Author's Notes: Eh heh…(--cringes--) Sooo…two months eh? What can I say? Life's a bitch…
Seriously though, if anyone's been reading my bio (and I'm sure you all positively hang on my every word --grin--), I've had a lot on my mind lately with the fall musical, my senior project, my college applications, and a million other things that I don't even want to think about right now for fear of an anxiety attack. But thankfully, at long last I seem to have rediscovered my 'voice' for fanfiction (it went missing for awhile – don't ask me where the hell it went), and I'm going to make a concerted effort to update something at least once a week. I can't promise it will always be this story, but I'll try to be better about this stuff from now on. Kay? (--grin--)
Anyway, thank you guys so much for all your reviews and encouragement…and the occasional polite 'nudge' in the right direction…
Crystal Music: Bullseye! Congratulations, you win the prize – that was exactly where I was BS-ing in the last chappie. Nice shot!
Dolphingirl0113: (--grin--) Y'know, you probably knew I was going to have Kag masquerade as Kikyo before I did. It was one of those spur of the moment decisions – and to tell the truth I broke one of my own rules in doing it: I referenced the existence of a 'plan' without actually knowing what the plan was. Heh heh…that's part of the reason this chapter took so long for me to start – I had to figure out exactly what 'the plan' was first…
Fallen-Snow: Okay, now I'm over my writer's block for real. (--grin--) The goal is to get another chappie of FHHH out next weekend. Please, yell at me if I start slacking off again…Love ya!!
Inulover12258: Yeah, if you want any help/advice/whatever on writing/developing that idea of yours, feel free to drop me a line. I communicate best by email (I can't type fast enough for AIM --grin--), but you can IM me too if I happen to be on. My contact info's on my bio – I'd be happy to help!
Congratulate me -- I managed to keep review replies to a minimum! I may actually get to sleep tonight! Score!
Missing in Action
Chapter 15: Gestalt
The scent of fine Burgundy permeated the room, carried readily upon the warmth rising out of the fireplace, which crackled as it slowly devoured the wood it had been given for fuel. Before the fire, relaxed, yet poised and sedate, sat Naraku, his red irises fixed upon the flames with thoughtful intensity and satisfaction.
"You should be proud of yourself, General," came Kikyo's coolly appreciative voice from where she stood to his left. "You've accomplished a great deal in such a short time. I'll admit I had my doubts when you first came here with the intention of enlisting Kouga's wench, but it seems that everything has worked out well, if not exactly according to plan."
"You said nothing of your doubts to me in Munich," he pointed out without adjusting his gaze, his voice low but conversational in tone.
"It wasn't my place to question you in the matter. Such dissent could have put your plans at risk. Besides, I trust your judgment."
"Indeed," he agreed, a small smile curving his lips as he took a small sip from the wine glass in his hand. "Then you should not have doubted me in the first place."
Her smile matched his for understatedness and mild amusement. "But it is my duty to doubt you. Didn't you once say that I am the one who keeps you from loosing your footing? I'm here to watch your steps for you, see that you do not turn an ankle in the climb to glory."
"You seem to know me better than I know myself at times -- not a privilege I would allow to just anyone. Consider yourself fortunate."
"I am fortunate, Naraku. Some of us, such as you, have ambitions to guide us -- others, such as I, have love. The ones I pity are those poor souls who never do find their paths, who wander aimlessly through life searching for meaning, when all they need to do is create their own."
"You and I are two of a kind, my dear..." he murmured.
She could feel the tug of momentum, hear the faint whine of the breaks as they scraped against the metal of the train's wheels and pulled the contraption to a gradual stop. Her hand grasped absently for the nearby doorjamb, using it to steady herself as she glanced curiously out the window at the outskirts of the town they were fast approaching.
By now she knew the routine. For the past three days it had been the same thing: travel for an hour or so, then put in at a junction and haul her off the train to run their 'errands'. In truth, even though she'd been doing this for the past three days in at least five or six different towns so far -- she'd lost count somewhere along the way -- she still hadn't the slightest idea of exactly what they were supposed to be accomplishing. She supposed the whole arrangement had been designed that way for a reason. After all, all threats of torture aside, one way or another Kagome was doomed and she knew it, so what was to stop her from playing the martyr and offering herself up as the proverbial wrench in Naraku's machine? But such an effort could likely be wasted if she didn't at least have some idea of what that machine was supposed to do, and that kept her in line, as he'd undoubtedly known it would.
Sure enough, within moments of their arrival a guard appeared at the door of her compartment, snatching her dark overcoat off the nearby hook and thrusting it into her arms, indicating without a word that she put it on. Seeing no reason to protest, Kagome did so, and turned to follow the guard into the corridor and along the length of the car to the nearest exit, another guard trailing behind her.
The moment Kagome set foot on the train platform she was surrounded by the usual entourage. One would have thought they were protecting her rather than preventing her from escaping. Indeed Kagome was certain that that was intentional as well. Kikyo had mentioned something about Kagome being her 'exact duplicate', though neither Kikyo nor Naraku, nor anyone else had elaborated upon the way in which this was useful to them. Naraku had merely given her a set of very simple if ambiguous instructions: To walk with dignity and confidence, to refrain from speaking unless spoken to, and even then giving only simple, dismissive answers, and to give the password when it was requested -- a password that he had required her to memorize. With a sigh, she tugged the collar of her fine woolen coat up a bit more to shield her ears from the unseasonable cold, following the lead of the soldiers and allowing herself to be ushered into a waiting car and whisked away into the town.
Eventually they pulled up in front of a building that sported all the trappings of a makeshift military establishment -- guards at the doors, swastika displayed garishly over the entrance -- much like the other buildings they had frequented during this trip. Kagome filed in with the guards that were not remaining outside to monitor the cars and followed them on back down a couple of corridors to a secure looking room.
The soldier at her right elbow nudged her forward, murmuring, "Password," in German, though she had already anticipated the request and moved to the door.
She leaned close to the guard at the door and uttered the word, "Gestalt," so that only he could hear. With a sharp nod he allowed them entry to the room beyond, though it was only what appeared to be some sort of waiting room. There Kagome and most of her entourage remained as the head guard -- an officer of some rank, with a finely pointed chin and a trim cap of wavy cornsilk-colored hair -- proceeded into the next room to complete whatever business it was they were there for.
What baffled Kagome most thoroughly was why she needed to be there. Surely Naraku could have entrusted this blonde officer with the password much more easily than she, an avowed Resistance member. What purpose did her presence serve? Why hadn't they simply shot her back in Asile?
An hour ticked by, followed by another, and by the time the officer had returned and they were headed back for the station the sky had dimmed to the fiery golden shade of dusk.
Later that night, the cradle-like motion of the train rocked her back and forth, lulling her into a stupor as she sat upon her relatively comfortable cot, slumped back against the wall and letting the dimness of the cramped cabin seep into her bones. Her eyes were blank and hollow, emotionless voids, windows into a tired soul that seemed to have vacated the body and left no forwarding address.
Is this all that there is to this world? she questioned aimlessly, her thoughts taking on a grim shade that reflected the night sky. Is happiness an illusion, no more than a brief respite from the misery that lurks just beyond the door, biding its time until it can swallow us up?
"I can't believe he's dead..." Her voice was disconnected and raw, so unlike her that she hardly recognized the whispered words as her own.
The Resistance has been my solace these past few years, my hope for the future, my reassurance that the world is more than just a continual cycle of chaos. I lost everything I had, and yet I found strength in the fight for the cause, the fight to restore peace and build a new future. But with each year the losses grow, the sorrows deepen, and the forces of chaos become just that much more formidable.
Somehow I can't help but feel that all we have done, all we have sacrificed, has been for nothing. I'm beginning to see that evil and chaos are so thoroughly entwined within the fabric of humanity that even if we win they will never truly be defeated. They say that this is 'the war to end all wars' -- but it is becoming painfully clear to me that there can be no such thing. So now I wonder -- what is it that we're fighting for?
I'm so tired -- so tired of fighting, so tired of losing, so tired of caring. Inuyasha...
Her thoughts were disrupted by the sound of footsteps in the passageway outside her door, the sharp, weighted plod of combat boots that she had become accustomed too during her captivity. Dinner, she thought dully, her appetite diminished by her depressed state of mind. She hardly even kept track of time these days, her internal clock so warped and distorted by injury and long hours spent in windowless rooms that it seemed inconsequential. Her captors saw that she was fed on time, and quite frankly at this point she found it difficult to care one way or another. The entire ordeal was finally catching up with her, taking a tremendous toll on her psyche.
The footsteps came to rest outside the door to her compartment and she heard the latch being unlocked and the door slid open, a dark-haired figure in the stark grey uniform of a Nazi officer appearing in her peripheral vision, but she didn't bother turning to face him. Instead she simply muttered quietly, "What is it now, Kouga?"
"Feh," scoffed an irritable voice in reply, and Kagome's heart tripped in her chest at the sound. With a sharp intake of breath she whirled to face the voice's owner, her eyes going wide in surprise, hardly daring to believe it. It couldn't be...
The man standing before her was leanly built and clad in Nazi uniform, with long ebony tresses secured behind his head in a low ponytail. His face was familiar indeed, but the eyes that shone from within it were brown instead of amber, and the familiar if somewhat broken half-grin that quirked his lips revealed ordinary human canines where fangs should have been.
She swallowed apprehensively, brow furrowed in confusion, certain she must be going insane -- not an unlikely prospect under the circumstances. "Inuyasha?" she whispered tentatively.
"The one and only," he replied in his unmistakable treble, which lacked only a fraction of it's usual arrogance, and she let out her breath in what was almost a sob, pushing herself to her feet at last and throwing herself into his arms.
He readily enveloped her within his embrace, holding her perhaps a bit tighter than he had intended, his eyes squeezed tight as he savored the relief of her presence. Her breath came in unsteady gasps as she buried her face deep into his shoulder, and so they both stood there in silence, taking comfort in each other.
Kagome entwined her fingers in his strangely dark locks and nuzzled her cheek against his neck. "They told me you'd been killed," she whispered, and as she did so she felt his fingers tense on her back.
"Damn Naraku," he growled from deep in his throat, "He made me believe that you were dead -- that's why I didn't come after you. I tried to find you Kagome -- I tried to save you..."
"I know..."
Another moment passed in silence before Inuyasha's arms loosened their grip upon the woman and she pulled back slightly, resting her palm gently upon his cheek and gazing into the honeyed depths of his eyes. A silent promise passed between them to answer all the questions they each withheld as soon as they had the chance -- but for now there were more pressing matters at hand.
"Come on," he murmured conspiratorially, "We don't have much time -- let's get the hell out of here."
"Right," she replied with a nod, already reaching within herself for the reserves of determination and savvy that had fallen into dormancy during her incarceration. "How exactly are we going to go about doing that?"
That reassuringly cocky grin flashed across his mouth, once again drawing her attention to the absence of his fangs, but she cast that question aside for the moment along with the others. "Don't worry about it -- I've got everything under control. Just follow my lead, alright?"
"Follow your lead?" Kagome repeated incredulously. "Inuyasha, we're about to try to escape from a moving train filled with Nazi soldiers whose sole purpose at the moment seems to be guarding me, and all you can give me in the way of a plan is 'follow your lead'?"
"I told you, everything's under control, alright? Just don't go doing anything stupid and we'll be fine. Now come on, let's get going."
Her brow furrowed skeptically, but she reasoned that if he was clever enough to get in, chances were he was clever enough to get back out. She just hoped that whatever this 'plan' of his was wouldn't involve anything too hair-brained.
Even as she thought this, however, her hand slipped comfortably into his, their fingers interlacing as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
As swiftly and silently as possible, he opened the door once again, peering through the gap to see that the area was free of sentries before slipping out into the narrow hallway, Kagome barely a half-step behind. They edged their way along the wall, senses tuned keenly for any sign of trouble, and Inuyasha mentally cursed his measly human ears for the millionth time, wishing fervently that he could have done this on any other night. But the risks of doing so had greatly outweighed the advantages, and in the end they had determined that this was the wisest course of action.
The sound of voices bantering in muffled German filtered through the wall of a nearby compartment, and the hanyou froze as one of them stood out above the rest. Had he more than a rudimentary smattering of German he might have been able to make out the words even through the wall, but unfortunately that was not the case.
Kagome, on the other hand, understood every word, eyes widening in panic as she hissed urgently, "He's coming!" and yanked Inuyasha's arm so that he followed her stumbling into a narrow alcove across the hall -- some sort of mini-pantry -- the pair of them pressing themselves as far into the shadows and out of sight as possible. Neither one dared so much as breath as they listened to the swish of the door and the shuffle of booted feet over the threshold, praying all the while that they wouldn't be discovered.
They shared a sigh of relief as the footsteps faded away, their eyes meeting briefly as a silent 'That was close,' passed between them. Then Inuyasha slipped a guiding arm around her waist and they ducked back into the hallway and made their way down the hall, picking up their speed a bit in the interest of avoiding any similar encounters. Whenever they came upon an occupied compartment they had to crouch low and maneuver beneath the window so as not to be observed by the soldiers within.
At last they reached the last joint in the train, only one car remaining between them and the very back door, which seemed to be their ultimate goal. Unfortunately, unlike the other cars in the train, this one was all one large lounge, lined with plush couches and chairs arranged around low coffee tables, the only exception to this rule being a single wooden dining table surrounded by straight-backed chairs and strewn with the remnants of a meal that had yet to be cleared away. Inside the lounge, as they observed from the narrow bridge linking the cars, the darkness of the outside world in contrast to the light from within shielding them from the eyes of the car's occupants, were several of what appeared to be rather high-ranking officers playing chess, smoking and chatting amiably, well-fed and relaxed. Kagome recognized one of them as a major who had been one of Kouga's personal assistants, and another of them appeared to be the flaxen-haired officer who had lead her excursions from the train the past few days, though she couldn't make out any of the others well enough to place them -- some had their backs turned, and others were either strangers to her or were otherwise obstructed from view.
"What now?" she whispered tugging at Inuyasha's arm to get his attention.
He turned back to her, muttering a small curse, seemingly deep in concentration. "I hadn't counted on them taking so long. This is going to make it a bit messier and a lot more dangerous -- are you up for it Kagome?"
She swallowed, her eyes shifting back and forth between his as she attempted to weigh their options and chances for success. At last she gave a slight nod, "We've come this far -- no point in turning back now," she said resolutely. "Just make me one promise, alright? Don't go getting yourself killed."
His mouth twisted in a wry, cocky smirk. "I'll do my best -- but only if the same goes for you."
"Deal," she murmured, and leaned forward to give him a light kiss, pulling away holding one of the two pistols he'd had stored in the belt of the uniform he wore, leaving the other for him.
"You take three and I take three?" he suggested, and she nodded in confirmation. "Right then -- ready, set...go!"
As one they burst through the door and set to picking off the officers one by one indiscriminately, taking advantage of the men's relaxed state of mind to take care of them before they had the chance to realize what was going on and retaliate with their own weapons. But when Kagome whirled upon the last man standing, she found herself pointing her gun point blank at the forehead of none other than the wolf-demon himself -- Kouga.
Her eyes widened in shock and she froze, somehow unable to pull the trigger. Kouga, likewise, stood still as a statue, his eyes glowing with emerald fire, his hand halfway to his own weapon, knowing that even with his demon speed and marksmanship he didn't have a chance with her at this range.
"Shoot him!" Inuyasha growled in urgent frustration. "Come on Kagome, what the hell are you waiting for? Shoot him and let's get the hell out of here!"
The hanyou's words ringing in her ears, Kagome swallowed thickly, unable to move her gaze from that of the man before her -- the man whose bed she'd shared, if unwillingly, for the past year, the man to whom she had given her virginity, the man she loathed and despised, and yet with whom she had had more intimate contact than with anyone else in the world. And now, she held his very life in her hands.
She couldn't do it.
Making a split second decision, Kagome quickly dropped the gun to aim at his right shoulder and fired, doing the same to his right leg, then, ignoring the wolf's howls of pain and the stream of curses he hurled after them, raced to Inuyasha's side and dragged him with her out the rear door of the train.
Once out on the back platform Inuyasha immediately took control of the situation, knowing they had very little time before reinforcements appeared to respond to the commotion, and he swept Kagome up into his arms and leapt off of the train, maneuvering their descent so that he took the brunt of the impact and then allowing the pair of them to roll like logs down the grassy embankment.
Shoving to his feet and ignoring the shooting pains in his weakened human limbs from the fall, Inuyasha dragged Kagome up as well, and they took off into the trees as breakneck speed, determined to put as much distance between them and the train as possible. Before long the screech of brakes could be heard in the distance as their escape was discovered and the train was stopped to release soldiers to recapture them, but they paid no heed, continuing inexorably in their desperate flight. Soon they could hear the sounds of the soldiers in pursuit, and Kagome began to doubt that they would make it. They seemed to be gaining on them.
"Come on, we have to keep going!" Inuyasha urged when she began to fall behind, her limbs screaming in protest. But the next second Kagome found herself slamming into the man's back, for he had stopped dead in his tracks. Stumbling and grasping his arm to maintain her balance, she peered around Inuyasha's shoulder to see what had stopped him -- and her mouth went dry in shock at the sight.
There before them, flanked by a squad of men training their guns directly upon the couple, dressed in the black overcoat and trappings of the Gestapo, stood none other than Tieresias.
A/N: Well, you know what to do!
Just two quick things before I go:
1) Sailor-scribe is back! She's opened a new account here under the pen name LunaChick82 and has begun posting chapters of her latest Inufic Beautiful Miscommunications, of which I have only read the first chapter so far, but I can hardly wait to read more (I think she's posted three chapters so far). Unfortunately she won't be reposting The Ad (which was the story that got her kicked off in the first place, much to the dismay of many a reader), but she said she's planning to repost Through The Rose Colored Lenses, eventually. Yay!
2) A friend of mine has recently begun writing on fiction press under the pen name Sakabatou, and I'd really, really appreciate it if some of you guys would do me a favor and review her story Small Repairs. There's a link at the bottom of my bio if you're interested. Thanks!