"What the fuck?" She yelled angrily, prepared to defend her self. When she saw the two large men and the thin guy in the suit, the youth realized she had no chance. "You've failed us." The thin man spoke quietly. "I killed him!" The thin man slapped her hard across the face and she hit the deck. "You idiot! You killed his brother!" Kikyo's mind went blank. There was nothing she could do but try and survive this. "We should kill you for this. However, I'm a fair guy, and seeing how it was a honest mistake, they did look quite similar, and the fact that the cops aren't on to us, I'll let you off easy." He smiled. Kikyo steeled her self for what she knew was about to happen. She had been through this before. A shoe slammed into her ribs.
A lone figure stood under the highway overpass, rain came down in a steady stream around him, deadening noise and visibility. InuYasha looked around the spot where Kikyo was supposed to be. 'It ain't like her to be late. What the fuck Kik'?' He thought. He had waited half an hour.
'Maybe she's sick. No, she's shown up feeling shitty. Damn it! Where the fuck?' He thought as the rain echoed around him. 'I'm waiting fifteen minutes. That's it. Then I'm going home'
An hour later, InuYasha finally admitted that Kikyo wasn't likely to appear and began to walk home. As he passed the bridge he and Kikyo used, he happened to look down between the wood at the ledge. "Holy God!"
InuYasha sprinted down the side of the bridge and under it, leaping up on the ledge with out a second thought. He scrambled to the back, where Kikyo sat, bruised and bloody.
"Jesus Christ! What the hell happened to you? Are you okay?" Kikyo shifted her eyes up to him. One was black, both were filled with pain and hatred.
The look in her eyes stopped InuYasha dead. He recovered in an instant and grasped Kikyo by the shoulders, looking her over. 'Jesus Christ..' She was beat bad. Rage began to build in InuYasha, but he pushed it aside to make sure Kikyo was okay.
Again she looked up at him, then all round, not seeing anything as her eyes sought reality. InuYasha couldn't stand the pain and sadness in her eyes. He pulled Kikyo into his chest and embraced her.
"Kikyo." He said softly. "What happened? Who did this to you?" Kikyo was silent for a moment. She had promised her self she would tell no one, he'd be in danger if he did, he'd see her as some kind of murder. His grip on her tightened. She gave in. She would tell him everything.
Kikyo shifted to a more comfortable position and was silent for a moment. "InuYasha.." She didn't know where to begin, She leaned all her weight against him and continued. "InuYasha.. I kill people. I have no family, no home. I've been wandering for years, trying to escape this life. But they keep finding me. And if I refuse.. they'd kill me." "Who's they?" InuYasha asked, too calmly.
As Kikyo began to speak, a train roared over them.
"The people who hire me to.. to kill. The mob. Finito family." There was silence. "I don't enjoy it! I don't want to do it!" She exclaimed hysterically. "When I was young.. my dad was a Marine.. he taught me how to fight. How to shoot. Told me I would use it for good someday." She paused. "I failed. When my parents died in a car accident, I set off on my own. Eventually an old lady learned of my certain.. skill set. She was one of the good guys. She asked me if I wanted to do some good in the world. Was there anyway I could of said no?" Kikyo chuckled sadly. "She told me there was something out there, something that could turn ordinary criminals into super men. She heard rumors that the Finitos had it. Asked me to go undercover. To take this job, I made sure I only took out criminals, no innocents. I thought I was doing so good.." She paused again. "By the time I found out what I was looking for had disappeared 13 years ago, it was too late. There was nothing I could do. I'd try to run, but they'd find me. And make me kill again. And if they had trouble tracking me down, or I should any hesitation.." Kikyo fell silent.
The train blocked out the sun. The only light came from the space between cars. The resulting flashes of light made a slide show of the emotion of InuYasha's face. Shock. Concern. Sympathy. Acceptance. Anger. Rage. Then nothing. His face became hard and emotionless, saved for a cold determination in his eyes that would frighten anyone who saw it, for it wasn't hard to understand what he was set on. For the first time, Death stared out at the world through InuYasha's eyes. "Kikyo.. Where are they now?" He questioned. Kikyo answered, not understanding what would happen.
InuYasha led Kikyo out from under the bridge. He wouldn't leave her here. He slipped his leather jacket over her shoulders as they walked through the rain. InuYasha led her back toward his house. He helped her lower her bruised body down on the couch in his room.
He stayed by her side until she fell asleep. Then silently, and without haste, he walked into the garage. If Kikyo had been awake she would of heard the familiar sound of magazines being loaded.
InuYasha slipped on his second skin, the brown leather jacket. As Kikyo lie sleeping on the couch in front of him, he slammed a mag into the Jericho and tore the slide back. The pistol went into a pocket on the inside of his jacket and the mags into a side pocket.
InuYasha's foot slammed down on the starter and he reared back on the throttle. The Harley roared out of the garage. The bike shot in and out of the traffic lights above it as InuYasha headed down the highway. He knew where these fucks were. No one fucking does that to his Kikyo. Fucking no one.
InuYasha stopped in a unlit lot in front of the address Kikyo had given him. By nw it was late in the night. There was a fence around it, a guard house and man with a gun. That was all the confirmation InuYasha needed. The guard looked up at the shadowy form walking toward the pool of light in front of the gate. The form raised it's right hand. Two shots exploded through the night. InuYasha strode past the dead man in the guard house and shot the lock on the gate off. He pushed it open and headed for the small building ahead of him.
Someone opened the door to the building. His inquiry into the noise was cut short by a bullet. People inside began to scramble for their weapons.
InuYasha ducked into the building. People were running everywhere. InuYasha fired twice, hitting one, before dashing out of the door way. He fired at shapes as he ran. Someone screamed. InuYasha turned and fired once more before running into the next room.
He swung the pistol in an arc over the empty room before taking cover behind the wall next to the doorway. InuYasha stuck his head and the pistol around the corner. The pistol blared twice. He took cover as they returned fire. He leaned into the door way and fired three more times.
The slide locked back. InuYasha dropped a mag out and slammed a new one home. He released the slide and stepped back into the room. Someone moved in a different door way. InuYasha brought up the pistol and fired three times. The man went down. InuYasha rushed into the room with the dead guy as bullets began to tear up the floor at his heels.
InuYasha jumped over a table that had been flipped over. He threw his arm over the table and fired twice into the doorway he had just come from. One of his pursuers let out a howl of pain. A bullet ripped though the table. InuYasha shot a man coming through the door way. More feet sounded in the doorway. InuYasha kept firing. Bullets kept hitting the table.
The shooting stopped. InuYasha chanced a glance over the table. The way was clear. InuYasha wearily pushed him self to his feet and walked through the door way. There was one guy left on his feet, a thin man in a three piece suit. Without haste InuYasha shot him the chest. The pistol locked empty again. InuYasha let it hang at his side. There was no sound but the moaning of wounded men. InuYasha calmly reloaded. As the slide carried the next round into the chamber, he heard the man in the suit speak up. "Who"
InuYasha looked down at him. The man was dying and he knew it. No sense lying to him. "A friend of Kikyo." He aimed and one final gun shot echoed through the building.
InuYasha left, making sure to pick up the magazines he dropped for later use.
Kikyo woke with a start. She looked around the darkened room. InuYasha stood in the doorway. The shadows couldn't hide the small weary smile on his face or the gun in his hand. "InuYasha.. what the hell did you do?" Kikyo asked, almost afraid of the answer. He smiled a little more and sat down beside her. "I got rid of them. All of 'em. You're free." Kikyo stared in shock. Then in a flash she hugged the youth. "You idiot.. you stupid idiot.." She tried to keep the joy of knowing her tormentors were no more out of her voice and failed. "InuYasha if it were that simple I would of done it myself.. There are more of them. More than I could take on alone." "So? You ain't alone. And don't say I can't help because I just proved I can." A smile spread across Kikyo's face as she realized he was right. "Dear God.. we could do it." She hugged him tighter. "You stupid fucking idiot... thank you."
"So where are these assholes?" "Reno."
Kikyo threw the edge of a blanket over the boxes of ammo in the Harley's saddlebag. She climbed on behind InuYasha and slipped her arms around him. "Ready?" She asked. "Yeah. C'mon, let's leave this raggedy ass town behind." InuYasha grinned as he turned on to the road to the highway.