Chapter 20:
"Good grief!" Kirsten folded her arms and stared at the computer simulation of one of Inuyasha's memories. "That's his older brother?"
"Yes," Mykan said. "Quite formidable, I'd say. It was just a stroke of luck that Inuyasha took off his arm. You can see from his memory of the event that he didn't even know that the Tetsusaiga had transformed until after he attacked. Even so injured, this Sesshomaru is someone to be reckoned with."
"I dare say."
"And you've invited him to come and have his arm rebuilt?" Mykan shook his head. "What will you do if he accepts?"
"Build him the arm." Kirsten chewed her lip. "Having Inuyasha here is one thing – but this… man! We can contain Inuyasha through the Beads of Subjugation, but his brother cannot be similarly restrained. We'll have to find some way of binding his power."
"From our boy's memories of him, Sesshomaru seems to have a fairly highly developed sense of honour. A simple pledge might be enough."
Kirsten snorted. "Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway, we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. He may tell us to take a hike when our message reaches him."
"He'll want to bring his retainers as well. I haven't any idea what that Jaken character is, but the little girl is something we can deal with."
"Maybe the girl can be a hostage for his good behaviour."
"There's a thought. Despite the fact that he says he despises humans, he seems to care a great deal for the child. I don't think he'd like to see her taken from him."
"Okay, then. What's next?"
Mykan touched a few buttons. "This fella is Koga, a wolf-demon. Depending on the situation, he is sometimes an ally. Inuyasha doesn't like him because he also professes feelings for Kagome and insists that he will marry her some day. However, it rarely comes to more than play or dominance posturing between him and Inuyasha. In his own way, Inuyasha respects him. There was one occasion where he even rescued Koga – before Kagome suggested it.
"Kagome likes Koga, but strictly on a friendship level. However, one day soon, she will have to be very blunt about how she feels about him."
"He looks interesting."
"Oh – very. He travels currently with two of his pack, both of whom treat Kagome like a sister. I think we should explore the possibility of developing strategies to allow Inuyasha and Koga to work together. Koga also has it in for Naraku, and he's also a fairly formidable opponent."
"So let's see this Naraku fella."
Mykan grinned slyly. "Not just yet. This idea of having Koga work with Inuyasha is one that I think has a lot of merit. I pulled out a memory of a time the two of them worked together to fight two of Naraku's incarnations. Juromaru and Kogeromaru I think were the names. Neither one of the boys could have taken those two on their own – they had to work together, and did so very well. Here's a picture of those two incarnations."
"What the hell is that thing?" Kirsten stared at an image of a creature with a snake-like body, two razor-sharp appendages instead of arms, and most disconcerting, a human-like head.
Mykan grinned again. "Weird, huh? That is Kageromaru. He evidently resided inside the more human-looking one."
Kirsten shivered. "Man, that one creeps me out."
"Well, our little silver-haired friend has taken on a lot of very weird demons. Look at this one – this is a bat demon that he fought against. This memory is very strong, because the demon's granddaughter was a half-demon like him. He originally sought them out because he'd been told that he could make the Tetsusaiga stronger by slaying the guardian of the bat-demon barrier. That would be the child." Mykan pointed at the image of a very pretty little white-haired girl with amethyst eyes similar to Mykan's own.
Kirsten blanched. "He didn't kill the little girl?"
Mykan shook his head. "No. He gave up the plan when he found out that the guardian he'd have to slay was a child. However, the little girl told him that the crystal she used to focus her powers was powerful enough to give him what he needed, so with her permission, he broke the crystal instead."
Kirsten put a hand over her heart. "I didn't think he would have hurt a child."
"No – he never would. He went out of his way to try to rescue these two kids here from a demon named Goshinki who was devouring their entire village. He hadn't been in time to save their parents, but he did his best to save them, even though he'd been terribly injured. Incidentally, this was also the first time that he turned full demon.
"And look at this one – this dragon – Ryokotsusei was the name - this demon was ultimately responsible for the death of his father. I'll play the entire fight for you later – but this was another occasion where Inuyasha went postal. This demon gave him a really hard time, but somehow, he managed to slay it."
Mykan flipped through several other pictures quickly. "We'll go over these ones later, but each and every one of these characters gave our boy a really hard time.
"So here's the one you've been waiting for. This… is Naraku."
Kirsten folded her arms again and stared at the screen. "Wow."
"Yeah. He's a looker, isn't he? According to the bits and pieces of information that Inuyasha picked up from others, including Sango, Naraku took over the body of a lord's son and masquerades as this unfortunate young man. He also appears in the guise of a man in white furs with a baboon's skull over his head.
"Naraku, according to the information that the group has put together, was originally a simple human bandit named Onigumo, who had been gravely injured. Kikyo found him and was nursing him as best she could. Onigumo fell in love with her, or at least in lust, and gave what was left of his human body to demons in exchange for mobility and strength. What was born out of that encounter became Naraku.
"Now, Inuyasha never knew of Naraku's existence until after he was awoken from the spell he was put under. He had no idea that Naraku was manipulating both him and Kikyo to turn them against each other. Naraku was originally after Kikyo, who had become an amazing demon-slayer. You can see how threatening she would seem. Onigumo giving up his body was just a golden opportunity for Naraku. He thought he would kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, by turning the lovers against each other."
Kirsten harrumphed. "Sounds like a real winner."
"Oh, he's a piece of work, that one. He's the one who cursed Miroku's grandfather with the wind tunnel. And he caused Sango's whole village to be wiped out. He also holds Sango's brother as something of a hostage. The boy would die without the jewel shard that's been embedded in his back. Unfortunately, the shard also gives Naraku pretty much complete control over the boy."
"So, if we help Inuyasha kill this character, it wouldn't be a great loss to the world."
"A great help to the world, I'd say."
"Thanks, Mykan. So, can you work with Jon and Cerberus to create the solidographs I asked for?"
"No problem." Mykan rubbed at his chin. "You know, Kirsty, you should bring Christian in on this one. He's the strategist."
"Oh – I intend to. But he and Kelly are working on a shoot in Europe just now and not due back for a couple more weeks."
"Alright. We have some time then. I suggest we get the solidographs ready and start working with them. Jon's enough of a tactician that he can at least begin analyzing the battles Inuyasha's been through. Christian will want to do his own work with the data, but Jon can give him a running start, if you know what I mean."
Kirsten nodded. "I'll be real interested in seeing the complete tapes when the solidographs are finished. I'd like to see how Yasha handled himself."
Mykan smiled. "For someone who's never had any formal training until now, he's pretty impressive. You'll get a good eyeful of the others, too. As a group – well – I was pretty amazed at how well they work together considering their diverse natures. If you're considering bringing his other friends over for a visit, I'd make it an extended one if you can. It would be an opportunity for us to meld them into an almost unbeatable team."
OoOoOo
Inuyasha pulled on the gloves to the sensor suit and pronounced himself ready. It was the night of the New Moon, and true to his prediction, Kirsten had insisted on the sensor suit so she and Spider could monitor the physical changes he went through when he transformed to human.
Kirsten and Spider sat with him in one of the smaller training rooms as the half-demon went through the transformation that would make him human until sunrise. Spider had a video camera trained on him, although Cerberus was also recording the events in the room.
Inuyasha kept up a running commentary, letting them know as he felt his senses begin to dull. Kirsten checked the clock against the time of sunset she had written down from the television.
"Here it comes," Inuyasha warned, as he felt the first of the pulses pass through him.
Between one heartbeat and the next, his silky white hair became raven-hued, and his gold eyes became brown. The second his dog-ears disappeared, they reappeared as normal human ears further down on his skull. His nails became blunt and his canines shortened.
"Wow!" Spider said. "I still don't believe it."
The young man before them was still easily recognizable as Inuyasha, but there was nothing now to distinguish him from other human men, except that he wore his hair unfashionably long.
Sharon poked her head into the room. She had decided to work late and assist with some of the equipment. Spying the changed Inuyasha, she wolf-whistled, causing him to blush.
"Well," Kirsten grinned. "I guess it's a good thing Kelly isn't here right now. She'd have you roped into being a model for her next shoot and be crowing about how many pairs of jeans you'd sell."
"He'd be terrific," Sharon said. "If only he'd smile. I don't like the broody male models – do you? They always look like spoiled little boys to me."
"What's a model?"
"A model is a man or woman who demonstrates clothing or other items in such a way as to make you want to buy them."
"Oh – like those people in the com – com – commercials on TV?"
"Exactly."
"They get money for demonstrating these products?"
"Uh-huh. If they're in demand, they get paid a great deal."
"So I could make money as a model?"
"If Kelly thought you were suitable – probably. Hey – that's not a bad idea, you know? It would give him some spending money, instead of relying on Tam."
"Could I try?"
Kirsten shrugged. "I don't see why not. Kelly's due back in a week or so, depending on how her shoot goes. You need to meet her husband, Christian, in any case." She tapped her chin. "You know, I think you and Christian will get along very well. He's a half-breed like you, except his father is a Tricon, and his mother human. His father's a great friend of Tam's."
"Uh – ladies," Spider interrupted. "If we're finished drooling over Inuyasha and getting him a new career, could we get on with some of those tests you thought you'd do?"
Sharon gave a yelp of laughter. "Well, if we took him over to Church Street, we could clock how fast he can run."
"Sharon!" But Kirsten was giggling.
"What's Church Street?" Inuyasha cocked up an inquisitive eyebrow.
Spider sighed. "It's the heart of the city's gay community."
"You have a community of happy people?" Inuyasha looked confused.
"No, dear. These people are mostly homosexuals. Do you understand what that is?" Kirsten was having a hard time keeping a straight face.
"Uh… they're like Jakotsu? He was just plain weird, if you ask me. Nothing gay about him."
Sharon by this time was doubled over with laughter. "Oh – let's take him! Please! It'd be too funny."
Kirsten shook her head. "Now, that wouldn't be a nice thing to do to Inuyasha, Sharon. I'm surprised at you."
"Well, if he's interested, we can take him after we're done here," Spider offered, beginning to grin. "There's a couple of nice restaurants that have patios, and we could all have a drink. Well, except you, Kirsty. But I'm sure they'll have iced tea. And I'll fix our boy up with a pedometer, just in case he feels he has to break any speed records for the hundred meter dash or something."
"We'll consider it," Kirsten said. "In the meantime, we really should get on with the tests so we aren't here all night."
OoOoOo
While the solidographs were being prepared, Inuyasha continued his training.
He had finally been able to demonstrate his Backlash Wave, and they had discovered that Jerry's barrier would indeed hold against the power unleashed against it. There had been a tense moment there when they thought that all the precautions they had taken had been for naught, but Jerry and Jonathan had emerged unscathed.
Inuyasha was fast discovering all the different things that Jonathan and Kirsten were capable of, as well. He had watched as they demonstrated their ability to absorb kinetic energy, by having some of Tamisé's men use them for target practice. Guns were not well known in Inuyasha's time, although he had seen a type of rifle. The modern weapons he found rather frightening. He did not like the loud noises they made, but the ones with silencers he found even more disturbing. It was amazing to watch as the two mutants absorbed the energy of the bullets directed their way. The bullets would drop harmlessly to the ground, leaving Kirsten and Jonathan apparently untouched.
Jonathan had also taken the half-demon on a virtual tour of Cerberus' systems. It had been truly astounding to watch Jonathan interface with the computer and see how they worked together. Jonathan had become Cerberus' main programmer, but it was Frederica Schmidt, affectionately called Freddie by everyone, who was the head of the IT department. Cerberus worked well with Jonathan, but it was Freddie for whom he would jump through hoops. If Inuyasha hadn't been told it was impossible, he would have sworn that Cerberus was in love with Freddie.
Inuyasha was also beginning to go through more changes himself. Kirsten had put him on a special diet and he was beginning to fill out and put on muscle. Having to catch his own food was not conducive to entirely healthy eating and he had been missing out on several vitamins and minerals. He disliked having to take all the supplements that Kirsten gave him, until she hit on the solution of getting a nutrient shake together for him. It was easier to drink down a fruity concoction than it was to choke down a dozen pills.
After a month and a half with the Windrows, Inuyasha bore very little resemblance to the skinny half-starved creature that he had been. He seemed a lot broader through the shoulders and even a bit taller. His hair had a new sheen to it that had been missing before and it was even silkier to the touch.
Kirsten had been fascinated by the physical changes Inuyasha went through as he became human with the New Moon and was busy dissecting the data they had gathered to see if she could find out how it worked. The small mutant was also intrigued by the fact that the Tetsusaiga would not transform for Inuyasha while he was human and had Jerry taking a look at the weapon to see if he could discover why.
For the first time in a long while, Inuyasha was perfectly content. He was finally learning what he had come to learn, and according to his teachers, doing very well. He had gone far beyond the expectations of Mrs. Mikata, his tutor, and was now reading at a Grade 6 level. Inuyasha had been thrilled to receive a letter from Sango and Miroku that had come with a biweekly courier package from the Japan office, and even more thrilled to be able to read it to his tutor. Mrs. Mikata had helped him write a reply back and he felt a great deal of satisfaction as he signed his name to his missive.
Yes, Inuyasha was indeed content.
