A/N: Yeah, new story, but please don't ask. I was watching the preview to some random movie and was inspired. Oh yeah baby.
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In The Desert
Chapter 1: Old Flames
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She was looking into her cosmetic mirror, but not to check her already impeccable makeup, no, she was staring over her shoulder at the man a few feet down from her. His coat touched the floor and a tattoo was just visible around his wrist, a cigarette at his mouth.
He was looking over his shoulder too. The long black hair obscured her face, but in the mirror she was holding he caught sight of dark teal eyes.
She closed the mirror with a snap and started for the stairs that led from the subway up to the street and as she predicted, the second she turned to walk into the street she was found in the way of the taller male.
"Fancy seeing you here. I thought you got stuck in jail," she said, taking a step back.
"Yah, I did," he retorted, adding, "But I got out a few months later. You didn't have very much faith in my abilities, did you Tsubaki?"
"I didn't doubt that you were good, I didn't trust you," she pointed out as they started walking.
"And you stuck around…why?" he asked.
Tsubaki laughed. "Honestly? The sex was good," she answered. "And besides, I was getting money. So, why are you here in Musashi anyway, Renkotsu?"
Renkotsu looked up at the building they had just walked past. "The Shikon Diamond. The old Taiyija family from one town over gave it to Kikyou Shinidamachuu, and she has it in her museum."
"Great minds think alike then," Tsubaki agreed. "Where're you staying?"
"I've got somewhere."
She nodded. "I'm staying with a friend, if I'm right, the place is down this way, I'm gonna go," she said, turning off a side road and disappearing into the late afternoon crowd that was present in this big city.
Renkotsu shrugged and kept walking, his hand going in his pocket to pull out a rectangular pack. He flipped the lid and pulled a cigarette out, fishing around further in his pocket to find his lighter. After he found it, the lid was flipped up to reveal a dancing flame.
He then pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, unfolding it casually, and looking at the address written on it in a neat, tilting writing. Quickly storing the address in his head, he walked on.
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Tsubaki threw her bag down at the door and walked into the main room. "Hey Naraku," she greeted the man sitting in the chair when she saw him.
"What took you so long to get here?" he asked her.
She slid down into his lap, throwing her legs over one of the armrests of the chair and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I just ran into an ex, that's all. Seems he came on the same lead we did," she explained, pressing her lips against his neck.
"An ex, oh? Which one?" he asked her suspiciously.
Tsubaki laughed. "Renkotsu."
Naraku smirked lightly. "I thought he was in prison," he noted, playing with a strand of Tsubaki's hair.
"Apparently he got let out," she retorted. "He looks the same though, except he got a tattoo," she added, playing with the collar of her boyfriend's shirt.
Naraku furrowed his eyebrows, plucking the hair from the woman's head violently. "Stop talking about him like you're going to run back to him," he demanded. "Were you in love with him or something?"
Tsubaki rolled her eyes, getting up from Naraku's lap and glaring. "I told you. I didn't love the guy, but…the sex was great. Not as good as you though," she told him, the last lie falling with it fluently.
The tall man nodded, still looking a bit suspicious. "So he's here to try and get the Diamond too?" he asked. Then his eyes lightened. "I have an idea, why don't you try to…get some information that Renkotsu may have…"
Tsubaki looked suspicious. "And I get what out of this?" she asked.
Naraku stood up, his arm wrapping smoothly around Tsubaki's waist and pressing her against him. "Once I get the diamond, I can give you everything you could ever want, remember?" he muttered in her ear. "I don't even care if you fuck the guy so we can get it…."
Tsubaki looked up into his face, pursing her lips, unsure whether to believe the man holding her or not.
He tutted under his breath, "Don't you believe me, beautiful? I can give you everything you wanted- with the help of the Shikon Diamond, I promise."
But that wasn't really his plan. He wanted to steal the diamond for himself; the woman was just a pawn, skilled at stealing where he wasn't as skilled. He didn't trust her not to sleep around, not to leave him for the next powerful man she found. But for right now, she would have to do.
Tsubaki smirked to herself when he finally let her go and she turned away. The diamond would be hers; she would cash it in to find the secrets for eternal beauty. Naraku was her backer, he had money, not tons of it, but he had some. As soon as she got that diamond, well, who knows where she'd go from there….
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Renkotsu knocked on the door, and then a note fell from some cheesy door decoration at about eye-level. He picked it up and opened it. In the same, tilted, neat, curvy handwriting there was a note.
'Renkotsu,
If you get this, you've found my apartment and got here before I could get back. I'm at work as you're reading this…. I left an extra key under the doormat for you so you could get in and get settled. Plenty of food lying around, if you're hungry. I'll call to see that you've got in before I leave work. See you this evening.
Suikotsu.'
Renkotsu sighed, almost longing for the house he and Ginkotsu shared back in Ushitora, but business called and Suikotsu was the only one he knew that lived in this town.
Why you slapped a town on the edge of a desert was beyond him, and why anyone would live there is even farther out of his grasp. He pulled the key out from under the mat and opened the door.
The apartment wasn't huge, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a living room/kitchen, a couple of chairs, a table, just things. He shut the door behind him and sat down with a sigh, waiting for the time to pass. Finally, he grew bored with sitting, though the silence was refreshing from the dull mumble of the subway and streets.
So he picked up his cell phone and dialed the number Suikotsu had left as his own cell number. "Suikotsu, I'm at your apartment, but I'm going for a walk," he said as soon as the voice came through. "I'll lock the door and have the key with me, and I wont be long," he added. "Later."
He hung up, sticking the phone back in his pocket and getting up to leave the room. The door clicking and locking behind him, he started off. He walked in the direction of the museum he would be robbing when he felt the time was right, maybe a week from then.
And who would be outside the doors but Tsubaki, of course.
"Fancy meeting you here," she said with her back to him.
"Somehow coincidence is doubtable in this situation," he retorted calmly. "What do you want exactly?"
She turned around, grabbing his arm and pulling him around to face her, a determined smirk on her face. "I want you," she said, trying to sound convincing and convince herself it was a lie at the same time. "I want you back, we could do great things…" she muttered, a long crimson-painted nail running up his chest.
He scoffed, starting back down the heavy steps of the museum. "Right, and this isn't some plan of yours just to get my information about the diamond?"
She pouted. "Oh…you caught me, but remember, it wasn't my idea, it was my boyfriend Naraku's," she told him. "I didn't want any part in it."
Renkotsu raised an eyebrow, rubbing his temples. "So Naraku's trying to get this thing too? Oh, more competition than I would hoped for. Maybe I'll pay Naraku a little visit. Where's he staying?" he asked.
"That's information I can't pass around," she said, walking away.
He thought for a second. Then smirked. Of course, when you can't get the information out of someone…
…You look them up in a phonebook.
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Renkotsu flitted through the phonebook impatiently. "Shirozaru…" he muttered, scanning for the name in question. And finally, he found it. "187 Saru Way, #136," he read off, grabbing a scrap of paper and scribbling down the address and phone number.
He would talk to Naraku later.
First, he had to make a plan.
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"He figured me out!" Tsubaki exclaimed, crossing her arms in defiance. "I didn't tell him anything!"
Naraku glared. "Go stay with someone else while I figure out what I'm going to do. If he finds out where I am he's going to come get me. And only one of us can stay, and I won't be leaving, I can tell you that."
She huffed, grabbing her still unpacked bag and stomping out. When she was out of the apartment she pulled out her cell phone, and then she had a plan. A good plan too.
"Kikyou?" she asked softly through the phone. "Hey, I need somewhere to stay," she muttered. "You'll let me? Thank you! I'll be at the orphanage in a little while, I'll have to take the bus, I don't have a car."
She hung up and laughed. "Sucker…"
But back in the apartment, Naraku was more than a little troubled. "I can't use her now, she's too open to be found out. What AM I going to do?" he asked himself, pacing slightly. Then the phone rang.
He answered it, smirking. "Hello?"
"Naraku, is she gone?" the voice on the other end asked with a hint of impatience, adding quickly, "She can't be there."
"She isn't here. Are you going to come over?" he asked, trying to sound surprised.
There was a slight laugh on the other end. "Maybe I will, seems you and your fuck buddy really are desperate… I'll see you when I see you. Don't wait up for me."
Naraku hung up with a final "ok" and sat down. Not expecting much of anything, still formulating his plan of attack in his mind.
And as soon as he got it all worked out; exactly what he would do, whom he would have to trick and everything in between, there was a knock on the door. He smirked and got up to answer it. He pulled it open and tried to make his eyes widen in shock.
"Nice to see you," he mocked, letting his guest in. "Now what was it you needed?"
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A/N: I hope that there was some suspense involved there. I really hope there was…XD!