Night hounds – Inuyasha fanfic story.
Disclaimer – Inuyasha and all the characters in it belong to Rumiko Takahashi, I'm simply borrowing them for non-profitable reasons.
Spoiler notes: nothing really, I've started writing it after the anime finished, but it contains no spoilers, it can be read once you've passed the episode of Inuyasha with the dragon, I guess. However, if you're a manga reader, some parts may contradict with what happened after the anime ended, so please do your best to ignore those contradictions and focus on the story.
Other notes: seeing as some of the story takes place outside of Japan, I've taken special notice to care for the differences between nations, therefore, do not be offended if the characters treat people from a nationality different of their own (Japanese) differently, same goes with languages.
Historical notes: I've taken the liberty of mentioning a bit of historic events in the story, I've studied a bit of Japan's history in high school (it's funny saying so; it's been less than a month since I've finished high school), and of course, anime series mention a lot of historical references, if you need some explaining on those events, then review and ask me to do so.
Chapter 01: 509 years later.
It started out as another normal day for Kagome, She woke up at her office at 5:40, and without even a cup of coffee she was already walking over to an important meeting, this one was about the increasing amount of low rate criminals in Japan. Which wasn't in Kagome's field of action, but her superiors still wanted her to participate in the meeting, if only to keep her head sharp. Plus, she had a promotion waiting for her next week; she couldn't afford to be less than her best.
30 minutes later, after the meeting was over without any decision, she finally walked over to the office showers, most of her co-workers have either showered before or just arrived from their houses, she got undressed and entered the shower, she didn't have to worry about guys peeping at her, those types of guys would have never passed the third exam to get the job.
"Things defiantly changed" She thought to herself, "Nine years ago, I thought that I knew my world, and since then... I can't even begin to understand everything that I'm involved with" Secrecy was top priority, she barley knew her co-workers names, she got orders only from her direct boss, and she never heard anything about the supreme commander of the forces... her agency was Japan's top secret organization, it rooted back to the Feudal ages, and not once has it been branched to the outside world.
"Strange world, I wonder what made me go to that job interview at the first place.." it was after she graduated, as top student of the school, she had many scholarships to choose from, at any kind of school she could think of: art, science, politics, everything was open for her, every big institution sent her letters, calling her to join them and get "Easy living", "High Salary", "Grand bonuses" and other goods, only one form stood out.
It was an invitation to the personal interview, it said nothing about her salary, pension terms or vast goodies, it was almost mocking her, asking her 'do you think you're the best? Do you have what it takes?' it didn't specify what kind of job was it, or even for whom she would work, but it still got her interested. No, in fact, that was what got her interested, she lived through the hardships of the feudal ages, after such an experience she could never go back to living a peaceful lifestyle.
She walked out of the shower and wore her clothes quickly, she still had to go to her real briefing about today's actions, she suspected that another small rate youkai was trying to interfere with the human world again. Most of the youkais were extinct over the years, and the ones who survived were either those who tried to infiltrate into the human society, or the ones strong enough to hide themselves for long periods of time.
"I'm glad you could join us, ms. Hirugashi, now please take your seat and listen" Her boss and coworkers from cell 03 didn't even look at her, they were all far too experienced to waste time on such trivial things like one's face, the gap between steps was usually a more accurate way of identity verification for them. Kagome quickly sat down on her chair, the motto of the Night Hounds was encrypted on the wall: "For the kids of tomorrow" was the short version, it didn't sound like a motto of the feudal ages time, but the complete version was twice as confusing:
"For the kids of tomorrow, one year from now and for those who will be born 500 years from today"
Those words were traced exactly 500 years back, but no one could figure out what drove the two brothers to use that sentence when they created the organization, it was the only institution that survived Japan's changes unharmed, even when the westerns came, they weren't found and continued working toward their goal of keeping Japan safe.
At seven thirty, Kagome walked out to the street like most of Tokyo's normal residents, her mission wasn't due to begin until nighttime, so she had a full day to act like a normal person and to see the world through the eyes of an ordinary person. In Kagome's case it meant going to her second work and sitting behind the desk all day. She tried to take confront in the fact that one of her co-workers was a toad youkai, and she could try to milk information out of him, but then she remembered that today was his free day from work.
"Smelly frog…" She muttered, "I'd just love to blow a bullet through you head some day…" this kind of thoughts would terrorize her mind when she was younger, but today, they were another part of Kagome's life, just like lying to her mother and brother about her work, and just like using men for one evening and then dumpin' them like a yesterdays paper (actually, she stayed with them until she was sure they have fallen head-over-hills for her, and only then she got rid of them).
"It's all his fault"
That one sudden thought caused her to stop moving, she mentally slapped herself. She should have known that it would happen, it was what he wanted from the start, and she was just part of the road he had to take to get to his goal. She promised herself that she'll never think about him, and most defiantly never cry about what happened. Never.
But those thoughts still got her into a bad mood, whatever youkai she'll have to hunt this night, he won't get away easily if he would try to put up a fight, not at all.
Sometimes Kagome wondered what would have happened to her if she hadn't joined the night hounds, adrenaline was her drug since she went to the feudal age, striving for excellence in school was one way to pump herself up, and so was pointing a gun to a demon's head after a long trail. Kagome secretly laughed inside her, her first guess was that if she wouldn't have joined the night hounds, then she would become a criminal herself.
"Funny how the wheel turns around" she smiled to herself, not many people got to see her smile nowadays, even less got to see her tears, she claimed that she run out of them both long time ago. "Too bad, Sango used to say I have a wonderful smile" she mentioned to herself, Kagome tried to avoid thinking about Sango and Miroku, their memories were always tainted with the memory of Inuyasha.
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Nighttime came, Kagome finally left her second office and headed out for the rendezvous spot, in which she had her personal gear waiting for her, and the newest information about today's mission. She wondered what kind of youkai will he turn out to be, most of the species were extinct since the feudal age, most of the youkai were bug and rodents youkais: Flees, mosquitoes, rats and mice. The records of the canine races were lost during the revolution, but Kagome hoped that they have all died. Painfully.
While Kagome was sulking in her own happy world of drowning puppies (in poison acid), a strange man suddenly bumped into her. Kagome first thought of reaction was to pull out her gun and shoot him between the eyes, she quickly dismissed that solutions for three factors, the first; she didn't have her gun with her at that point. The second, shooting someone in the middle of the street will cause a commotion, and the third: the man that bumped into her was bleeding, badly.
"Are you o.k, mister? What happened to you?" she asked him, then she realized that he looked very familiar, she took a closer look at his face, she recognized him immediately from her office, it was her boss, not someone that would die easily, she was pretty sure that she heard him bragging about escaping from a cave of rat youkais drug dealers.
But he was still bleeding, she run her hand on his back, looking for a bullet entry hole or another indication for the murder weapon, her fingers came across something hard and long that was stuck in his back, it wasn't cold as metal was supposed to be and it was too long to be a knife anyway, but it was at the perfect size to be an arrow.
"I see that guys are still willing to die for your sake, and I was just trying to immobilize him" the words came with a dead voice and a dark feeling attached to them, Kagome couldn't exactly place the voice but she was sure it was a woman speaking.
"Now, tell me, where is that filthy traitor?" the voice asked, Kagome heard a string being pulled; it didn't take much for her to realize that there was another arrow pointed at her. The attacker came close to street lamp, she was indeed a female, she looked like a modern high-class woman of Tokyo, but Kagome still couldn't shake the feeling that something was familiar about her.
"Expert archery, longer hair in a back low ponytail, white and red clothes…" Kagome started thinking, imagining the woman in a different style of appearance, everything came back to her, it was Kikyo pointing an arrow at her… but she couldn't understand why, Kikyo was supposed to have everything she could want. The shikon jewel gave her life, Naraku was dead and she even had Inuyasha with her… as far as Kagome could see, Kikyo had a perfect, eternal life.
"Don't try to fool around with me; I know Inuyasha came to Japan last month... Surely he had contacted you" Kikyo said sharply, not giving away any emotion other than hate, which wasn't directed only at Kagome.
Something red blinkered suddenly at the edge of the street, it was moving fast and away from them, in Kagome's line of sight but behind Kikyo, it wore a red kimono and had a long white hair, Kagome focused her eyes on him, and then she saw that it wasn't only the kimono which was red, he was also bleeding. Inuyasha.
"Is he escaping? Is her trying to run away? Is she going to shoot him? Did she shoot him before?" Kagome struggled with the dilemma of choosing her next action, she always believed that if the chance would come she would get her vengeance on Inuyasha for leaving her, and under that logic she would have to point Kikyo to Inuyasha's direction.
But she couldn't, he was bleeding and running away, the thought of calling him to help her passed in her mind, but Kagome quickly dismissed it, she wasn't the same girl she used to be, she didn't need or want his help. The only solution she could come up was to stay silent and hope that Inuyasha would manage to escape…
Kikyo stared deeply at Kagome's face "Don't try to trick me, little girl, your eyes tell me everything", in a sudden motion, she turned around and released the arrow in freighting speed, in less than a second, the arrow already hit the other side of the street, the exact spot that Inuyasha was supposed to be. Kagome could only breathe in relief that Kikyo missed her target.
"To hell with it! I missed him!" Kikyo cursed and started running, she already placed another arrow in her bow.
A car stopped next to Kagome, "get in, fast! Before Kikyo realizes it was an illusion and comes back!" Someone yelled to her from the car, but once Kikyo left and the adrenaline count went down, Kagome was too shocked to even move. "Don't just stand there! Get in already, don't worry about Inuyasha, he's not even in Asia anymore!" he called once again, but this time, he also pulled her into the car and started accelerating.
Several minutes afterward, Kagome was tired from the silence in the car, she looked at the indoors of the vehicle, it wasn't a sports car, but it was defiantly something close to it, it had blackened windows and Kagome could tell they were going 150KMH. From what she could tell, the driver was almost 10 years younger than her, barley a teenager, but what amazed her the most was the giant symbol on the inner roof.
Two swords circling Japan, one sword was large and vicious and the other was slim an elegant, it was the symbol of the night hound's organization, and only high ranked members were allowed to carry it around, even her boss wasn't allowed to carry a picture of it outside of the building, so that if he somehow loses his equipment, there would still be no evidence of the NH organization.
"Yep, she's a beauty, ain't she? Inu paid a lot to get it modified to Japan… he said I shouldn't attract attention by having the steering wheel on the right …" the boy said, but as far as Kagome could think, the boy wasn't in the legal age to get a driving license, let alone be part of the night hounds.
"When you said earlier that it was an illusion, what did you mean?" Kagome asked him, human illusion specialists were rare and most of them used their abilities for crime, even those who worked with the night hounds were always treated with suspicion.
"sorry about that, even my illusions can't trick Kikyo, so I had to get to her through you, don't worry about Inu, he's perfectly safe" he answered, "good, we've gotten far enough from Tokyo, I don't like driving in the city, we'll take the long route around so we'll be able to meet our boss in an hour or so" he continued.
"Our boss? Just who the hell are you anyway?" Kagome almost screamed, she didn't like the brat's attitude towards her, she didn't like the fact she just met Kikyo, and she hated the fact Inuyasha was mentioned in the conversation.
"Shippo of international affairs, direct employee of the big boss, and number one at illusions" he said proudly, Kagome could tell that it was some of the truth, but not entirely.
"The night hounds don't deal with anything that happens outside of Japan, we don't have international affairs section" she spitted the question at him, he didn't even give him her real name, no human will be called Shippo, it had to be some alias.
"Originally we didn't, but since the modernization we had to, or else everything would go to waste, we can't let Japanese youkai travel all around the world without us watching over them…" Shippo said proudly, and then he softened his voice, "It's good to see you again, you look great. I'm sorry we couldn't contact you before, but we had to hide Inuyasha from Kikyo".
That was too much for Kagome, she sent her hand to her shoe and pulled her hidden knife out, she hated being left in the dark, and the boy knew too much to be considered a friend, she wondered whether it was a bad dream or a cruel prank, she moved slowly behind him, and in a sudden movement she held the knife to his neck.
"Tell me the truth, dammit! Who are and what do you want?"
The boy kept driving steady, Kagome pointed her knife at many people, and every one and one of them showed signs of fear, whether in his breathing, in sweat or in his speech.
"I never guessed that you could've change that much, so the reports on you weren't exaggerated, you're really a murderous psychotic bitch…" he said calmly, it was well over Kagome's nerves, in a swift motion, she pulled her blade to his neck, she believed that she could take over the wheel before the car goes off track.
There was only one flaw in her plan, somehow the boy stopped the knife from connecting with his neck, and somehow, he actually managed to disarm her before she noticed. "let's take it all nice and slow, k? I'm Shippo, your friend from five hundred years ago, and you're Kagome, and you aren't a cold hearted killer".
That alone caused Kagome to hate him now twice as much as she hated him before, mostly because he was right, Kagome knew that she wasn't a killer by birth, even when she pulled the trigger against living targets, she always felt something in her heart, something always ached her, telling her she wasn't supposed to do those things.
"Shippo ha? Can you prove it?" She asked coldly.
"I should have seen this one coming… she doesn't want to believe me and expose herself emotionally" Shippo thought to himself, then he decided to play along with her, "with enough luck, we might be able to avoid having a teary scene here.." he hoped secretly.
"Just try to listen to me, ok? After Naraku's defeat and your departure, Inu and Kikyo got married and moved to Inu's old home, Sango and Miroku were mad at him for what he did to you, so they never kept in touch after that…
I'm not sure of the details, but when I came to visit him after fifty years, I've learned from Seeshomaru that Kikyo was going after Inu's life for already ten years at that point.
it seems that she was mad at him for spending too much time with Sesshomaru on their new business, and Kikyo accused him of still being in-love with you, and from that point their relationship started to go down the hill, so Sesshomaru took over the business alone"
Those were few facts that Kagome never told anyone, she never mentioned Kikyo to her family, let alone Naraku, and after everything ended, she just said that her days of being away are over. Sure, her family tried to question her about it, and they probably figured that it had something to do with Inuyasha.
Still, only her family knew those things, and they wouldn't tell anyone about it, so how was it possible for that guy to know about it? "Could it be that they kidnapped mom or Souta?" Kagome cursed herself in her mind, angry at herself for not coming back home more, not calling to talk more often, and completely ignoring her obligations as a daughter.
"Don't dwell on it too much, it'll all come clear when we get there" Shippo said, he pressed a button and the windows black coverage folded down into the car, Kagome looked out, they were back in Tokyo in the part of it that she was born in and lived most of her life in, they took all the streets that led exactly to her house.
"Why are here?" she asked, there was no mistake they passed the garden near her house, and the car started slowing down, until complete stop.
"We're meeting the big boss here, his brother's love for the god-tree kinda grew on to him as well, damn potz… he has even less patience than in the old days" Shippo muttered silently, it was never a good idea to disrespect the man who signs your paycheck, he signaled her to step out of the car.
At the first sight, Kagome couldn't see anything besides the god-tree, she tried turning to Shippo but she couldn't see him as well, she tried focusing her eyes, "haven't I told you? Us youkais have to use illusion most of the time, don't worry, you'll get used to it with time" he said.
Kagome almost gapped in surprise when she realized that she begun seeing the air move near the tree, it become more and more clear to her the longer she stared at it, a man, not much taller than her, hiding behind a business suit and at the same time, showing off a great amount of self esteem and self confidence. Shippo took a step closer, the man turned to them and suddenly, his whole posture changed into a much more intimidating one, Kagome felt like a worm standing in front of a flamethrower.
"I got the point, Sess, you don't have to go overboard all the time... For the kids of tomorrow, one year from now and for those who will be born 500 years from today" Shippo chanted the motto in a tired voice. The man returned to his 'normal' state, "it's a matter of formality, besides, we're in the presence of another employee, how would it reflect on her if I wasn't obeying the rules I set myself?" he asked sharply, leaving no space to conversation.
"I'm not one to argue with you, sir', but as you predicted, she ain't all that happy to hear the news" Shippo said, it somewhat didn't fit with Kagome's perspective of him. From what she could tell, he was an 'in your face' person, that sort of bowing down to a peer, even if he was a superior, didn't seem as something he would normally do.
"That only means us two will have to deal with more useless luggage, but the situation isn't something we can't handle, at least not yet"
"Not yet...? what could he mean by that" Kagome thought to herself, for some reason, he seemed to her as an invincible being, and she was quite sure he also thought of himself as one, but the worrying tone in his voice was real.
"Agent Hirugashi, go and change inside the car, we'll be leaving shortly, and we have to get you out of your clothes" The man handed her a package and threw her the keys, "Me and Agent Shippo will go over the final details" she started stepping silently to the car.
"pure bred idiots! With a ride like this, I could escape from here to Nagoya before you'd even think about the possibility that I've run away!" Kagome smiled to herself, the two men were too caught up with their delusional plans to even consider what she could do with the car keys. She moved into the front sit and inserted the key.
Something broke, she instantly realized it was the key, the car had different key for opening it and igniting the engine.
"I'm not someone to be thought of as a fool, Agent Kagome. Move to the back sit and get dressed already, we never know when that neurotic woman would figure out where are we and come here to put some arrows through your beloved family" He entered the car, she almost immediately did as he said, without even thinking about it, only when she was completely naked she realized that she was clothes-less in front of what might be a pair of Mirokus.
"Don't sweat it, me and Sesshomaru here saw more naked women then you can imagine, I'll go slow for a while, but we're on a tight schedule, so once you've put on the cloths, I'll step on it" Shippo entered the car as well, Kagome swore at herself for not noticing that Sesshomaru was the one who gave her the keys, and because of the incident, they'd be much more caution to her future actions.
"I wonder, didn't the psychological profile indicate Agent Kagome would be constantly hugging you to make up for all the lost time? In my eyes she's acting fairly normal, almost as if the matter doesn't directly relate to her."
"Don't sweat it, our men also mentioned the possibility she'll be blocking some stuff for a while, it might be for the best, sir, it would make it harder for Kikyo to trace us"
Kagome took a look at the clothes she was told to wear, everything was freshly bought, perhaps even today, the shirts were made by a western company and wouldn't stand out in about 70 of the world.
"Kagura should be waiting for us, she's supposed to be very near, I suggest you make arrangements for the car to be stalled away, I'm sure driving it would be hazardous in the next month"
"Speaking of other agents, do you have any news about Bossuke's condition? He took an arrow before I was able to secure Kagome"
"I've been informed about Agent Bossuke by Agent Jaken, I was told that he is in the clinic getting cared of, the arrow didn't carry much killing intent, I believe that Kikyo was tailing Agent Bossuke in order to attack Kagome while the mission was in progress, but Agent Bossuke has noticed and confronted her, forcing her into early action.
"Such an amazing man, you've sure made a good choice with Bossuke, who'll be taking over the office until the recovery?"
"I've told Agent Jaken that until agent Bossuke's return, Agent Managemaru will be head of that section, in top of that, I've told him to keep his toad-ly ass next to the desk and inform me if something new happens."
"You're truly sick and tired from his rumblings as well, aren't you? Can't blame you for it, hearing his briefing for two hours was over the line for me, so I guess 500 hundred years is even more then you can take. Anyway, you sure are lucky that the Kenhito brothers work for you, I can't think of any human better fitted to the job than them."
"Kagura is here, so I'll request you to lock your mouth and stop the car. You too, Agent Kagome, any offense made to Kagura is an offense made to me".
END of chapter one.
Well, it's been a while since I've published something, be sure to check back in a few days for more, as I plan to at least realese what I've wrote before getting drafted to the army. Also, feel free to review, as I'm an insecure person who needs constant attention.
more information in my bio page, now, I'll be off to find the latest inuyasha chapter. don't forget to review.