Mission Completed - Chapter 7
Disclaimer:
Sakura's Note: I know you are all very angry… and for good reason. But, I'm back and a freshman in a school of 3700! Updates will hopefully speed up soon, because now that I'm completely used to my school I'm ready for anything. I apologize, and I know how it feels to love a story and then not hear from the author forever… I've cursed silently at many an author because of the very same thing.
Anyway, thank you for waiting, even if you didn't review. Enjoy this chapter.
Note: Since (bless their hearts) can't seem to get the dividers right, I am always trying to find new ways to make them work. Ergo, this time they are -.-. My favorite equal signs and underscores no longer work.
-.-
Chapter 7: The Youth of Today
Raindrops larger than pennies smashed against the windowpane with a steady beat. The redhead standing there was silhouetted by the moonlight, making her look like a grounded angel. Kouga noticed this the moment he entered the dark room. Her office was dreary, and without her there to light it up, he would have thought it was a morgue.
"Ayame?"
He noticed that she jumped at his voice. That in itself was strange; she should have known he was coming long before he even touched the door handle.
"Yes, Kouga?" She turned, dark circles under her eyes and her hair disheveled.
"Gods, Ayame… you look like shit." Kouga ignored the huffy look she gave him. "Are you feeling ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She muttered, going back to look out the window.
Kouga sniffed the air, cursing the fact that the hanyou agent had a better nose when it came to feelings. "Even the humans have noticed something's up with you… Why can't you tell me?"
Ayame was shaking on the inside. What would he do if he found out? "Well… Hon, I can't tell you something that doesn't exist." She laughed self-consciously. Her eyes were burning with tears. "I'm fine."
Like I'm gonna believe that… He sighed, taking a step towards her. "Why are you hiding this from me? Do… do you want to break up with me?"
"I'm not…! I don't want to break up with you!" A rigid gasp went through her right before she broke down into tears and crumpled onto the floor.
Kouga was a second to late to catch her, so instead he sat down next to her, cupping her cheeks in his hands. "Ayame… what the hell is going on?" She shook her head, burying it into his chest. "Aya-"
"I went to the doctor…" she blurted.
Kouga's eyes widened. This couldn't be good.
-.-
Maybe it was because they were now coated in brown goo, or because the rain was pouring and the thunder was rolling overhead, that this was romantic. But, personally, Kagome had a feeling it was romantic because it was Inuyasha.
Finally they both remembered a little thing called oxygen and were forced to break away, and when they did reality settled back in… yet it wasn't as scary as it seemed.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha looked up at her with a mix of emotions in his eyes.
How he managed to put so much feeling into one word, her name especially, she would never know. In just one word he could express more than a poet. Kagome just gave a small smile, lifting up out of his embrace to kneel on her knees in the sod. "Sorry."
"What are you apologizing for?"
Kagome shook her head. Did he want this as much as she did? Did he even like her in that way at all? Her actions might have just caused the small bond they did have to crumble… it was her fault. "Everything."
"Keh!" Once again, the single word was filled with emotion. "I don't get it! I responded, didn't I?" He ran a clawed hand through his sopping wet hair, retracting it to find it almost totally covered in mud. This seemed so simple to him…
The raven-haired woman took in a deep breath, calming her nerves. She needed to keep a level head right now. "Do you… did you want it to happen?" She looked up, shocking him with the magnitude of the look in her azure orbs.
He studied her face carefully, trying to figure her out. Then, without warning, he smirked at the smears of mud all over her face. It was amazing how beautiful she looked even with the grime covering her head to toe. "I'll say this again. I responded, didn't I?"
"But you can't say it." Kagome murmured, clasping her hands together in her lap.
"Since you've known me I haven't been good with words. Do you know what it's like to have a life like mine, having to hide your identity from everyone?" Inuyasha shot her a glare, "And I don't want your pity. Pity will do nothing for me except make me want to throttle someone…… You can't except my answer the way it is, can you?"
Kagome recognized she was crying by the heated drops running down her face, contrasting to the freezing ones from above. "I just wanted to hear you say it." She whispered, brushing the hair out of her face. The agent frowned at the mud that she wiped off as well, but that was the least of her worries. "I wanted to hear you say you wanted it as much as I did."
Inuyasha opened his mouth to object but she gave him a look that silenced any objections.
"I won't have the guts to bring this up again, Inuyasha. So this is your one chance to answer me." She took a deep breath, locking gazes with him. "Just… drop the walls you've built around yourself for a minute and stop worrying about saying what you feel making you weak. I'll never think of you that way." Her eyes pleaded what she couldn't find the words to say. Please, Inuyasha…
-.-
Naraku simmered, his eyes darting around in the darkness trying to locate some means of escape. "Damn that boy…" he muttered, changing his search to one of water. There was a crack that leaked water in the wall somewhere… if he could just find the moldiest part.
"Don't drink that."
Naraku's hand shot away from the damp wall like it was a hot coal. He turned his head, his eyes focusing in the dark on a figure in the corner of another part of the basement. "Keh."
"Don't ever use that word." The tone she used wasn't one he was used to, and it took him a moment to realize why she was so disgusted.
"Why is it you sound like someone's mother?" Naraku shot back calmly, "Is it because you miss a certain deformity?"
"I don't miss him for tossing me out the window like a bag of trash." Kikyo stood, limping over to the cell with a stern glare. "Here." She shoved a jar full of water in between to cell bars then slid down onto the floor. "I refuse to die alone. If you die first from licking mold then that will surely happen."
"Where did you get this?"
"From the leak over there. They use the jar to catch rain water that leaks in from the yard." Kikyo nodded weakly, eyeing the scars marring her legs. That glass had left her with too many to count… yet she had. All five hundred of them. Amazingly, though, her face only received one long scratch down the right side, which had almost totally faded away without a trace. "I was not locked up like you were."
The door flew open and a black haired man trotted down the steps. "What are you doing over there? Trying to pick the locks?"
"The locks are welded into a metal blob, imbecile." Was Kikyo's monotone reply. She looked him in the eye; waiting for the slap she knew was coming.
Instead she was kicked, picked up, and thrown into the corner. "Do you really want to die?"
Kikyo regained her composure, mentally crying in anguish, and readjusted her glare in the man's direction. "Whatever."
There was a plastic wrapped object thrown at her, which she caught swiftly, and then one was thrown to Naraku in his cell. "Your weekly meal… dad."
Naraku's head shot up at the mention, glaring full heartedly at the dark-haired man standing only inches out of reach. "Damn you to hell, Musou. Had I realized you'd be a complete waste of a test tube you would still be a cell running through my veins!"
"Horrid place, that was." Musou shook his head sadly, "Well, I've got to be going. Plans to dominate the earth are hard to come by these days."
"Especially with your mind doing the thinking…" Kikyo muttered as he slammed the door at the top of the stairs. But then again, there is your other, much smarter brother…
-.-
Kouga stared at her, looking a bit worse for wear himself. She was still in his arms, having fallen asleep a while ago from exhaustion. She said it would get more and more common for her to be tired as the days went on.
"What do you mean, airborne?" Kouga looked at Ayame in disbelief, not able to comprehend that his Ayame was in danger.
"They said that there was an airborne disease in the helicopter. It takes a while to show itself, but when it does there is little they can do about it. Naraku must have placed some kind of toxin in there and when it exploded…"
She sounded so weak and helpless, like a lamb that was cornered. Why? Why is this happening, Ayame?
"Kouga… you're shivering…" Ayame mumbled, "Are you alright?"
Was he alright? She was the one that was sick! "There has to be a cure!"
"They said they can find one… but it'll take time they don't think I have. Once it's past a certain stage it's too late."
"Sometimes something is meant to be." Kouga turned in surprise, seeing an old woman standing there with an unreadable look on her face. "But this… is not one of them. I have yet to meet you, but I have heard good things from young Ayame."
"No disrespect, but who are you?" Ayame stirred from the voices, but her eyes kept closed and her breathing stayed steady.
The elderly woman gave a sad smile, "My name is Kaede. I trained Inuyasha and Sango for their mission with Naraku. I see you were pulled into the case as well – you and that dear child you're holding now."
"She's going to die… all because she was too stubborn to let the others handle their own case." Kouga growled, "If anyone is to blame it's– "
"Naraku." Kaede finished, "I knew you were to say Inuyasha and the others."
"But they dragged her into this mess! She would not have been anywhere near Naraku's helicopter had they done their job right in the first place!"
"Did they ever ask Ayame for her help, or was it she that flew to Japan to help her agents? She has a good heart, and would never risk one of her own dying because she wasn't there to prevent it. No matter how much they would have told her to leave, she wouldn't have budged. They would have been undermining her authority, as well, something they respect her too much to do." Kaede shuffled over, placing a hand on the young man's shoulder.
"Naraku made them go. Naraku ruined all four of their lives. Naraku killed, stole, and made them leave a normal life behind to protect others from him. Naraku owned the helicopter. Naraku put the disease inside it. Naraku is dead now, but the scars he left behind haven't faded. If you must blame anyone, blame him. But, for now, be there for this girl. There is still hope for the cure to come through, very likely actually. Faith and time… faith and time…"
Kouga opened his mouth, but found no reason to argue with her. Kaede smiled genuinely this time, "I always loved young love…" With a chuckle, probably from age-old memories, the trained left the room.
-.-
Miroku was off getting them food, or stuffing his face and not bringing anything, she didn't know which. Since the database had not registered any other offspring of Naraku in the fingerprint analysis program she had tried the DMV. That had come up with a dead end and a very frustrated woman.
Sango had asked her brother. He'd been with Naraku long enough to know how many detachments the demon had made. But, when she asked, she found that he didn't.
"I was under his control, but unless the offspring were assassins, I never met them. He did mention a few others, though."
So Sango had resorted to desperate measures…
She'd googled it.
Imagine her surprise when she'd gotten more information on the world's largest search engine than using their own resources.
A very chipper agent entered the room, arms full with the bounty of a few different vending machines. "I brought everything from soda to Cheezits."
"Great!" Sango groped around for the closest cellophane-wrapped snack, using her free hand to click on a promising link. "I think I found something here…"
"Really?" Miroku perked up, sitting down next to his girl as he munched on a snickers. "What?"
Sango brought up a screen she had open, allowing the other agent to see. It was in black and white, with the many grays in between, but there was definitely three figures, one with the long curly tendrils of jet black hair that belonged to Naraku.
"Who had this?"
"Some message board… they were rambling on and on about assassins and the black market. One of them posted this. Member name, Nefarious Ninjas – don't ask." Sango pointed to the two smaller figures in the shot. "Look here, you've a better eye than me… can you distinguish some traits?"
Miroku leaned in closer, happy to rest his hand on Sango's upper thigh. With an angry glare his hand relocated to the arm of her chair, the agent giving a nervous chuckle. "Sorry, Sango, but it's hard to resist!"
Sango blushed, "Just… look at the picture."
"You should really learn how to be a little nicer to me… it's hard to concentrate with you so close and all." Sango shot him another glare. "O-kay. The picture, right. It looks to me there's someone with black hair and one with white like Inuyasha's… couldn't they be Kagura and Juuroumaru?"
"They could be, but look there." Sango gestured to a calendar tacked up on the wall in the hallway, seen clearly through the glass window that separated the hall and Naraku.
"It's recent… maybe a month or so before we attacked! If they're still out there, could they be taking over their 'dad's' company?"
"Seems like a possibility." Sango nodded, looking over at him, her eyes glimmering with tears. "I thought we were done with him… but even in death he still finds a way to make life miserable."
-.-
A car zoomed by, thinking nothing of the sleek sports car pulled over to the side of the road. Mud splattered off the path, coating the tall grass in brown sludge.
The two had been sitting there for a moment, Kagome only staying because she could see he was working his way up to something. His mouth opened again, making her breath catch in her throat. But, like all the other times, it closed again, his eyes searching every nook he could find in her eyes.
"…yes."
It was whispered, but she could still hear it. "Yes?"
He kehed, making sure to keep some semblance of his usual self. "It's what I've been saying all this time, Kagome… I wanted it too" Inuyasha shot her a glare, trying to see what she would say. Yes, she had said she'd wanted it just like he had, but the memories with Kikyo still haunted him, made him over think his answer.
But this isn't Kikyo… this is Kagome…
Kagome started to laugh. Really laugh. Whole-hearted laughter that rang in his ears.
His ears flattened, and his eyes lost their golden shine. She was… laughing at him?!
"I'm so happy!" Kagome admitted, a huge smile on her face.
Inuyasha found himself smiling, too. Whoever said smiles weren't contagious had never seen Kagome's.
Suddenly a hand was flying toward him, and the next thing he knew he was lying face down in the mud. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" Kagome berated, "Do you know what I went through? Wondering everyday if you cared about me or not?"
"You? What about me, huh? Why didn't you tell me sooner? I was asking myself the same damn questions all the time during those three months. Then you come here and confuse the hell outta me… Gods woman, I'm a guy – I don't read in between the lines."
Kagome couldn't help but giggle at his bold confession, "I've noticed." One of her hands reached out, grabbing his. "Why do I still feel like you're not telling me something?"
How did she…? Inuyasha looked at their two joined hands and shook his head. "It's weird." Kagome adorably cocked her head to the side in confusion. "I know how you feel… but I still can't say it." I love you, Kagome.
She seemed to understand. It didn't surprise Inuyasha because in his philosophy girl's read between the lines better than he did. "I can relate…"
That caught him off guard. "You can?"
"Yeah… I can." She smiled, "But it doesn't matter, not right now, anyway. We're here, right? We've finally told each other what the others were dying for us to tell each other. Sango will be almost as happy as I am!"
Inuyasha smiled, "I know she will."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, their hands still interlocked, until a question formed on Kagome's lips. "Inuyasha? What… are we?"
"Keh. You're mine and I'm yours now. You mean you didn't figure it out until now?" He let out a light chuckle, "Weird to say it after all this time."
"Does that mean we'll stop arguing and just cuddle everywhere we go?"
Inuyasha scrunched up his nose in distaste. "No fights?"
Kagome nodded her head, albeit sadly.
"Well where the hell would the fun be in that?" Inuyasha asked, "We'd be some happy little poster couple… never fighting, always agreeing with each other." He shivered. "I'm not ready for that."
"Neither am I."
They slowly moved their eyes up, smiling wholeheartedly. Right now, there was no SJH, there was no past with Kikyo. Every reason they'd kept silent was erased for the time being, right now, they were together. That was all that mattered.
The theme song from Spiderman sounded.
-.-
"Have you gotten a hold of him yet?" Miroku shook his head.
"Yo. You've reached me, but I'm doing something more important right now. Say what ya want after the beep."
Miroku frowned at nothing in particular, hanging up and auto redialing their temperamental hanyou partner.
-.-
"Where's that coming from?" Kagome released Inuyasha's hand, coming out of her love induced stupor, to try and locate the catchy techno tune.
Inuyasha blushed. "It's my phone."
Kagome smirked. "You liked Spiderman the animated series?"
"The theme song is cool!" Inuyasha insisted, patting his jean pockets. "It must have fallen out during our… um…"
"Kissing session?" Kagome watched in pleasure as Inuyasha's cheeks heated more. Kagome –
one, Inuyasha –
zero.
"Just help me find it, woman!" He scooped up a great blob of mud, throwing it at his already thoroughly covered partner, before parting the mess in search of his phone. The ringtone stopped. Inuyasha paused. The ringtone started again. Inuyasha's ears twitched in succession.
"Inuyasha! Where are you? Inuyasha, answer us! Kagome left an hour ago to find you, we're worried that she's out in the rain somewhere. You better not be demon… INUYASHA!"
Said hanyou's ears flattened against his skull, blocking out the shrill scream of the angered Sango.
"Inuyasha, answer this phone right now or I swear I'll– "
Kagome tossed him the phone, letting him catch it deftly in his right hand. "Hello?"
"Inuyasha! Thank God you're alright! We thought you were out there getting killed –
killing your brother! Have you seen Kagome?"
"Do you honestly think I didn't hear that bullshit threat you just screamed at us?" Inuyasha asked dryly, trying and failing to remove mud from underneath his claws.
"Well, I don't – US? Where are you?"
"I'm sitting on the side of the highway covered in mud from head to toe with a certain girl that can't seem to keep her wonderful little hands off of me." He grinned smugly at the cherry flush staining Kagome's cheeks. Ah, an even score.
"You're what?!" Sango screeched. He could just see it now: Sango screaming shrilly into the phone, knuckles white, pulling her hair out, with Miroku commenting how sexy she looked from the sidelines. "How dare you be out with someone when we're all here worrying ourselves to death? Kagome is out there right now trying to find your sorry ass, and if you don't go out and find her this minute then today will be forever remembered as the day you could no longer be considered a man!"
Inuyasha visibly winced. "Whoa, whoa, whoa Sango! Calm down. I want you to talk to someone." He handed over the phone to Kagome, glad to get away from the huffy woman on the other end, and heaved a sigh of relief.
"Hi Sango-chan." Kagome, chipper as always… "What's up?"
"Kagome?"
"Yep. How are you? Sorry that I worried you two, but I couldn't let Inuyasha go out and do something he'd regret…"
"Kagome?"
"You said that already."
"So, Inuyasha was trying to fool us! That lying dog…"
Kagome blinked, a playful smile on her face. "No, he was telling the truth. Every word. By the way, should I just deem these clothes garbage or is there a chance at salvation for them, because right now they are totally brown with mud."
"…I'll see what I can do." Sango cleared her throat before frantic yells probably directed at Miroku could be heard. "InuyashaandKagomearefinallygettingtogether!" – pant – "Makingoutinmud…somewhere!"
Both mud covered agents blushed.
"Inuyasha, you ol' sly dog, you!" Miroku's ecstatic voice praised. "I hate to break up your dirty little rendezvous but we need you to visit Kagura."
"We were not having a dirty little rendezvous!" Inuyasha growled, snatching the cell phone out of Kagome's hands.
"I beg to differ. You're both dirty right?"
Inuyasha eyed the phone suspiciously. "Define what you mean by dirty."
"You're both covered in mud?"
"I knew that!"
"And you were making out, right?"
"W-we don't have time for this!" Kagome yelled, snatching the phone back, "Why do we need to see Kagura?""Because Kagura and the others might know about the other detachments Naraku created. The fingerprint definitely does not belong to any of the people under Sesshoumaru's roof. But, it is related to Naraku. One of them is bound to know.""Why can't you just call them up and ask?" Inuyasha asked, crossing his arms haughtily. "Why do I have to go ask them in person?"
"Why can't you go ask them in person?" Miroku countered, feeling proud for thinking something like that up. "Oh, and by the way… How is she?"
"I'm still holding the phone, Miroku." Kagome hissed.
"Well then… see ya." Before either could respond to Miroku's latest perverted remark, he was gone.
-.-
Kagura yawned, stretching languidly underneath the red silken sheets. Sesshoumaru, the ever stoic dog demon, was snoring softly next to her, his arm wrapped securely around the wind sorceress' slim but strong build. It was hours after the little fire incident in the kitchen, and Jaken was still nowhere to be found, yet the house still smelt like charred dinner foods.
Just as Kagura was beginning to drift back off into oblivion a cheerful tune drummed through the house, causing two pairs of eyes to snap open.
Sesshoumaru eased Kagura behind him – lightening fast – and glared at the door, using his nose to identify the visitors. "He will die." With that, the ex-assassin grabbed up his robe and stormed out of the room, leaving his wife half asleep and confused in their bedroom.As he neared the door, he could make out the rustling of fabric coming from their room, meaning his wife would be right behind him in five, four, three, two –
"Why is your brother and that girl here so early in the morning?" Kagura asked fiercely, upset at having to leave his embrace so early. Her sense of smell, although enhanced, was lesser than his, and could only now make out the two significant smells of Inuyasha and Kagome enough to tell who they were.
"I haven't the slightest idea." Sesshoumaru growled, rushing down the stairs at his demon pace.
Jaken was slinking out from the library, heading to answer the door, when the two entered the main hallway. "A thousand apologies, Master Sesshoumaru! Because I burned down most of the kitchen once again, please allow me to answer the door…" Kagura smirked knowingly at the dwarf of a demon, but her husband glared classy daggers.
Jaken jumped up to reach the door handle, cursing his height, and then drew it back to see who it was.
Inuyasha and Kagome stood there, both of them looking like there was a big chance they had been dragged through a swamp on their way over.
"…And allow me to close it."