Personal affects securely tucked in his arms, Miroku looked at Sango with a wicked grin. The short, abrupt and rather abrasive involuntary induction into the so-called 'Tribe' had left everyone present extremely uncomfortable - especially considering both Inuyasha and Kagome were suspiciously absent with no further explanation given other than that they were 'safe' somewhere in this expansive compound. What made this whole turn of events even more disorientating and confusing was that there'd been no reason trigger moment. Absolutely no reason to expect something this life changing was about to occur. One moment they'd been going about their lazy holiday business and the next some armed capitol officers were storming the shrine while a semi-mysterious portal kept opening and closing - a single pale hand reaching out to grab an inhabitant or simply a portal opening up below their feet without any warning. After such a long day and after so many twists and turns, all anyone wanted to do was find a nice quiet corner in which they could safely pass out so their brains might have a better chance at understanding such events tomorrow.
That being said, now that a few hours had passed, the initial shock had worn off and acceptance - however mild - had set in. Thoughts of the future were unwittingly murmured out loud. A poor exhausted brown haired girl admitted she'd feel better if she was sleeping with Miroku. A statement that she immediately amended to mean she wouldn't mind sharing a bed or a room if necessary. Thankfully, however, as they were ushered into their new lodgings and the door closed behind them, it appeared that someone had provided far more than anyone anticipated.
"Okay. So. This is...nicer than what I was expecting," the poor girl mumbled miserably. Her somewhat anguished chocolate eyes glanced around the room taking stock of their new and quite possibly permanent lodgings, "Bigger."
Then Sango looked at him with a pleading glance - knowing his mind had already taken what she said out of context and immediately ran with it as only teenage boys can.
Miroku's mischievous grin widened incrementally as he looked at her.
Slowly shaking her head, she looked at him and sagged in defeat.
"I'm sorry," Miroku began - clearly fighting back the urge to laugh, "What was it you wanted again?"
"I thought we'd all be sharing a room but its a moot point. Each of us having our own room is...is better," Sango mumbled under her breath, "Much better."
"Ah but you said you would prefer the former arrangement," Miroku hummed bemusedly, "I certainly have no objections sharing. After all, a beautiful woman such as yourself should not have to worry about her safe…"
"You so much as think of casting a shimmer on me and this will be the moment you die," Sango hissed and Miroku put on his most innocent face.
"Dearest Sango you wound me. I would never do such a thing," he insisted with a flutter of his eyes, "I simply was attempting to be accommodating."
Rolling her eyes, Sango let out a shuddering breath and began making mental notes and trying to come up with a game plan to make living together functional. There was a full kitchen which was a relief. Stove. Fridge. Plenty of cabinet space which was welcome. Decent sized living space - fully furnished - and presumably a dining room. Four…no five doors.
"I think those are bedrooms," Sango mumbled - moving quickly to get a better grasp, "If so, there'll be no need to share anything."
"Except, of course, the bathroom," Miroku added with a lecherous grin and Sango had to consciously suppress the urge to strangle him. Thankfully he seemed to be snapping out of his weird submissive behavior. Inviting Inuyasha has been a monumental mistake for more than one reason. Being forcibly recruited into the rebellion aside, everyone had been walking on eggshells and Miroku especially had seemed scared out of his wits. Now that any hope of entering the selection had been crushed, however, Miroku had fallen back into his usual, at times abrasive, self.
"Not in the way you're thinking," Sango clipped.
Pouting for a few seconds, Miroku would admit that having his own space was a luxury he had never been afforded and thus would be a palatable alternative. From the very moment he'd met Sango, he'd been smitten. And yet they were both too young for anything serious. Too ambitious to take such risks and also, she had no interest. So he'd settled for friendship and left it at that. That did not mean he was satisfied with the arrangement and flirting with her - however poorly - was his coping mechanism. As was flirting with anything female with a pulse. And usually women were amiable to his smooth advances. Since puberty his he'd had many a fling - albeit not since starting at the Academy. But his smoothness was the result of trial and error. Knowing what he wanted came from previously chosen clingy, stupid women. The worst being a girl who insisted the earth was flat and that the edge of Tama was just the edge of the world.
He often wondered how that girl was doing and if she'd managed to survive this long.
There was a hidden blessing in his misadventures in love. Without his cringeworthy exploits, he never would have known he could influence anyone. A cheesy pick up line, someone reacting with predictable disgust and viola, he could make them drown themselves if he wanted. Not that he would or ever had tried to cause someone to self harm. But he could, in theory, if he focused hard enough.
"The rooms are small but there are four of them. Each with a private bathroom which is nice," Sango called out and Miroku blinked having not realized she'd gone to explore, "That last door leads to a pantry, half bath and laundry room."
"Luxurious lodgings," Miroku commented appreciatively - heading toward the kitchen and placing the small bundle on the counter, "I was frankly expecting a cell."
"I believe them," Sango offered quietly, "It explains a lot."
"That a madman is stealing abilities he then wields to stay in power and immortal?" Miroku chuckled darkly, "Nothing to question there. Especially with a bribe such as this."
"That Koga had a point. After the ten year Selection, no one ever hears about the former champions again," she pointed out - joining him in the kitchen and leaning against the island, "People get killed and disappear all the time. And now we know that there is a world still existing beyond our borders. Kagome's mother corroborated that much."
"They kidnapped us. Gave no real answer as to how they found us or provided any proof that we were in any real danger," Miroku pointed out wearily, "Are refusing to let us leave. They're clearly hiding something."
"Maybe they're unsure whether they can trust us and don't want us to die," Sango offered thoughtfully, "After all, if what they said is true, Inuyasha shouldn't have been able to activate the emergency beacon."
"If is the key word in that statement," Miroku commented before letting out a heavy sigh, "They'll want us to become soldiers I imagine."
"Most likely," Sango agreed despondently, "But they clearly have resources to offer support and they seem protective of their cult members. That's more than I've seen in my experience."
Miroku imagined Sango had seen more horrors than she'd ever admitted so this analysis of a very brief encounter was surprising.
"You barely know them. We've only met the one man."
"We've seen several actually," Sango corrected as she began inspecting the cabinets and nodding in approval, "A girl opened the portal. I saw her briefly before she hid behind a barrier. And I caught a glimpse of a few others while we were being led here."
Miroku furrowed his brow.
"Inuyasha and Kagome are still missing," he pointed out, "Which is suspicious."
"And yet we have four rooms," Sango countered absently, "Eight plates. Eight bowls. Eight cups. Everything has been arranged to make it seem they will be joining us. And Kagome's family is next door. They aren't isolating us. They're making sure we're an established unit from the get go."
"So why not introduce the others?" Miroku hummed - curious for her explanation.
"Because we've only been here a few hours and Iike I said they're protective. Why unnecessarily expose their people to a potential threat?" Sango answered like it was obvious, "They don't know anything about us other than our companion activated an emergency beacon. Something he shouldn't have been able to do. That he shouldn't have known to do."
"It stands to reason then that they're interrogating him," Miroku tried to argue, "And honestly we owe him nothing. He's made it very clear he places no value on our lives."
"Why? Because he didn't trust us enough to tell us he was pre-qualified? No," Sango cleared her throat, "He has no one. He agreed to come with us. Stayed with us despite the accident on the train. Brought that little boy back knowing we'd keep him safe. That screams trust."
"I'm not sure if that's trust or simply desperation."
"I guess we'll see."
"I guess we will."
Wincing at the high pitched, mechanical, rhythmic beeping piercing through his skull, Inuyasha tried to make sense of what he could smell and feel. He was on a very uncomfortable bed that was slightly inclined. A cotton sheet of questionable quality was laid over his partially bare legs. For some reason, he had on what felt like a robe even though the room was warmer than he would've liked but that could also be whatever injury he had talking. Taking stock of the physical sensations aside, all he could think of was hearing his mother's voice from beyond the grave. Telling him to run while the unwanted familiar feeling of her power flowing through him left him paralyzed. By all accounts, it made no sense. The only rational explanation Inuyasha could come up with was that he'd gone insane like last time and the government was now holding him prisoner indefinitely. At a minimum, they were keeping him highly sedated and unable to move. Maybe they were doing experiments on him. Wouldn't that be the final kick in the balls.
"He will wake up though, right?" Inuyasha heard Kagome's worried voice ask as the portion of blanket atop his chest randomly got adjusted, "Once the, um, things even him out?"
The incessant beeping somehow got louder rather than quieter now that he could focus somewhat and annoyingly also picked up speed. The steadying attack on his eardrums aside, there was some god awful chlorine smell mixed with what could only be bodily fluids of some kind and...and death. The smell of literal death seemed to be radiating off something in here. Old and stale but very much present like the lingering note of the world's nastiest room freshener spray. Super reassuring. No reason at all to be afraid.
Not that he was afraid. Took little more than the nauseating putrid scent of decay to put the fear of god in him.
"Those should counter the allergic reaction and stabilize him, yes," an unfamiliar hesitant voice offered and despite his general inability to move, Inuyasha managed to suppress an involuntary gag at the rotten stench of the stranger's breath. There was absolutely no way that guy was anything except bad news or, alternatively, there was absolutely no way that guy had ever taken a bath a day in his life. Seemed questionable. Especially given that Inuyasha knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that he wasn't allergic to jack shit. Certainly not enough to have lost large swatches of time and feel like he got hit by a ten ton truck. That was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. And...
"Did you make them?" Kagome's hoarse voice asked curiously as her fingers touched something small on his chest and rolled them about.
"They were a group effort. Aunt Izzy - his mother - was very explicit about her conditions and for all his faults, Koga is a man of his word," the male voice answered sadly, "I think she hoped to explain in person but when that failed and time ran out, she created a way to tell him. Thus the strange events of this morning."
"But you don't know for sure that that is what happened. I mean, why would his mother purposefully hurt him?" Kagome pressed and as his own heart dropped into his stomach, Inuyasha listened to the man's resigned sigh. That seemed like an unfair characterization. Mother, far as he knew, couldn't really control her power. It wasn't like she did it on purpose and besides, it had always been his choice to use his gift to help her. He'd been more than willing to help her. Volunteered to do it. So maybe it was an accident that the stupid keychain had such an effect.
But Mother would never have 'purposefully hurt' him. Kagome could shove that conclusion right up her ass.
"Of that, I am not sure."
A long moment went by wherein the incessant annoying rapid beeps stabbed into his skull like an ice pick.
"So...you said this Koga has faults?"
"As do we all but he, specifically, can be...stubborn. Overly confident. Impulsive. Takes too many risks for my liking. He would die to save one of us without hesitation. Or thought," the male voice offered with a nervous chuckle, "But he is a fair leader who knows he does not know everything and has built a diverse council who can temper his occasional stupidity."
"You're..."
"Blunt and strange. I know," the male voice offered with a weary chuckle and Inuyasha felt something cool being laid on his forehead, "I wasn't always this way. Once upon a time I was afraid of my own shadow. Afraid to say what I thought or felt."
"What changed?"
"Being rescued from a life of servitude and death."
The silence that followed that statement was deafening.
"From...I'm sorry, what now?"
"Prior to coming here, it was my job to resurrect those who died during the transfer process. Who had an adverse reaction to unstable abilities being forced into their incompatible DNA. To tend to their injuries. Their pain," the man supplied barely above a whisper, "I was emancipated when the Tribe attempted to infiltrate the facility. They saw goodness in me. Goodness I didn't realize I still possessed. For that I am grateful and I no longer wanted to remain quiet."
"How many...how many people know about this?" Kagome probed awkwardly, "I mean, you'd think people would talk."
"A sufficient number. Hundreds. Thousands. Maybe more," the man replied with a resigned sigh, "Each of them knew the risks associated with the transfer and their silence was part of the bargain. Most transferees were stable but..."
"So, for most people, it didn't hurt them?"
"Yes and no. Stable does not equate to natural and unfortunately, the alteration in the parent's DNA isn't usually compatible with their offspring. In essence, the transfer leads to children who are allergic to their own power to an, at times, fatal degree," the man continued quieter still, "Given the right circumstances, it could be you on the hospital bed but as it were..."
And it was that final statement that had Inuyasha's chest arch in an attempt to force himself to wake up enough to ask his own questions. To demand his answers. Like how the hell everyone knew his mother better than he did. Knew more about him than he even knew about himself. Who knew why the literal fuck his mother never...why she didn't...
It was one thing to keep her being a freaking spy for the rebellion from him. That he could reason away but to not tell your only child that you were born in a foreign land and the entire reason you were sick all the fucking time was because you had someone else's ability injected into your veins? That it was, in a way, completely her fault that he murdered his own father in cold blood. All the secrecy around his empathic abilities. Her demands that he never tell anyone. Never seek help. If she was going around being a spy, if she was telling these strangers all about his issues, she better had damn well told him at some point. It would've only taken one or two sentences. Something quick and easy and uncomplicated.
All the secrets and lies...
That...
That bitch!
"Stay still. If you need to communicate, I can fetch someone who will be able to communicate for you," the man sighed heavily as two disturbingly large hands pressed against his shoulders. It was terrifying how effortlessly the man pushed him back against the hard mattress.
"G-get off me," Inuyasha hissed between painful breaths, "GET. O-OFF. ME!"
The incessant beeping continued picking up speed until it began to drown out even thought and somehow made it impossible to breath.
"You must calm yourself or I must put you under. You'll go into cardiac arrest otherwise and there is only so much I can do," the man ordered firmly yet gently, "Inuyasha you must..."
What Inuyasha needed to do or not do was lost on him. Oxygen seemed non existent and everything began to blur. There was nothing but darkness and misery and pain and rage and...
The heavy hands were suddenly replaced by two smaller cold ones and slowly but surely an eerie calm washed over him. A warmth that somehow made every muscle in his body turn it to mush.
"Young lady! It's not..."
"Get away from me," Kagome hissed before her hands gripped Inuyasha's neck harder and panted heavily, "Hey. Hey. I'm sorry, I'm...I said back off! I'm sorry. I know I didn't ask permission. Y-you can yell at me later."
To be completely honest, Inuyasha was just enough out of it to not really care what was happening but the distant part of himself that realized it should care wasn't angry at the strange little girl who occasionally exploded at random and thought it was a good idea to do the one thing he asked her not to do. Instead, he was relieved that there was someone familiar doing her best to help him. Who hadn't left him behind and wasn't leaving him unprotected. Who maybe understood...
"B-better?" Kagome asked hoarsely - her hands almost vibrating and her breath coming out in short panicked puffs, "J-just n-nod. Wait, hold on...hold on.."
Whatever she was doing briefly retreated and the unwanted pain that she'd been keeping at bay flooded his system...
But he was able to answer truthfully and so he did...
"Fucking hurts," Inuyasha chuckled hoarsely and or a brief moment, unfocused amber eyes fluttered open - trying and failing to maintain eye contact, "B-but...better yeah. T-thanks."
A second went by then two and then Kagome released him with a startled gasp - her knees seemingly giving out as she knelt with her hand pressed over her racing heart. Inuyasha raised his blurry vision to look at the large, rather grotesque...man who was looking at both of them like he was torn between strangling them and apologizing profusely.
"You're an ugly bastard aren't you?" Inuyasha mumbled miserably as his eyes fluttered close and his mind screamed at him to black out, "M'fine. T-take care of her."
The disfigured giant spluttered momentarily and huffed, "Your mother would be..."
"Like I fucking c-care what she'd be," Inuyasha coughed lightly - his heart sinking and cracking at the admission that would never have been true if not for these past few weeks, "Lied to me. All my life. Why should I care?"
"Now wait one..."
"J-just take care of her," Inuyasha sighed tiredly as he rolled onto his side away from the giant who was visibly flustered and bristling, "Imma pass out."
For a long moment, he listed to Kagome's labored pants and the deformed man's huffs before finally, someone spoke.
"Your mother had her reasons for keeping this from you," came the deep gravely reply - the tone resigned and defeated, "That is all I will say on the matter at present."
Rolling his eyes behind closed lids, Inuyasha simply remained silent and readjusted himself on the uncomfortable mattress while listening to make sure Kagome was alright.