Ooh, I've finally gotten some reviews, so the story is updated!
Now, one of my favorites, chapter four, with the complete insight of Kagome's malfunctioning brain, and also some flashbacks!
Chapter 04: Clearing one's head.
(Kagome's P.o.V – it's still not over, apparently)
I'm not sure how long I sat there on the park bench, it had to be at least a few hours, the sun was already setting, I replayed what happened all over again.
When I woke up, the woman I saw was defiantly Kanna, her appearance was older, but it was her. But how did I get there? Thinking back, the house seemed well cared for, so she probably hadn't left it to kidnap me. So who did?
The boy who I met earlier? A possibility, but seemed unlikely, he couldn't have done it alone, if I managed to escape his grasp today, then I could have done so when we first met, it meant the list of suspects was growing bigger.
And then there was Bossuke, I still couldn't recall why he said he was attacked, but if our years of knowing each other meant anything, then he was speaking the truth.
I heard someone speaking Japanese, I turned to the source of the voice, it was a young couple with a kid, the kid looked familiar to me. Then I remembered, the girl's name was Karin, I met her this morning, at Kanna's place, she did seem awfully similar to someone. I tried envisioning her in a traditional kimono and replacing her neatly hair with one that grows wild. It struck me immediately, Rin.
Did she also travel in time? No, I already reached the conclusion it wasn't possible, and the girl here seemed much more polite than I remembered Rin to be, so this Karin girl must have been a descendant of her, at least that made some sense.
One issue was clear, at least, now it was time for me to connect whatever dots I had.
First, I was kidnapped from Japan, and brought over to Kanna, it seemed that Kanna actually lives here in New Zealand, so the kidnapping probably was never meant to end here, it was only a stop. Second, Karin was related to Rin, but then I remembered what Kanna said, she mentioned something about Sango and Kohaku, I turned my eyes to the mother of the girl, she did have some Sango-like traits. Did it mean that she also had some of sango's blood in her? No, that was just wrong, I corrected myself, the girl had Kohaku's blood in her, so it was natural that she shared some traits with his sister.
So far, so good. Rin and Kohaku married in the past, sounds reasonable, they were a tide close to each other, so it wasn't impossible. If so, then how did Kanna fit in? did she look over the family? She said 'every generation', so she might have bee watching over them. But why? She had no connection with Rin, but maybe it was for Kohaku?
No. it didn't make sense, Kohaku helped us kill Naraku, she wouldn't want to help him, would she?
Then again, Kagura was also created from Naraku, and she tried escaping from his grasp, so maybe Kanna was the same? When I thought about Kagura I realized something, Bossuke said that Kanna was the sister of the commander's girl friend, which meant Kagura was involved in this business as well, it did make sense. She could fly, and if she managed to improve her speed enough, than she could have kidnapped me with her abilities and bring me here without going through the airport.
"But who is Kagura with?" I tried asking myself, who would fit that crazy woman and be important enough to run the night hounds? I honestly didn't know her very well, but I guessed it was a youkai…
"Can't be Kouga, he hates her" but who knows, maybe he fell in love with her? not likely, but still an option.
"Defintally not Sesshomaru, that bastard couldn't love anyone" at least on that I was clear.
"Not Inuyasha, it can't be him" it couldn't be, at least I hoped so.
"That leaves? Shippo…" well, that thread of thought lead me to the conclusion I don't know the identity of whoever she was with.
But Shippo, I recalled hearing that name lately. Did the fox youkai still live? Probably, since he had Inuyasha to take care of him, at least I hoped so. Did youkai live that long anyway? Maybe Kagura and Kanna were special cases since they were detached from a bigger youkai? It's no use thinking about that, I decided.
The only thing which was important was to get my head in the right track, preferably by suddenly remembering what happened last night.
Well, nothing came back; it meant that I had to continue connecting the dots.
Bossuke said I was in a hostile free environment, did it mean that I attacked an innocent bystander which happened to be a youkai? No, he came to me, which meant that he recognized me, and he did know my name, so he was also a part of this. Also he mentioned Kanna. Did she mention him? I tried thinking back to this morning, everything was so blurry in my memory, but she did say a name, now, If only I could recall what it was…
Shippo.
Ok, this was getting a little out of hand. Kanna, Kagura and Shippo, too many familiar youkai names to suck it up as coincidence. The picture from the dots I've been connecting was a bit clearer now, it stated quite clearly that I'm, in fact, an idiot.
/\
"So, that will be four tickets to London, sir?" the receptionist girl handed him the tickets, this was new sight for her, the two who ordered the tickets weren't from new Zealand, she could that for sure, but it didn't seem they were on vacation either, else they would have tickets for the flight back home. But that wasn't for her to matter in, she knew this not only because she was told many times not to ask the customers any questions, but also because the man seemed to be one who doesn't like his authority being judged.
"Too bad", she thought to herself, the man was amazingly handsome in her eyes, and he didn't have a marriage ring, but one look at woman next to him told her that any further thought about that subject was pointless.
"Why are we going to London?" Kagura asked, implying again that if things were up to her, they would have been going to someplace more romantic.
"It's easier moving inside the mainland, so I want to get through with that island as soon as possible" Sesshomaru answered, touring over Britain would take no more than 3 days if they got separated, and once in Europe, they could cover more ground.
"But doesn't Kagome speak English? It can be quite troublesome if she runs away there, if we go to Paris or Madrid we won't have to worry about it…" Kagura replied, now completely convincing Sesshomaru that she had different plans for the trip.
"That possibility isn't one we can overcome by just being at a different country, we'll have to confirm that Shippo can convince Agent Higurashi and make her realize her past errors".
/\\\\
"What d'hell is she doing?" Shippo asked himself, 'this time' he said to himself, 'she won't get me like that'. But words aside, he knew very well that if Kagome attitude hasn't changed, than nor would the outcome of any future match between the two, and that meant that this time, he'd have to keep the atmosphere at a non-violent level.
"There she is, sitting on a park bench" Kanna said, the mirrors in her house weren't only because of her fashion taste, they served for quite a variety of purposes, and today they were used for the tracking of the Japanese agent Higurashi Kagome.
"Got it, I'll get to her in a few minutes, can I borrow some clothes, a hat maybe?" He asked, his appearance now drew stares while walking down the street, and even though the seal on his powers were removed, in this day and age, youki didn't have as much meaning as it used to.
"I have some of Sesshomaru's clothes in the back, maybe something will fit you, but before you leave, let me tell you one thing: Karin is at the park right now, so you better not get her into troubles, got it?"
Shippo sighed, he always believed he was born 10 years too late, if he had those ten years, he might have had developed enough power and experience to actually be the one threatening other demons.
"well, that might make things easier, she won't try to kill me if she sees that Karin knows me, right?"
"She won't, you are in your true form now, so get out" Kanna said.
So he did. Started walking straight out the door, now with two additional layers of clothing on him, felt his skin burning like hell.
Less than ten minutes later, he was standing next to park entrance, he stared at her, she had yet to notice him. "At least she didn't improve that much with her spirit energy" he said to himself, from what he remembered, Kagome had as much power as Kikyo did, and had she learned to control it, things could get even worse.
A second before he entered the park, Karin walked over to Kagome. At the same moment, he was glad he was in the youkai form, now his hearing was good enough to hear the conversation.
"Hel-hello" the small girl stuttered in Japanese, "you're also from Japan, right one-san?", Shippo sighed again, her parents were letting her watch too much movies from the homeland, nobody should address others like that anymore..
"Yes, I'm also from Japan, just like you Karin-chan" Kagome cursed herself the moment she finished the sentence; she wasn't supposed to let the girl know she knew her name.
"did you come with Shippo and Kagura?" the girl asked, this confirmed Kagome's suspicion, Kagura was the one to kidnap them, and a youkai named Shippo was also involved, but to the question of whether it was the Shippo she once knew, she still didn't have any answer.
"I think so, was there someone else with us?" Kagome asked, child innocence was good in some occasions; young ones were quite easy to reveal any information. With this question, she could verify exactly how many people were involved in the kidnapping.
"Maybe slim-sword nii-san was with you, he never talks to me… but his brother came by a few weeks ago, and he took the big sword Kanna ba-san hided in the secret room"
For Kagome, this meant that she was up against either four or five unknowns. From which she defeated one.
"Karin, your mother is looking for you"
Kagome heard the voice coming from behind the bushes, she recognized it immediately, memories of the previous fight rushed to her mind, she cursed herself for not keeping the knife from before.
"And what is your name? you usually don't have the sword out on the open, so I'm guessing you're the one she called Shippo, aren't you?" she still didn't move from the bench.
"Exactly, Kagome. It looks like you're having a mental block of yesterday's events, so I'll have to go through everything again"
"Why should I trust you?" she asked.
"I don't ask for your trust, I'm only asking you to hear me out" he took something from beneath his clothes and gave it to her, "Will this be enough? Now you're the one with the weapon" he said.
"go ahead, but I'll be the one asking the questions" she answered, taking a look a the sword, from what she could tell, it dated back about 400 years ago, cold steel, probably an early work of some famous blacksmith. "First, how did I get involve in this situation?".
"ya' ain't holding back, auh? I would much rather wait with this question to the end…" he looked at her, her eyes told him that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
"Well, but if you insist.. a few centuries ago, a deal was made between one of the higher ups in the chain of commands and, let's call it, a rather important person…."
"Wait a second, what do you mean centuries ago? And how are you connected to the NH?" she growled at him.
"Listen, I can only answer one thing at a time, so let me finish the goddamn answer"
"Sorry, go ahead"
"As I was saying, a deal was made; in order to keep that person from attacking something which was rather precious to him he had to leave Japan about a hundred years ago. But last month, a sudden accident made him return to Japan, and that triggered the events which you are part off"
"I don't get it, how can anyone live for centuries?"
"as you probably know by now, the NH was created and is ran by youkais such as myself, we have some lingering business from ages ago" he answered, trying as hard as possible not to mention any name that might set Kagome off.
"Why do youkais care so much about what happens to humans? Should you be the ones we are hunting?"
"yes, that was originally the cause, as you remember, back in the feudal ages there were many murderous youkais, so the older of the two brothers decided that a cleansing was in order, I think the exact words were 'I find this situation unbearable, get my useless brother over here so I could beat some meaning into his life', yes, that was what he said, and just like that, everything started". That type of sentences suddenly sounded very familiar to Kagome, she couldn't help but wonder if she had met that person.
"and you joined because? And what of Kagura and Kanna, why did they join?"
"oh, that's easy, family relations, Kagura was with the older brother, Kanna decided that it would make Kohaku's life a bit easier, and for me it was something to do".
This was getting tiresome for Shippo, he wondered how much time it would take her to ask about Inuyasha. He thought he inserted more than enough clues to tip her off; yes Kagome seemed to completely ignore every single one of them.
"So again, why am I here" She asked.
"as you probably know by now, we stopped here to get information from Kanna, the others are securing tickets for Europe as we speak"
"I won't go with you, you can't force me to board a flight, the security will stop you from doing so"
"listen, Kagome… You know what? Just screw it, I'm tired of explaining, Inuyasha needs you now more than ever, so when you get your mind set, we'll be waiting at Kanna's place" Shippo started walking away, his walking turned into running, and Kagome was left alone in the park.
Inuyasha?
------
"I still don't understand this thing, Sesshomaru, since when did you take this much interest in humans?" he asked, the idea itself was good, but too charitable for Inuyasha to believe that his brother didn't have something else in mind.
'Silence, I shall explain it again, if you wish, during the past 100 years, more humans were killed by youkais than in our fahter's entire reign, which lasted more than 2000 years, as far as Myoga can date"
"and, since when do you care about those things? Besides, most of them were killed by Naraku and his actions, and now the bastard is dead, so what's the point?"
"The point is what you're missing, I have spoke to Myoga and Totousai, they're both convinced that I'm not holding on to my duties as the crown prince of the western lands, normally, I wouldn't care about such things. But knowing our father, I don't believe he expected me to go around reviving hundreds of people when he entrusted this sword to me. Therefore, there was a deeper meaning to it, which I would like to know".
"So what are you thinking? That through righteous deeds enlightenment would come and enrich your mind? Don't give me that crap, Sesshomaru."
"I'm not done explaining myself, Inuyasha. Tell me, before Tensaiga, have you believed that it was possible to bring someone back to life? I mean truly back to life, not by soul depositing or necromancery"
"ahhhm… no."
"So did I, but Tensaiga proved me wrong, yet despite it's power, it cannot bring the same person back to life twice, I would like to hear what reasoning you present to this"
"I'm not sure, perhaps cosmic balance?" Inuyasha suggested.
"I forbid you from speaking such foolishness, why is it fine to revive a person once but not twice? The reason for this is within our father's tusk itself, the sword was created with the limitation"
"And for what reason did our father do so? Knowing you, I'm assuming you have an idea in mind"
"I do so indeed, our swords are twin swords, yet they were given to the both of us. I believe that since you were given the sword with the destructive power, it will be folly to assume our father wished for us to fight over them"
"So? He probably decided to give the best swords to his sons, but because he wasted one tusk on sealing the dragon, he couldn't have made a pair for each of us"
"Inuyasha, I urge you to refresh you memory, the swords were given to us before the time he fought the dragon, while he had his teeth intact. I also must remind you that the type of tooth used doesn't matter, even your back tooth is enough to deploy the Tetsugia's complete power, had he wanted, he could have created any amount of similar swords."
"Still not following, is there a point to this theorizing? And what does it have to do with ruling over Japan?"
"Inuyasha, you fool. Must I spell this out for you? Our father was the ruler of this land, and he entrusted us to keep on the safe guarding of it, me as the king, you as the general. So far I have discovered but one ability of the Tensaiga. Compared with the Tetsuaiga, which has numerous forms, if I must take over the position of this land's ruler, then so shall I do, it's all in order to reveal the true abilities of my sword'
"Couldn't you say so earlier? I was getting this discomforting feeling that you might be developing even more of a conscious. What did you have in mind?"
"I think the first thing that must be done is to make sure that there are no youkais able to defy us, so I would like to request you and your wife to travel around and verify so, if you meet one, destroy him"
"I suppose I could convince Kikyo to do so…" this time, Inuyasha hesitated.
About twenty years later, a message arrived from Inuyasha, apparently, he met with Kohaku and Rin while they're journeying to Sesshomaru himself. The news were as expected
"I understand, has he mentioned anything else about the Chinese youkais?" Sesshomaru asked the boy, though boy would now be an inappropriate term to describe the old man, who has long since reached his 50's.
"yes, Sesshomaru-dono, he said it wasn't confirmed yet, but the invaders were equipped with a new form of weaponry, he said it wasn't powerful enough to take him down, but that the appearance of it is worrying" despite the difference in appearance and the years of knowing each other, for Kohaku, Sesshomaru was still his father in law, and a damn protective one.
"I have suspicions which need to be answered, Kohaku, has my brother mentioned the name of the weapon used?"
"uhm, yes, but the word didn't sound familiar to me, I think it was called gunpowder, or something like that"
"as I feared.." that confirmed his doubts, the term wasn't new for him, so far it has surfaced in few different areas of Japan, when it did, he dispatched Inuyasha or Kagura to deal with it and erase all evidence for it's existence. And yet, after a while, be at months or years, it was there again, different people, each of them sure he was the first to construct the device, and most of them thought it fit to be used against youkais. Spears, Arrows and Swords were never a real problem to most youkai's, the power behind the weapon was dependant on the physical strength of the man using it, or in the case of holy man, the spiritual power.
Gunpowder was different, even a child could use it to attack, and it's power was enough to wound even Inuyasha and Kagura, when he considered the obvious ability of humans to improve the quality of weapons, he quickly reached the conclusion that within a century or so, a new model of the weapon will be able to inflict grave wounds on any youkai.
Obviously, that was something he couldn't allow to continue, but the news from Inuyasha meant that it wasn't his choice to make, not anymore.
"Kohaku" He said, the boy was one of the best contact personal he had, losing him would be a shame.
"yes, Sesshomaru-dono?" the old man asked.
"I have but one final mission to you, Kohaku, the next time you meet Kagura or Inuyasha, you must tell them that I wish to speak with them, explain to them that this is a first class order which cannot be ignored by any means. And…" the second part of the sentence was much harder for him to say, but the news proved this was the only possible outcome, "from this day forward, the kingdom of the western lands has never existed, erase all records of it and never utter a word of it. Instead, tell my brother that the he now belongs in the night hounds".
That was the last time Sesshomaru was seen by mere peasants of the land, several years from that day, the legendary battle of Sekigahara begun, and in that battle, 90 of Japan's youkais were killed.
/again, flashback, but different time\\\
Kagome looked at the scrolls next to her, written by two agents known as 'Tails' and 'Darkness', they contained what came to be known as the true history of Japan during the past 500 years, even if only 20 of what was written there was true, it meant that about 80 of what she knew so far was false.
According to what was written, the Sekigahare battle wasn't a mere change of the Shogunate, but rather a NH planned war against the youkais which roamed the earth.
Obviously, most people would consider that a complete lie, secret organization or not, youkais were only legends of the past, the people of Japan believed in technology, not magic.
However, for Kagome, tales of youkai were once part of her daily life, so at least that obstacle was clear, youkais existed at the past, and according to the scrolls, some were still alive.
"that makes a bit sense" she thought to herself, at least some of the creatures known as youkais were beings that surfaced by human emotions, so of course they'll still be around.
'see notes at the ending for youkai family trees'
If there was one thing she didn't expect to see there, it was a glossary, she absent mindedly looked at it and read aloud.
"Ant youkais… last known population, 50,000." She never even heard of ant youkais, and there was such a large number of them living today? She read the next names, until she reached a name she had a vague memory of.
"Abi-hime, bird youkai princess, killed at NH -65" Abi-hime, Kagome recalled that name, the bird was also being manipulated by Naraku, he gave her more power to attack villages and suck out blood, for some reason, the NH-65 meant that exact date was unknown, but it happened 65 years prior to the establishment of the night hounds.
"still, knowing about her, it mean they had a good information network, even in those days" Kagome thought to herself, she looked at the scroll again, this time, looking for other familiar names.
Naraku wasn't there, nor was Kagura or Kanna. She searched for the dog youkais reference, it was empty, she tried looking for Kikyo's name, the scroll mentioned her death by a demon and the burning of the shikon no tama. But kagome knew those events happened before she came to that time. Inuyasha's name wasn't there either.
"Higurashi! Put the scroll down, your first mission was decided. You're going to a collection with the shit-heads from the finance division" a man ordered, he was her newly appointed boss, aged at around 45, probably came from Hokkaido, that was all she knew about him.
"What's a collection?" She asked, the rest of the order was clear, the finance division was the largest one in the organization, billions of yen passed through the organization each year, and someone had to conceal those tracks. Despite it's value to the NH, the finance division men were considered to be the lowest, above 60 of them were failed applicants that couldn't handle the job well. "I'm not going to end up there" she decided.
"Collection, funds raising events, protection money, call it anyway you want, you go to a community of youkais, they pay up the tax, you leave. It's a field trip, you won't even have to talk, just stand there and look like you're keeping watch of them" he said.
"And what if they don't pay? What do we do then?" Kagome asked, she felt that mob tactics were doomed to failure when applied on races with fighting abilities above the average human.
"In that case, you still leave, and the cleaners will come tomorrow and take care of the business." He answered, Kagome didn't know who the cleaners were, but the tone of voice left no space for mistakes.
"I'll be on my way then" she said.
Two hours later, she arrived at the destination, accompanied by two men and another woman, they were slightly older than her, none of them seemed to particularly like the job. She understood why everybody treated the finance division they way they did, crappy people, crappy job, and anyone who met with them had to face the thought the he too, may one day become one those men.
The youkai community was what she expected either, Kagome told herself no to expect a green village scenery, as the location was in the outskirts of Tokyo, but still, she wasn't prepared to what she saw. A complex of tunnels inside a dumpster, she thought that at least bunny youkais would have some sort of aesthetic, but these bunnies looked like the only carrots they had ever eaten were from Hiroshima.
One of them run towards them, holding a cloth that seemed to be white once, but now it was blackish-grayish in color. The man looked at them, and suddenly stopped his run.
"Oh, it's only you" he said, looking at one of the man.
"Did you expect anyone else?" the collector asked.
"our scouts said that someone with power is coming, I guess he's out of shape if he can't tell your odor by now… we were worried that you are the cleaners" the youkai answered, as far as Kagome could tell, he was probably the elder.
"Well, I'm not a cleaner anymore, should I ask a doctor to come by and check that guy's nose? I know a few who practice as vets for their second job…"
"He'll be fine, I hope, we couldn't afford the doctor anyway, not with all the taxes you charge" the elder said, one of the younger bunnies handed him sac, and he gave it to the man.
"That's how the times are, you can't budget yourself with rice anymore" the man said, then he turned around. Kagome's first meeting with youkais since the feudal ages was over. She turned to the collector, he was the oldest of the four agents, she thought he was about 30 years old, and unlike the other two, he didn't seem to be as irritated by the profession he was forced to take.
"You were a cleaner?" she asked.
"in a way" he answered, "I have some catholic priests blood from my mothers side, and my father comes from a line of monks, so when I finished high-school the cleaners came and recruited me, said that even though it's dormant, I have enough power to be a high ranking office. But I couldn't stand the job after a few times, so I got transferred to the finance".
"I'm Higurashi Kagome, it's an honor meeting you" she said.
"The pleasure is mine; please call me Benkei, Kagome-san"
End of chapter 04.
Well, what did you think? I hope this chapter cleared some bits of the past and shade new light on whatever mysteries you might have had in mind.
And as for what the future holds? Next update will be a side chapter about the life of a side character, it'll include some terms and explanations for names, if you care about those stuff. And after that, we've got the final update with chapter 05, since I can't see myself finishing another chapter before the army drafting, so 05 will be the last chapter for a long (possibly forever) time, the good part is that chapter 05 ends quite happily, so it won't be a supreme cliff hanger.
And once again, a big thanks to the two people who reviewed, the story, it's nice knowing at least some one reads.