Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, just a very heavy biology book that I should be studying.
A/N: Here's the next installment. Let me know if there is any serious under developed elements coz I often seem to forget the important things and go off on the wrong tangent.
Kikyo appears in next chapter! And I will not have a lot of Kikyo bashing. Just a mild bit coz I think that Kikyo is horribly misunderstood.
Onto the story…
Chapter 3: The Golden Stranger.
Inuyasha swung the knife aiming for the creamy slender neck in front of him when he felt a strange sensation in his hand, the one that was holding the girl steady. The soft tingling sensation soon turned into a jolt of electricity that raced through his body burning the very blood in his veins.
He threw his head back and screamed, letting go of the girl and landing on the kitchen floor with a loud thud. He felt his body go numb as the electricity subsided in his body letting him gain control of the body-wracking convulsions that were taking hold of him.
He hoisted himself off the floor when his right hand throbbed painfully and he fell back to the ground with a barely concealed hiss. He gingerly pulled the black glove off of his wounded appendage to assess the damage.
His skin was red and blistering in places and his claws were practically non-existent, as they had been turned into human nails.
What the fuck? Inuyasha wondered as he experimentally flexed his wounded fingers, flinching at the pain brought on by the small movement.
That girl did this to me? That girl… His head snapped up when he realized that she wasn't with him anymore. Fuck.
Ignoring the pins and needles that were reminding him of the body numbing experience he had just had, he dashed for the living room watching with mild satisfaction when the girl pulled at the door and then pulled again.
He stood there, leaning on the doorframe as the girl, completely unaware that the assassin was awake and watching, picked up a chair and then after a moment's hesitation, threw it at the door.
The chair bounced off the hard wood surface and clattered to the floor. He watched as she grabbed a vase and threw it at the window in the living room. With lightening speed, he grabbed the vase before it could make contact with the glass and did any damage and looked at her with intense golden eyes.
She shook visibly and then turned around and raced for the door in a last attempt to get it to open.
"It's locked." Inuyasha said calmly as fear flashed through the girl's eyes and she looked between him and the door to the hall. Having made up her mind, she ran for the door, but was grabbed halfway there by the assassin. He wrapped his arm around her middle and hoisted her off the floor.
"What do you want from me?" She breathed out as she struggled against him with renewed fervor.
"I just want to kill you." Liar. You have to kill her.
"No please." She whimpered and then elbowed him in the ribs making him drop her.
Damn, she's good. He thought as he grabbed his chest. Just the way I like 'em.
Wait. Where did that come from?
He watched her run with mild fascination. He knew he was just delaying the inevitable, but who said that she couldn't escape?
But if she did escape, that'll be four marks on his flawless record. Can't have that now, can we?
He walked calmly towards the door that she had taken, watching her run into an open door and then slam it closed. He winced, that had to damage the door somehow. Hope it doesn't come off is paycheck.
"Come out now, Kagome." He said the name in a mocking tone, which was bound to get her riled up. "Running is useless. Come out here where I can sharpen my claws on you."
He stilled and listened carefully and heard heavy breathing. He took out a pocketknife, wincing when he used his wounded hand to pull it out.
"Damn." He said as he used the pocketknife to pick the lock on the door and letting it swing open. Keeping his injured hand close to his body to avoid any contact with any material. He pushed the door open with a well-placed kick to the wooden door.
"Damn!" He yelled when he saw the window open and the girl gone. "Fuck! Damn!" He cursed again and leapt for the window.
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She ran blindly, without a destination. Any place would be good as long as she was away from him. Not that she planned to stay away for too long because she had a revenge to take care of. He had killed her parents and that couldn't go unpunished.
But first, she had to survive to exact revenge.
She jumped over a fallen branch and then ducked with a squeak to miss a low hanging branch. Her feet landed noisily on the dirt that filled the grooves between the tree roots but she didn't care.
She didn't even understand completely what had happened in the past 24 hours. She had been kidnapped, brought into the middle of nowhere… only because she mildly looked like someone important… and then tried to have been killed.
Not today. Today Kagome Higurashi will make sure that she survives, come hell or high water.
She felt something move behind her and she turned around suddenly, going absolutely still. She didn't dare breath lest it give away her position. She took a hesitant step back trying to keep herself from making any noise at all.
One step back, then another, she continued retreating into the dark forest. Something leapt out at her and she screamed and stumbled back, tripping over a root and falling into something chilly and wet.
A dark shadow appeared from the trees, his golden eyes shimmering with amusement.
"It's a cold night wench. This is not a very good time to take baths."
She tried to find a solid grip in the slippery mud under her fingers to give herself the support to hoist herself upright but her hands connected with something cold and slimy.
She shrieked when it moved and her other hand gave out from under her. She fell down again with a splash.
The assassin waded into the swamp and then placed his hands roughly on her shoulders, picking her up from the water and throwing her over his shoulder as though she were a sack of potatoes.
"Put me down, if you know what's good for you…"
Inuyasha smirked at the empty threat. "And what are you going to do about it?"
"I will… I will hurt you. I swear!"
He stayed quiet as he kept his wounded hand close to himself, trying to keep it away from the chilly air. It burned every time it made contact with the cold night air.
"Not this time wench. Not this time."
Then with lightening speed, he ran towards the house, not stopping until he was in the bedroom. He threw her onto the floor, ignoring her indignant squeak of "hey!"
"There are some dry clothes in the closet, and the bathroom's to your left. Dry up."
Kagome stared at him wide eyed. "Weren't you going to kill me?"
He turned around, his eyes shone with irritation. "Are you that desperate to die?"
Taken back, she answered weakly, "No."
"Then dry up. It's cold outside, you'll fall sick otherwise."
She followed his orders quietly. She would be damned if she let her only chance of surviving pass out from between her fingers. Backstabbing can take place later.
Not to mention she really needed that bath. She stank.
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Inuyasha heard the shower start and with a sigh he removed his mask. The skin of his face tingled with the onslaught of cold air and he wearily rubbed a hand over it. His right hand was still burnt thanks to that girl and it was hurting badly.
That's what confused him to no limit. One, how did the girl hurt him without using a weapon? Two, why wasn't it healing at his normal demon speed?
He idly popped a blister with his normal hand and watched the thin liquid run down his palm. It hurt, no doubt. But he had endured much worse. He'll live.
Why had he not killed the girl? What was so special about her? Why couldn't she be 'just another girl'?
Stop asking yourself all these questions. You know exactly why.
Inuyasha frowned at the voice in his head. "No I don't. I don't know why I can't kill her."
Maybe if you say it enough times, it'll come true.
"Shut up."
Then come to terms with your inner demons, Inuyasha. Why?
"I don't know. I just… well… she's just a young girl."
Age never posed a problem before.
Inuyasha stayed silent.
You still love her don't you? Even after what she did to you. You still love her.
"No I don't." He snarled at the unseen enemy. "I don't love her anymore. I never did."
Then kill her.
Lazily he grabbed a roll of white bandage and wrapped his hand with it to keep it from hurting when he touched anything.
"In time. I will. But in time."
You won't.
"Watch me."
The sound of the shower stopping and he pulled the mask over his head. He hated that mask. But he would rather die than have anyone see his face because then he would kill him or her to save himself. He shook his head. That was just an excuse. He didn't want anyone to see his face because… because the last time someone had seen him, he had suffered greatly for it.
He would be damned if he allowed that to happen again.
Her heard the girl's feet move from the bathroom and enter the bedroom. She saw him sitting on the bed and shrieked again, the sound grating on his sensitive ears.
"Do you mind, wench?" He asked angrily. She pulled her white shirt tighter around herself, presenting a very flattering figure, and then self-consciously moved towards the side of the bed he was sitting on.
He let his eyes wander over her body as she moved towards him. She was wearing a white shirt that was too large on her and clung to her skin in places where it was still wet. His eyes explored her body with a mind of their own, taking in her long creamy neck and the slight rise of her collarbone. He noted the swell of her breasts under the light cotton shirt and then her long slender legs that took timid steps into the room.
"What do you want from me?" She asked him softly but sternly.
"Why do you ask? I let you live didn't I?"
"Why? And if you don't want to kill me… which I think you do… why don't you take me back?"
"Because if I did then they would kill you."
"Who are 'they'?"
"People. You are already dead to the world. Knowing them, they probably even cooked up a story for your death and you probably even have a death certificate and a grave for all I know… and care."
"I am dead? I can never see my friends? And go to school? And study for exams?" Tears started pooling in her eyes and then some spilled over.
"Join the club. I am dead to the world. I never had any friends. School taught me to kill and my exams included how easily I escaped."
"Doesn't it get lonely?" She asked forgetting for once that she was talking to an assassin and the murderer of her parents.
"What?"
"Lonely? Don't you get lonely? Without any friends and family? You do have a family right?"
"No wench. I do not have a family. I do not get lonely and I never had any friends so I never feel lonely in the first place."
"Do you have a girlfriend then?" She blurted without thinking.
Inuyasha regarded her with curiosity. "A girlfriend? No wench. I do not have a girlfriend."
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?" He snapped. Fuck! The woman never shut up! "Look at me! I am an assassin. I kill people. I don't love. I kill. I am a murderer not a lover. That's why I don't have a girlfriend."
"Did you ever have a girlfriend?"
His face was covered with a mask and so she couldn't see his expression clearly, but his eyes spoke volumes of what he was feeling. His normally bright and sparkling gold eyes dimmed and clouded over with something akin to sadness and regret.
He stood up suddenly, moving to leave the room letting the question hang in the air. At the doorstep, he tilted his head to the side and answered so softly that Kagome thought she had imagined it. "No. I never had a girlfriend. I am incapable of love."
And he left, closing the door quietly, not slamming it like she would have expected.
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"Is she dead?" A smooth voice drifted over the telephone line grating on Inuyasha's nerves. Needless to say he hated this man very, very much.
"Yes."
"How did you kill her?"
"Does it matter? She's dead to the world, isn't that enough?"
"My, my Inuyasha. You certainly took a liking to Kikyo's look alike." The silky voice drifted over the phone.
"She looks nothing like Kikyo. It was a mistake. It has been rectified."
"How did you kill her?"
"Knife through the throat."
"Did she scream?"
"How the fuck does that matter?"
"It does matter Inuyasha. Now did she scream?"
"Yes she screamed! She screamed herself raw and bloody."
"I see."
"How did she die?"
"Mugged and then killed. I even added a little spice to this one."
"What are you talking about?"
"I even had the report say she was raped."
"Fuck you asshole."
"Now, now Inuyasha. It would not do to lose your temper with someone stronger and above you."
"Anything else that you needed?"
"Yes. Kikyo is reaching there tomorrow morning probably around noon. Make sure all the blood is removed. It will upset her a lot otherwise. Good night Inuyasha."
"Fuck you Naraku."
"As always, it's been a pleasure doing business with you."
The phone line went dead and Inuyasha slammed the phone down on the machine so hard that it was a miracle it didn't shatter.
"I'm hungry." His new charge's voice drifted into the living room.
"Then go to the kitchen wench. Do I look like a fucking vending machine to you?"
"You could be nice about it. And don't call me wench."
"Keh! I'll do as I please. And if you want to live then you will do as I say too."
"Try and make me."
He narrowed his eyes at her, sending her his coldest glare yet. It didn't affect her.
"You know you have really pretty eyes."
"What?" He questioned, his eyes going wide. Pretty? Him? No way!
"You have pretty eyes. But you keep glaring every time I make eye contact and they don't look as pretty anymore. You should not glare so often." Inuyasha frowned at her answer and self-consciously tucked a stray silver strand that had escaped its bind and was now glittering against his dark sweater. He always kept his hair hidden as well. Actually, he tried to keep all his demonic features concealed. It provided him a sort of security.
"Keh! Listen wench. Kikyo's coming next morning. It'll do you good to not exist while she is around. Once this assignment is over, and she is gone… I'll figure out what to do with you."
"What do you mean 'I don't exist'? How will I do that while in the same house as her?"
"I don't know. Figure it out if you are so smart."
"Take me back home then."
"You want to die wench?"
"No."
"Then I will not take you back home. Understood?"
"No. Where would I live then?"
"You know the story of Adam and Eve?"
Kagome raised an eyebrow at his question. "Relevance?"
"Just answer the damn question."
"Yes."
"Where did they live?"
"Before or after the snake?"
Inuyasha gave up. "The forest. You will stay in the forest until this assignment is over." He yelled, pointing a gloved finger in the general direction of the forest.
If possible, the Kagome's eyebrow shot even higher. "Forest?"
"Yes wench. Do I have to repeat everything I say?"
"You expect me to live in the forest?" She said crossing her arms.
Inuyasha released a very long, annoyed breath, trying to keep his temper in check. Needless to say, the girl continued oblivious to the frustration of her less than stable companion.
"How long will your assignment take?"
"I dunno. Weeks?"
"Take me home."
"You know," Inuyasha said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "You are nothing like Kikyo."
"I could've told you that." Kagome said a little irate at being compared to that heartless princess.
"No, no. You are nothing like Kikyo. She is a lot more understanding and easier to talk to." He smirked inwardly at the indignant squeak that issued from the girl in front of him.
Kagome huffed. "What's your name?"
"Sorry, can't tell ya. Even Kikyo didn't know that one."
"Then what am I supposed to call you?"
"Assassin should do."
"That is lame."
"Then call me anything." He turned around; walking towards the bedroom for god knows what reason, leaving her alone in the living room.
"Call you anything?" She mused over the thousands of possibilities that presented themselves. "Kinanashi." She whispered to herself.
A/N: About the name… I went through a number of websites on Japanese names and meanings and found that 'Kin' means 'Golden' while 'Nanashi' means 'without a name'. I put the both of them together and got something like 'Kinanashi', which according to me should mean 'The golden one without a name'. Sorry if it gets a completely different meaning after messing around with it. Let me know if that's not what it means since his name WILL play an important part later in the story.
Thanx!
