progress anyway.
Kagome slid the key into the hole and hit the button. The lock immediately popped open and she swung the door open into her nice air-conditioned apartment. The furnishing was still a little spartan. The living room had only a sofa and recliner, coffee table, and TV. The kitchen had an open window next to the entryway into it that gave you a full view of the living room. The two bedrooms were off to either side, each with their own bathrooms and closets. Kagome had been planning to turn the second bedroom into a home office, but that would have to wait now.
Remembering to watch her language for the dreaded S-word, Kagome ushered Inuyasha in and shut the door behind her. "I'm going to go make that coffee. You want any?"
Inuyasha seemed to hesitate for a moment before answering. "Sure." He quickly removed the baseball cap Kagome had given him, the one she had been wearing when she went to visit Gramps, and tossed it to the floor as his ears twitched and turned wildly like they were celebrating their sudden freedom from the hat.
Kagome snatched up her hat and proceeded to the kitchen, all the while trying to ignore the huge temptation to once again start rubbing and scratching his ears. "How do you take your coffee?" she asked, looking through the window into the living room. Inuyasha had made his way to the couch and was trying to figure the remote for the TV out.
"Uh... black?" he said, as if unsure of himself. He soon managed to get the TV on and watched the news pretty closely. Kagome saw him leaning forward intently as he watched the anchorman talk about tensions rising in North Africa before moving on to a story about how Senator Cole was going to go into court next week under charges of bribery. Those two stories had been filling the headlines for weeks. Kagome herself was getting a little sick of the latter. How could one corrupt politician be so shocking that they felt the need to continue talking about him even with the possibility of ethnic cleansing in Africa looming on the horizon? That was modern media for you. The only priority or loyalty they had was to The Almighty Dollah.
The coffee was soon finished. Kagome loaded her own full of cream and sugar. Taking coffee black was just too bitter, too strong. It made her want to gag. But some people liked it that way, so whatever. She carried the two mugs out to the living room and sat down beside Inuyasha. She made sure to give him ample personal space, since he didn't seem too comfortable with human contact, and set his mug down in front of him on the table.
He tentatively accepted it and sniffed the contents. He blew on it and sipped slowly. A grimace crossed his face and he blinked a few times before staring down into the mug.
Kagome lifted a brow, slightly annoyed. "I know I don't brew the best coffee in the world, but it can't be that bad."
Inuyasha seemed to be trying very hard to avoid making eye contact. "No, it's just..." At this point he started mumbling and Kagome barely managed to make out what he was saying. "I just never had coffee before."
And it was right back to the questions. Kagome sighed and set her mug down on a coaster. "Look, Inuyasha, I hate to repeat myself, but I hope you can come to trust me because at this point I don't know enough to help you."
Inuyasha sat still for a moment, mulling that over in his mind. His eyes took on a far off quality and he seemed to be seriously considering something. At last he looked over at Kagome, his yellow eyes boring into her as if trying to burn away anything she may have put up to hide the truth from him. "You don't work for the government, do you?"
Kagome raised an eyebrow, but figured it best to answer his question. "No, I only just graduated high school." What did government work have to do with anything?
Inuyasha nodded and went thoughtful for another moment. "Does... does anyone around here know about... about something called..." He almost seemed afraid to finish that sentence. "P-... Project: Moreau?"
Kagome furrowed her brow in thought. "No, I've never heard of it. But that name sounds familiar. I know I heard it somewhere..."
Inuyasha's eyes noticeably widened and tensed up. "W-where?"
Kagome edged away slightly. He was starting to look like a cornered animal ready to fight. She searched her memory for that name. Where had she heard it? Wait... "Now I remember. 'The Island of Doctor Moreau' by H.G. Wells. I had to read that book in high school."
Inuyasha visibly relaxed. He pursed his lips slightly and stared off into space. "So you recognize the name. But you've never heard of a Project: Moreau?"
Kagome shook her head. What did all this mean? These questions were really starting to bug her. "Never heard of it. What is it? Or was, as the case may be."
"I don't wanna talk about it," Inuyasha grumbled, drawing his arms together and clutching his elbows. He sent a glance over at Kagome. "Not yet, anyway."
An uncomfortable silence passed for a moment before Inuyasha chose to break it. "You know, you got a lotta questions about me, but I know almost nothing about you."
Kagome blushed at the realization. She smiled nervously and apologetically. "Sorry. Just ask me anything."
"Okay. How old are you?"
Strange way to start, but okay. "I'm 19."
"Do you have a family?"
"Yes. My mother, grandfather, and younger brother live in a nice little place about half-an-hour from here."
"Are you one of those psions you talked about earlier?"
"Yes. But I'm still kind of growing into my powers."
"Why did you want to live alone?"
Kagome coudln't help but blush at that one. It wasn't something she was prepared for. "I guess I just wanted to be able to live my own life, as hokey as that sounds. Like I just needed to do things for myself now that I could."
This went on for a while. Like an hour. Cold coffee was not helping. Inuyasha questioned everything he saw. He had never seen a flat-panel TV, modern locks, electric cars. He didn't even recognize the coffee machine in the kitchen for one at first, saying the ones in his time looked a lot different. It was cute at first, but it was starting to get old. At least it was getting Inuyasha to ease up a little more.
And then it happened.
"What exactly do you do? What's your job?" The question had been innocent enough.
"Well, right now I work as a waitress at a Japanese theme restaurant. But I really want to be a doctor." And so was the answer.
But Inuyasha didn't seem to think so. His eyes widened in shock and he recoiled as if hit. "What?"
Kagome was feeling very confused right now. What had she said? "Inuyasha, what's wrong?"
"What kind of doctor?" He seemed to be desperately hoping that whatever it was that had come over him was nothing. Like everything depended on her answer.
"Just general medicine," Kagome answered. "You know, work out of a small clinic, doing family work."
There was a long and anxious pause. The tension was almost unbearable. Inuyasha once more looked like a cornered animal, defensive and desperate. Kagome didn't dare make any sudden movements. His clawed hands looked ready to lash out at any second. And neither one of them really seemed to know what to say.
"Do you... do you use knives on people?" Inuyasha asked at last.
"What?" Kagome didn't exactly feel relieved by that.
"Knives. Do you use blades on people? Or needles?"
Blades? Wait, did he mean scalpels? "You mean like surgery? No. No, I don't have the stomach to be a surgeon." She decided to avoid mentioning needles for the time being.
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes in consideration before he looked away again. "Surgery, huh? So that's what they call it."
"Did you have some kind of bad experience with a surgeon in the past?" Kagome asked gently.
There was another pause before Inuyasha looked back at her. "Something like that." It was pretty clear he didn't want to continue their conversation any further than that.
Kagome sighed gently, deciding it was best to just let things go for the time being. Bickering with him wasn't going to do either of them any good right now. "I'll go set up the futon in your room and start dinner," she said absently.
-x-
Inuyasha layed back in the futon staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. Too many thoughts. Most of them about Kagome. She had been the first person to treat him like an equal. She took him in, she offered him room and board, and she didn't even attempt to report him to the authorities. She even knew about his VST and she didn't try to abuse or exploit it.
He wondered if he'd be able to overcome this one like he did the last. God, he hated those things. Whoever came up with the verbal subjugation triggers must have been one sick fuck. What kind of sadistic mind would take so much pleasure in humiliating the Moreaus like that? Naraku, probably. Inuyasha wouldn't put anything past that bastard. Whatever happened to him anyway?
Feh. He'd probably wasted away by now. It had been fifty years. That probably meant that Sesshoumaru was dead, too. Unless they put him in suspended animation as well. And Kikyo was probably dead as well. Thoughts of that woman made Inuyasha's blood boil almost as much as Naraku. And to think that he trusted her.
Strangely, Kagome looked like her. Well, kind of. A little... Okay the resemblance was only a first glance kind of thing. The only reason he made the mistake in the first place was because his senses were still dull from coming out of stasis. Kagome had different eyes and hair. And her scent was much different too, a lot nicer. Not that he would ever admit that out loud. She smelled like... like... Gah. He didn't have nearly enough experience outside to be able to place that scent. Something about it tickled the memories at the back of his mind, but for the life of him he couldn't figure it out. It danced on the edge of recollection, teasing him and taunting him, but always staying out of reach.
Inuyasha flicked his ears once, the only sound in the apartment coming from the air conditioning flowing through the vents. The place was still. He hated it. Stillness reminded him too much of solitary confinement. It seemed that even though he was free, escaping the past was going to be a lot harder than he had imagined.
Sighing in frustration, Inuyasha at last kicked the sheets off and got out of bed. If he couldn't get any sleep, he might as well find something to do other than stare at the ceiling and walls. He was still wearing only the scrubs from the hospital, but that was fine. He had gotten used to wearing things like that.
As he moved to the door, Inuyasha caught a look at himself in the mirror on the dresser. It wasn't that he didn't know what he looked like. Just that he didn't get a chance to see himself very often. He ran a clawed hand over his torso, brushing past parts of him that housed painful memories. His accelerated healing had long ago wiped out the scars. And now that he was free from the Project, it all felt so unreal. It had literally felt like the blink of an eye when Kikyo fastened the restrainer to his chest to when he awoke to see Kagome. But now it seemed so far away. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.
His hand went up to his ears and he frowned slightly. How he hated those things. Whenever the guards wanted to abuse him, that was the first thing they went for. They would have been torn away long ago if it weren't for the fact that all the scars and missing pieces had just grown back in. And it was because of these ears that he would be dependent on Kagome even after he figured out how to get by in this time. Everyone would look at him the same way as his captors had. He wasn't human. In some of their eyes he didn't deserve to live.
But then, why did Kagome treat him so kindly? She had said she wanted to be a doctor. But she didn't act like any doctor he had ever seen. Maybe it was just the ones involved in the Project who did all that? Inuyasha just shook his head. So many questions and not enough answers.
He turned away from his reflection and walked out the door. Pale moonlight poured into the living room through the windows, giving the place an ethereal glow. He made his way to the kitchen and began to search for the cupboard with the glasses in it. Which one had Kagome used? He eventually figured it out and filled one of the glasses with water which he promptly gulped down. It felt kind of strange being able to wander around without fear of punishment. But it was kind of nice, too. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
His ears twitched in the direction of Kagome's room and he stood perfectly still at the sound of her soft footfalls before she opened the door. She came around the corner a moment later and jumped back with a gasp before sighing in relief. "Sorry Inuyasha. I just got used to living alone these last couple days so I'm not used to having company."
Inuyasha just grunted softly in response. He didn't really mind. But what was he supposed to say? He knew from listening to the doctors talk that language was supposed to be really complicated, but they had taught him just enough to scrape by in the Project. It was hard trying to put words to what he was thinking. Then again, it wasn't like he ever really had a whole lot to say. In his conversation earlier today, he had talked more in one hour than he had in a year before.
"You couldn't sleep either, huh?" Kagome asked softly as she got a glass of water for herself. He watched her closely as she crossed from the cupboard to the sink. She was surprisingly graceful. And he had to admit, that she didn't need to try very hard to be beautiful. Even with her hair messed up and dressed in a pair of baggy pants and an oversized shirt, she looked really pretty.
It occurred to him that he wasn't wearing a shirt himself. It elicited a small thrill which raced up his spine. Despite having very little non-hostile human contact, he knew very well what the Four F's of self-preservation were. Feeding, Fighting, Fleeing... and Fucking. There was a part of his mind fixating on that. It was a part of him that didn't deal well with the concept of abstract thought. A part of him that was supposed to be a trump card... A part of him that was easily controlled for the time being.
As Kagome stepped away, he went back to the sink to refill his glass. He spotted her from the corner of his eyes. She was giving his bare upper body a rather appreciative look and a light blush touched her cheeks when she seemed to have caught herself doing so, but she didn't attempt to turn her eyes away. Was she really looking at him like that or was he seeing things? Didn't she find him in the least bit repulsive? Didn't she realize that he wasn't human? Everyone else he had ever known certainly seemed to get it. So what was with her?
He gulped down his second glass of water quickly, hoping childishly that it would wash down the nagging questions and doubts that were starting to catch in his throat. It washed away the symptom, but not the cause. He slowly turned to Kagome who snapped her eyes up to meet his, her blush deepening. "Now what?" he asked.
Kagome gave a light sigh and smiled flatly. "Well, I still have another day off tomorrow. And I know that I won't be getting back to sleep anytime soon. You want to watch a movie?"
Inuyasha had heard about movies before. Moving pictures on a screen in which people pretended to be other people to tell a story. It sounded kind of stupid, but he didn't really feel like arguing with her right now. His mind was just so weary, even though he knew he as far from sleeping as Kagome was. So he simply nodded and followed her into the living room.
The two sat down on the couch and Kagome picked up the remote. She turned on the TV and brought up a colorful menu. "Netflicks," explained. "The TV uses a phone line, and I can contact a company that allows me to buy a movie for one night and watch it right then and there... And it just occurred to me that I need to add the Internet to our lesson plan tomorrow. I don't think it became big until the 90's."
Inuyasha just shrugged. He had no idea what any of this meant, but couldn't really force himself to care at this particular moment. "What movie are we watching?"
"I was thinking Lord of the Rings," Kagome answered. "It's kind of an old movie, but it's new to you, I guess."
Inuyasha just kept quiet and watched. It was some kind of story with a bunch of humans and people with pointy ears and little people with hairy feet and another little person who was just plain hairy who were fighting these ugly looking things for a ring that was supposed to be really powerful and turned people invisible. It wasn't as stupid as he had thought it would be. The people were really good at pretending. Though one thing bugged him. "Kagome, where did they find so many people with pointy ears and stuff for this movie?"
Kagome looked at him confused for a second before she burst out laughing. "That's just make-up Inuyasha. No one really looks like that. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you've never seen movies before?"
Inuyasha just shook his head and looked back at the screen. Well, at least some questions were easier to answer than others. This future world wasn't too bad. Confusing, but not bad. If all movies were like this one, he could get to like them. And if cars were electric now and didn't give off all that exhaust maybe they wouldn't be such a pain to be around. And those instant ramen noodles Kagome made for dinner were pretty good too.
Inuyasha didn't doubt for an instant that learning to catch up with fifty years would be hard. But what he wanted to know the most was what happened to the Project. He could care less what became of the other Moreaus. They weren't his concern. But he did need to know if the whole thing had gone belly-up or not. It was the only way to be sure that he'd ever be free. But if no one had heard of Project: Moreau how could he find out what happened to it and... Why was Kagome getting all giggly over the guy with the bow and the pointy ears? More importantly, why did he care?
Inuyasha sighed inwardly and went back to watching the movie. Thinking really sucked.
-x-
Kagome awoke to feel the sun in her eyes. She stubbornly turned her head in the opposite direction and adjusted herself to get comfortable again. Strange. This didn't feel like her bed. It was comfortable, but in a different way. There wasn't any pillow... And it was breathing.
She snapped her eyes open and lifted her head. Beneath her was Inuyasha in a deep sleep. They were both sleeping on the sofa out in the living room. Kagome immediately felt her face flush. Though whether it was from being in such an awkward position or the fact that she rather liked waking up like this she couldn't tell.
The blush only got deeper when she noticed her hands resting on Inuyasha's chest. He was like one of those statues. Kagome was beginning to feel the urge to explore the rest of his physique which she had admired last night. Of course, that just made her embarassment even worse. Had she really been single that long? It wasn't that Inuyasha was ugly or anything. Quite the opposite. But it didn't really help things to be practically drooling over him. She was supposed to be figuring out where he came from and how she could help him.
Kagome tried to slowly get off of him without waking him. That idea fell flat on its face when Inuyasha just grunted and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her back down to him. He also chose that moment to open his eyes. This of course just opened up a whole can of jellied awkward.
There was a moment of silence as the two stared into each other's eyes before the situation finally sank in. "Gyah!" Inuyasha pushed Kagome off of him and scrambled to the other end of the couch only to slip and fall to the floor in a crumpled heap. Kagome would have felt a little rejected if his attempt at an escape hadn't been so comical.
"I guess we fell asleep watching the movie," she said conversationally, hoping to put Inuyasha at ease again.
He just grumbled something unintelligible and sat with his back against the couch. His ears flicked back and forth a few times before settling. It seemed that talking wasn't one of his strong points. Instead he just sat there sort of sulking and staring at the floor. He had his arms crossed in the strangest way as well. They were hanging very low, almost in his lap. The angle didn't look terribly comfortable. It was almost as if he was trying to hide something.
And then it clicked. Kagome felt her face heat up once more at the realization of what she thought she had felt brush up against her leg when Inuyasha pushed her off of him. "I'm gonna go get a shower and then make us some breakfast," she said hurriedly as she bolted for the bathroom. She shut the door quickly without slamming it and heaved a sigh of relief. Right now, there were two distinct possibilities. Either her first thought was correct and living with Inuyasha for the time being was going to be really awkward, or her second thought was the right one and he just had a case of morning wood. It was going to be a long weekend, that much was certain.
-x-
Author's Notes: Like I said, there are so many things I should be working on instead of this, but I'm not. I hope you people appreciate this because I'm going to be up late finishing the assignments that I procrastinated doing today to finish this chapter. And yes, I'm aware that it's a little randy. Get used to it. This story is going to have a lot more sexual tension than my previous works. It's going to get very risque very often. Sex, violence, and then some.
Anyway, next chapter will get interesting. We meet our antagonist, and shed some light on Project: Moreau. I figure that it's so key to the story, there's no point drawing it out more than a couple chapters.
Now, my reviewers...
Meka-chan: Good to know that I can make expsition sound interesting. Because there's going to be a lot of it in the next couple chapters.
szmadad: Congratulations. You're the only one who got the Moreau reference. The rest of you need to brush up on your classic sci-fi. On a side note, I should give credit where due. I got the idea to call Inuyasha a Moraeu based on the creatures in D20 Modern.
DawnsLight: That's kind of how I felt when I found Price of Freedom. I was all like "Ah, damn. Someone already had that idea." Of course, my storyline follows a much different path with a darker tone, so hopefully no one will think I'm being a hack.
Magellan-chan: Don't worry about going off on a tangent. That's what 90% of my trains of thought do. At least take some comfort in knowing that you'll know what a Moraeu is no later than the end of the month.
Divine-Red-Crayon: Well, maybe not a whole story, but it would be a really great scene. Hell, put that in a movie, I don't care what the rest of the flick is, I'll pay to see that.
DarkRoses217: It's mostly a matter of remembering your dreams. This isn't the first time I've plucked a decent idea out of there. Just the first one I've really taken the time to work with.
Father Malvado: I'm picking up a subtle message about shortness, here. Are we talking Lars Ulrich short or Verne Troyer short?
bluefuzzyelf: Well I did come up with it on the spot. I figured they'd have to restrain Inuyasha to get him in that pod. So how would they do that? And I thought about the arrow and came up with that little devic off the top of my head.
Mukyuu Tenshi: Parts of it will. But aside from some parallels I'm trying to make this an original story.
Mimiko: That's why I don't like soap operas. Gundam Wing alone gave me a headache when I missed one episode. General Hospital will probably kick my head open.