Author's Note: So sorry for the wait! (is it just me, or do I start every A/N that way?) I really have to stop doing that 'three-week-cliffy' thing. Only three days left of school, so it won't be long before my other commitments settle down a bit. Anyway, I'm still here! By the way, as far as update frequency, reviews really do help a lot. They motivate me to get to work faster! That being said, thank you so much to all my lovely reviewers!
By the way, in case you're interested, I've just started beta-reading for the author Izayoi, so you should all go read her stuff and give her lots of reviews as well! So far I've only corrected one chapter (ch 5 of "Fallin") for her, but I'm looking forward to more.
Okay, review replies (I'm only doing a couple today, 'cause I'm dead tired):
Chibi Horsewoman: Actually I'm pretty sure the Geneva Conventions were before WWII, because they referred to it on Hogan's Heroes all the time – but that's not exactly a reliable source, I suppose! Either way, who knows; seeing as it's Kouga we're talking about, he might just end up beating the crap out of Inu regardless of the law -- I honestly don't know at the moment! The characters have minds of their own about some of these things; even I can't always predict their actions, you know?
moonweaver: See? I'm updating! Yay! Oh, and yes, I'd love to have more material to edit, so definitely feel free to send it my way if you want.
Just to let you all know, I'm trying to figure out what new story to start next, what with summer beginning and (sniff) Alter Ego coming to a close, so I'll have a few summaries at the bottom of the chapter, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd give me your votes on which one(s) sound(s) best. Thanks! (And don't worry, I'm still planning to write A Noble Mind, for those of you who've read Fortune's Fool)
Missing in ActionChapter 11: Femme Fatale
It was as if time had frozen. Kagome could do nothing but stare into the eyes of the man before her, which blazed green with malice. Her mind reeled; how long had he been there? How much had he heard? What excuse could she give? There had to be some way out of this...
But those eyes told her otherwise. She could see clear as day within them that Kouga knew all that had transpired between her and Inuyasha just moments before, and there would be no escape from the web she had woven herself into this time.
"Schmidt," Kouga said in a low growl, beckoning with a crisp movement of the hand to the guard who waited just outside the door, "Arrest this woman. She is a spy." With the last words the look in his eyes intensified, and she could see in them some reflection of the betrayal she had seen in Inuyasha's eyes when she had first come down to the cell.
She swallowed, her mouth gone dry, but made no attempt at protest, only looked back over her shoulder to meet Inuyasha's gaze for what small comfort she could take in his presence. His amber eyes met hers helplessly, brow tensed in fear for her fate, yet he did not speak.
The guard pulled her arms none too gently behind her back, and she winced slightly as the cold steel of the bindings closed tightly around her wrists. Once again she turned her eyes to the man whose bed she'd shared these past months and said quietly, but with a steady, grim determination, "Kouga, Inuyasha knew nothing of all of this until just now, I swear; I am the more valuable prisoner, by far."
"Kagome, don't-" Inuyasha began, but the woman interrupted, continuing her plea.
"Please, if ever you cared for me at all, if there is any sympathy in you toward either of us, let him go. He's of no use to you."
Kouga gave a bitter half-laugh in response. "I'm afraid I disagree; he will prove very useful indeed, I'm sure. The brother of a General is a rare prize."
Kagome's eyes widened slightly in surprise and she looked to Inuyasha for confirmation. The stunned look with which he was regarding Kouga was answer enough for her.
"How do you know about Sesshomaru?" he demanded of the wolf-demon, his surprise getting the better of him.
The Major answered him with a devious sort of smirk. "I have my sources; that's all you need to know." Then his expression hardened as he gestured to the guard. "Take her away."
"No, Kagome!" Inuyasha said in a panicked tone of voice, starting after her as the man pulled her roughly by an arm, but he was prevented from leaving the cell by Kouga and the other guard, who stood at the doorway.
"Inuyasha," she twisted back to look at him. "I'll be alright; don't worry about me." But her face was pale, and he could see the fear in her eyes, hear the slight tremor in her usually steady voice, belying her brave words.
"Kagome," he said again, urgently. He struggled against the men's iron grip, watching helplessly as Kagome was led down the passageway and out of his sight.
"Damn you Kouga!" he growled, turning furiously on the wolf-demon, who had a firm restraining grip on his right arm and shoulder, "Where are you taking her? What are you going to do to her?"
"That is none of your concern, hanyou," he spat, and Inuyasha found himself shoved backwards to the floor inside the cell, the door clanging shut loudly, locking him in once more.
He let loose a growl of rage and frustration as he pushed to his feet and flung himself against the door, pounding it with a fist. "Tell me where you're taking her, you son of a bitch!" he howled, "Tell me now! Dammit, Kouga, I know you can hear me!" But there was no answer save the echo of military boots against the stone-flagged floors as Kouga walked briskly away from the cell.
Inuyasha slumped to the floor in defeat, leaning his back against the door, head in his hands. His breathing was ragged with strain, and he fought to quiet the ferocious anger that raged inside him. Yelling and screaming would get him nowhere, he knew, and they would likely only make it more difficult for him to calm himself, to think logically.
But he couldn't ignore the guilt that welled up inside him. She was caught because of me...She all but said so herself. Only because she had to explain her secret to me was her cover blown. If it hadn't been for me, she would still be safe.
If anything happens to her...it's my fault...
And yet at the back of his brain there was something else, something that he wanted desperately to ignore, yet his subconscious mind couldn't seem to let go of the one other possibility: Unless...it's a trap...a deception
But what would she have to gain by setting such a trap for him? he tried to reason. For what possible reason could it benefit them to make him believe, falsely, that she was on his side?
'The brother of a general is a rare prize...'
No, he thought fiercely, No; I believe her. I have to believe that she's telling the truth. She was genuinely surprised when she found out about my brother, and the look in her eyes as they led her away...no one could fake that.
-- -- --
Soft, evening light filtered through the curtains of the small, wooden cabin, a gentle breeze toying at their edges and rustling the leaves of the trees like a whisper, though the couple inside took no notice. Miroku sat on the small bed, propped against the wall, as the woman he loved was seated on a chair beside him, tending to his wound.
With gentle fingers, Sango carefully unwrapped the gauze from Miroku's head, barely wincing at all now at the sight of the still-healing tear in his flesh. Teiresias had instructed her over the past few days so that she could care for him herself, and she was becoming more and more accustomed to seeing the injury. Although she had never been particularly squeamish at the sight of cuts and scrapes, it was quite different to see such a large wound on the head of someone who meant so much to her. And besides, it always brought to mind that horrid scene at the clearing, less than a week past, when the ground and trees had been stained with his blood.
She brushed aside the memory and concentrated instead on the task at hand. Taking the damp, herb-soaked rag from the bowl perched on the edge of the bed, she wrung it out and pressed it as gently as she could to the side of his head. Miroku flinched and drew a breath in a quick hiss at the sting of the contact, but soon relaxed into the warmth of the cloth and allowed Sango to continue her ministrations.
"Does it hurt?" she asked with concern.
"Mm-mm," he replied in the negative. "Actually," he said, opening his eyes to look into hers, "It feels quite nice once the stinging stops."
She smiled warmly back at him. "I'm glad. It looks like it's healing pretty well. I'll have to ask Teiresias, but I think you should be able to travel within a few days; don't you?"
"I don't see why not. I wonder what Kagome and Inuyasha are doing back at the cafe...all alone..." he added with a suggestive quirk of the eyebrow.
Sango scowled, chiding, "Honestly, Miroku, even when you've been shot in the head that lecherous mind of yours is always running away with itself, isn't it?"
Then a troubling thought occurred to her. "Miroku," she began worriedly, "You don't suppose anything could have happened to them on the way home, do you? I mean, considering what happened to you...and it would have been dark by the time they reached Asile..."
"Of course they're alright," Miroku assured her. "Kagome's an intelligent woman, and from what I've seen, which, granted, is not much, Inuyasha could be quite formidable if he chose to be. They can take care of themselves."
"I hope you're right."
"Aren't I always?" he teased with a grin, and just as he'd hoped it brought the smile back to her face, wry as it was.
"You're too smug for your own good, you know that?" she replied.
"Am I really?" he asked playfully, pulling her chin forward to press his lips lightly to hers.
It was then that the door to the cabin opened and in came Teiresias, toting a small bundle of the herbs he'd had to replenish so frequently these days, since Miroku was using up all his reserves. His face broke into a knowing grin at the sight of the young couple, who hardly took notice of him other than to glance his way and murmur a "Hi," before returning to each other.
"Don't mind me," he assured them amusedly, well aware of the fact that they weren't listening to him at all, and made his way through the room to his study.
As the door closed behind him, his smile faded, his expression taking on a much more serious, grim disposition. He placed the bundle on the desk and began fishing through the various types of foliage within it to uncover the true cargo: a small, white envelope.
Pulling a note from within it, he recognized the code immediately, and was able to flip right to the spot in The Iliad where the key could be found. Translated, it read:
Teiresias,
Very well, we will allow you no more than three weeks. But if you are unsuccessful in extracting the name of their contact within that time, we will take over. Keep them under careful supervision, my friend; if anything should happen to them -- if they should be allowed to escape -- the consequences for you will be very grave indeed. They are our only lead, and they must not be allowed to fall into the hands of the military. It is of the utmost importance that this matter be kept under Gestapo jurisdiction and control.
Heil Hitler
He settled back in his chair and regarded the finished translation silently, reading it over once again before crumpling the paper into a ball and releasing a weary sigh.
-- -- --
It had been two days since they'd taken her away. Two days he'd spent in this hellhole, with virtually no human contact whatsoever. Even the food, which was no more than the barest prisoner's rations, was simply placed inside the door, before they slammed it shut once more. Hell, come to that, he wasn't even positive it had been two days -- might have been three or four. There was no reliable way of telling time in this dank, musty cage of his. He hadn't even seen the sun.
Inuyasha used a claw to scrape away at the stone of the wall beside his bed, carving a picture of his plane -- well, before he had crashed it, and it had fallen into enemy hands to be gutted and analyzed for the Luftwaffe, that is -- into the solid grey rock face. This being his only pastime down here, he had become quite adept at it, once he had given up on yelling for that mangy wolf to get his scrawny ass back here and give him some answers, which the hanyou had done intermittently for about the first day. Even Inuyasha's voice got tired eventually, and he knew they most likely couldn't hear him anyway -- not that anyone would have responded if they could.
So, in lieu of any further options, Inuyasha had resolved to bide his time, just as Kouga seemed to be biding his. Someone would have to question him eventually, if they wanted to get any info on Sesshomaru -- not that Inuyasha had any great secrets to give, as far as he knew -- and when they did, he would get his own answers if he had to rip that wolf's tonsils out to do it.
In the meantime, he was brushing up on his artistic skills.
He sat back a bit to admire his work. It was really quite good, for an amateur, working in dim lighting, with only his own clawed hands for carving tools. He'd even managed a bit of shading along the wings and tail by making little hatch marks.
Gods, he missed flying. Not so much the 'being-shot-at' part, but the flying itself. Perhaps it had something to do with being trapped in a cold, dark room for days on end, but lately he'd begun to long for the feel of the controls at his fingertips, soaring across the clear blue sky at unimaginable speeds and then, with only a slight adjustment, the heady rush of a steep dive, plummeting toward the earth before pulling up just in time.
He absolutely loved being a pilot; it was the only thing he'd ever wanted to do. To his mind, it was the perfect marriage of danger and control. To fly was to be able to defy gravity, to see and experience things about which most humans could only dream. To fly was to be able to conquer the wind, to command it to take you where you wished to go; it was the only true freedom.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the lock being pulled back on the door. It wasn't time for food yet -- was it? Then who...?
His breath caught for a moment in surprise as a familiar pair of brown eyes met his own. Kagome? How did she-
But no, these eyes were different, colder, and when the woman in question emerged fully into the room Inuyasha no longer had any doubts as to her identity. His jaw tensed, eyes narrowing in recognition as he regarded the slim figure, dressed in a sleek, dark skirt suit with stylish black heels to match; coordinated as ever.
"Hello Inuyasha," Kikyo said in a deceptively amiable voice that nonetheless possessed a certain ominous sense of malice, woven beneath the surface.
"Kikyo," Inuyasha acknowledged, though his voice was scarcely more than a controlled growl.
This brought a slight smirk to the woman's lips. "I see you remember me."
"How could I forget?" he retorted, careful to restrain himself.
"Yes, I suppose it would have been pretty memorable -- for you, at least." He growled at that, and she raised an eyebrow in offhand consideration. "But then, I suppose it did have its perks; more than most."
Inuyasha frowned slightly in confusion, crossing his arms and cocking his head a bit to the side. "What do you mean by that?" he questioned suspiciously.
"Just what I said. You were better than most of them, Inuyasha, and certainly more entertaining than any. Of all the men I've given 'the Treatment,' you were the first to ever actually fall in love with me," she said amusedly, then added in an almost wistful tone, "It was fun to play a true ingénue for a change, instead of just playing the whore."
"The 'Treatment'?" he asked, his ire rising.
She gave a small, patronizing laugh at his apparent indignation, before saying matter-of-factly, "Yes, you know, wining and dining, sex et cetera -- I give you what you want, you become my source, albeit unknowingly. Seriously, Inuyasha, don't tell me you hadn't figured it out by now?"
That was when everything she was saying finally began to fall into place. "Your...source?" he murmured in surprise. A bemused expression settled on his face as his mind raced with memories of conversations with Kikyo, the pattern coming clear at last. Somehow, without his realizing it, she had managed to get information from him, gradually, over time. Each individual piece was so small and so subtle that he had thought nothing of it at the time, but over the course of their relationship there was no telling how much she could have learned. "Then...none of it was true in the first place. All along, you were one of...one of them. You conned me..." he said at last, looking up into the shrewd, self-satisfied face of the woman he'd once claimed to know. But this woman was a stranger to him, all traces of the facade gone from sight.
The bemused expression faded as astonishment melted into a boiling resentment, his brow lowering angrily over furious eyes. "You're a remarkable actress," he growled vindictively, standing to face her.
She smirked in response and replied mockingly, bating him, "Almost as remarkable as that Kagome of yours, don't you think?"
"Leave Kagome out of this, you manipulative bitch. What has she got to do with it anyway?"
That was just the answer she'd been hoping for. "I'm hurt, Inuyasha," she drawled. "After all, all's fair in love and war, is it not? And as for Kagome, well, lets just say the two of us aren't all that different after all, are we?"
"That's where you're wrong, Kikyo; Kagome is nothing like you." The contempt in his voice only served her purposes that much more.
"Is that so? Did she not seduce a man shamelessly in order to bend him to her will and extract information from him, without a care for his personal feelings for her? I did no more than that to you, Inuyasha."
"But unlike you, Kikyo, Kagome did what she did because she had to, not because she gets some sort of sick, twisted pleasure out of it! She's fighting for a cause she believes in-"
"As am I," she said firmly, causing him to fall silent. "And for the other, are you so certain of her motives as that? Are you so certain of mine? She has already proven to be something other than what she appears to be; you would do well in the future to remember that she is quite capable of deceiving you, even as I did."
To that, Inuyasha could conjure no reply but continued silence.
"Well," said Kikyo, mock lightness in her tone, "it's been wonderful catching up like this, Inuyasha. We simply must do it again some time." With a final, sarcastic smirk, she turned and exited the cell, leaving the hanyou alone to ponder the wisdom of her words in solitude.
He slumped down upon his cot once more, leaning back against the cool stone wall with his eyes closed, one hand massaging his troubled forehead. I trust Kagome, he thought. But then, I once trusted Kikyo as well, and look how well that one turned out.
'I didn't lie to you, Inuyasha, and I never intended for this to happen, I swear. I do care for you, honestly...' He could hear the emotion in Kagome's voice as she pleaded with him, willing him to believe her. He wanted so to be able to trust her completely, but the practical corner of his mind refused to allow him to ignore the fact that Kikyo had a point.
'...she is quite capable of deceiving you, even as I did.'
-- -- --
A/N: Well, at least this one's not a horrible cliffy this time…is it? Well it shouldn't take me so long to update anyway (I hope).
Alright, here are the summaries, as promised:
The Best Man: AU -- Romance/Humor. Amidst preparations for Kagome's wedding, Sango, her Maid of Honor, is overjoyed when Inuyasha's brother Sesshomaru finally proposes to her. Only afterwards does Sango first encounter Miroku, who just so happens to be Inuyasha's best man, and things begin to get…complicated.
Father's House, Husband's House: AU -- Romance/Humor. Kagome, daughter of a wealthy and prominent businessman, finds herself engaged to Hojo, her longtime boyfriend and the heir to another large fortune. Feeling smothered, she escapes to see the world before being railroaded into a life as no more than her husband's wife. The real world is not quite what she expected, however, least of all a certain penniless, but streetwise hanyou with whom she makes acquaintance…
Type Casting: AU -- Romance/Humor. Kagome is making her directorial debut on London's West End with a somewhat non-traditional production of Romeo and Juliet, and despite her better judgment she casts the arrogant Inuyasha Takahashi opposite Sango Kuonji in the lead roles. There is definite friction between the young director and her leading man, but will the fire between them serve to keep them warm, or simply burn down the house?
Far From Home: AU – Romance/Humor. In Ancient Greece, Kagome and Inuyasha, separated by war, wish only to be together once again. Unfortunately for them, fate seems to have made other plans, and Inuyasha gets slightly sidetracked…(based on The Odyssey)
Okay, opinions please -- every vote counts!
Until next time, TTFN!