Disclaimer: Inu Yasha and Juvenile Orion belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Sakurako Gokurakuin respectively and Inazuma in no way reflects upon the eventual plot of either story.
. : Inazuma : .
: . By Akikazu . :
. : Chapter Twenty One : .
"Okasan! Okasan I was going to tell me baby brother a story but I don't know what to tell him. Will you tell one to both of us?"
Kun Loon smiled down at her young daughter in amusement and patted her bulging stomach.
"How do you know that it's going to be a boy, Kagome?" What if it's a girl?"
Kagome shook her head, "no okasan, I was a brother."
"Then he must be a boy," Kun Loon laughed.
Her daughter tugged on her arm again.
"Tell us a story okasan!"
"Alright. What story would you like to hear?"
"A new one! One that I've never heard before."
"Okay. Once upon a time there was a boy born into a family of hunters. The hunter boy was thought to be one of the best hunters in the whole kingdom. One day the boy saw and fell deeply in love with his king's daughter and the princess felt very much the same for the handsome hunter boy."
"My brother wants to know if the princess was pretty," Kagome interrupted.
Kun Loon smiled and nodded, "she was the most beautiful girl in all the lands. And though princes from far and wide asked her to be their bride, the Princess only had eyes for the Hunter. The King, however, didn't want her lovely daughter to marry a common man and told the Hunter that if he completed the quest he gave him he would be allowed to marry the Princess. The King didn't think that the Hunter could complete the quest even if he was fool enough to try."
"What was the quest?" Kagome asked, her eyes wide.
"The King told the Hunter that he had to go out and kill the witch that lived on the other side of the kingdom. So the Hunter said goodbye to his love and left to fins the witch. He traveled for a long time but eventually came the place where the witch lived. The Hunter waited till the witch was asleep and killed her in a single blow. The witch's blood splashed everywhere and got into his eyes dieing them dark with blood and gold for each drop of blood spilt from the defenseless witch. The hunter then began to make his home, hoping that now the King would let him be with his love."
"But okasan, what happened to the Princess?"
"After the Hunter had left on his quest the King locked his daughter in the top of his highest tower. The princess grew increasingly lonely as the days passed and cried her sorrows every day. The Princess cried so much that her tears washed her eyes blue. Eventually the Hunter came home and forced the King to honor their agreement. The Hunter and Princess were reunited and married shortly after.
"And they lived happily ever after," Kagome chirped.
"Yes, and they lived happily ever after."
Kagome clapped, "okasan that was such a pretty story. My brother liked it too!"
Again Kun Loon smiled.
I . I . I . I . I . I . I . I . I . I .
"Young master Itsuki, welcome back."
"My mother sent for me," Itsuki prompted, not returning the greeting.
The secretary ignored the slight and nodded, "Itsuki-sama is waiting for you down in the labs."
Itsuki nodded and walked to the elevator. The elevator gave a little jolt and started down as Itsuki leant against its back wall moodily. A messenger from his mother had found him just as they had started to search for Kagome. His mother had the worst sense of timing in his opinion. He was still upset with her because of her reconciliation with E.G.O. though she had previously been banished by the faction when he had been a young child. And now she was pulling him from the search for Kagome.
The door slid open and Itsuki stepped out. His mother instantly moved forward to greet him.
"Naoya, I'm happy that you've come. I have some interesting things to show you."
Itsuki nodded and followed his mother towards the back of the labs, where the holding chambers were located. His mother led him to the first chamber.
"Naoya, for the longest time E.G.O. has been looking to take hold of the Aquarian Age."
"I know," he muttered.
"Our last attempt was to breed a person with all of the factions in their genes, with E.G.O. having the strongest presence. We worked on it for a long time and we had finally bred a child with one forth Darklore, Eraser, Arayashiki, and Wiz-Dom blood in her. I was put in charge of the 'experiments' save for the time in the hospital for my pregnancy. Several years after you, Haruna, and experiment one zero were born the experiments escaped. Only one experiment was recaptured and, as it was an insignificant experiment, I was banished from the E.G.O. facilities. I redeemed myself a while back when I located and recaptured one experiment but image my pleasure when I stumbled upon and caught the most important experiment earlier today."
"What does this have to do with me?" Itsuki asked.
"Patience, Naoya. I'd like to show you experiment zero eight, the experiment I recaptured a while back."
His mother opened the door and walked in and Itsuki followed after her. The room was the blank whiteness that he had become accustomed to with the time he spent in the labs. The only spot of color was the woman sitting in the corner in a white hospital gown. Her dark hair was stark against the white walls.
"Hell again, experiment zero eight."
The dark hair moved and a face was revealed. She looked at them with a fierce dislike burning in her eyes.
"Have you come to taunt me again, Itsuki-san?"
The woman's eyes were dark with violate emotions directed at his mother. What caught his attention was that her facial structure was oddly familiar to Itsuki.
"No, zero eight, in fact I've brought me son down here to meet one zero."
The woman's eyes turned towards him and he could see the flickers of hate that smoldered there.
"Stay away from my daughter, murderer," she spat. "Your son has your eyes, Itsuki-san. I'm sure his hands are stained with as much blood as yours."
"If you insist upon insulting my son, zero eight, we'll take our leave."
His mother swept out of the room but Itsuki hesitated in following. Slowly he approached the woman in the corner, ready to jump back if she lashed out at him.
"I can help you get out," he said.
"I don't need your type of help," she hissed.
He stood with a sigh and left to follow his mother. He knew he wouldn't be able to reason with the imprisoned woman. Itsuki had to hurry in order to catch up with his mother.
"One zero's powers had become active so we had to put her in a tank full of sedatives."
They entered the last holding chamber. There was a tank set up in the middle of the chamber. A female body was floating in the tank's liquid and her dark hair swirled around her.
"This is experiment one zero."
"Mother why have you brought me here?" Itsuki asked once again.
She simply smiled at him.
"Well Naoya, in order to complete this project we need one zero to bare the child of an E.G.O. member. There are only a handful of males in the E.G.O. faction but it has already been predicated that it will be your child that one zero will carry. One zero is to be your 'mate', to put it crudely."
Itsuki's eyes widened marginally at what his mother was telling him.
"Power restraints are being brought up and we'll take her out after putting them on her. Then we'll leave you two to do as you would," she continued. "Hopefully she'll be with child before the months out."
The door opened slightly and his mother briefly stopped her speech in order to retrieve the power restraints. She moved to the side of the tank and climbed up a latter, carefully she balanced the box containing the power restraints on the tank's edge.
"Naoya come help me," she ordered.
He did as she ordered without thinking, his mind still lost from his mother's earlier announcement. He looked down at his "mate" and caught sight of her face.
It was Kagome.
His mother pressed a button and the liquid in the tank began to drain out.
"Grab her wrist and pull her out, Naoya."
Again he obeyed, and cradling her still form to him he set her down on the bed that inhabited one corner of the room. His mother pressed more buttons and the tank sank into the floor. She then came to stand by his side.
"She rather pretty," she said.
He nodded, his voice not responding in a favorable manner.
"I'm glad you agree, it make your part easier." She tapped her wrist watch. "I'm going to have to leave you two. I have a meeting coming up. I trust you'll do what you have to Naoya."
She left with waiting for his response and Itsuki sat on the edge of the bed, overwhelmed. Looking down at the unconscious girl laying behind him, he knew that he couldn't follow his mother orders. Itsuki had never been very loyal to the E.G.O. faction in the first place, only his loyalty to his family kept him from prompting Mana to put an end to their ridiculous yet extensive scheming. His family, beside Haruna, had never been particularly close but they were blood and he hadn't been able to turn away from that.
Now they were asking him to rape a girl in order for them to continue their plans. Itsuki would have never been able to do even if he hadn't known the girl. But he did know her, it was Kagome. Kagome had lost her father, spent the first years of her life treated as an experiment and prisoner, and had to put her mother in the hospital because of his mother and family.
It all boiled down to the fact that he was going to have to betray his family in order to rescue Kagome.
His hand stroked through Kagome's wet hair and shut down the part of his brain that was pondering the consequences of betraying his family. Instead he began to formulate a plan to get Kagome out of here. He would like to get her mother too but knew that she wouldn't come with him willingly even if he had Kagome and resolved to have her rescued at a later date.
Rising he went to the door and peaked out. No one was guarding the door to the chambers but there were many E.G.O. psychics between the holding chambers and the elevator door. Softly he shut the door and again he looked around the room, examining every inch of the enclosed space. There were no windows but given the knowledge he had of the hospital's schematics he guessed that there was a water pipe that ran parallel to the holding chambers to supply them with fresh water.
Giving his best guess Itsuki placed his hand on the wall and used his hallucination powers to give him a visual of how the pipe laid. Making precise cuts with the wind Itsuki carved a tunnel of sorts into the pipe. He checked the other side of the tunnel to be sure that his estimations were correct and found that he could fit Kagome through the tunnel and the water pipes would network them to an outlet outside of the hospital.
Itsuki went back into the chamber and took the power restraints off her wrist. The small metal bracelets fell to the floor with a clank. He maneuvered her and shifted her onto his back, prepared to carry her as he had during their trip to the graves. She settled onto his back comfortably with a small mutter and Itsuki headed out through the hole in the wall.
Seconds later Itsuki was hiking through a tunnel, his legs in cold water up to his knees and a soft body pressed to his back. Kagome's head shifted and Itsuki could feel her breath whispering across his neck, causing him to shiver.
"I'll do my best to keep you safe Kagome," he promised.
Deeper into the water tunnel they went.
. : End Chapter : .
: . Author's Note . :
A short chapter and a cliffy I bet you all want to kill me. At least this chapter is on time! Still there are only three chapters and an epilogue to go. Feel the angst people.
So, thinking ahead I think the next chapter of this story is due out on Spring Break, which is also the time I'm getting my wisdom teeth removed… yeah…
This chapter features Itsuki! And pretty much no one else, except for the beginning part. I hope you peoples get the hint from that segment. Kagome's eyes will remain blue!
Muichimostu is next!
Sayonara people
. : Next Time : .
Noya: a puzzle that transcended time
Darklore and Erasers: the greater of evils
The destruction of a race
Itsuki: Gathering forces