Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons (other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused.
The first thing Inuyasha saw the next morning when he opened his bleary eyes were a pair of severe looking military police soldiers being blocked from approaching him by a very stern looking Kagome. His only thought was, 'Hey, I think I know those guys,' and then he passed out again.
"You can't take him. It's not his fault—I wouldn't let him leave so he stayed the night in the chair."
"Miss, I don't care what happened after he walked in that door, but it doesn't look good that he didn't come right back out."
Kagome was shocked, angry and speechless—well, almost speechless anyway. "What EXACTLY are you trying to imply? Because whatever it is I don't think I'll like it, and let me tell you buster, if you think I'm going to stand here and let you insult me your dead wrong."
The MPs took a step back from Kagome's tirade and looked at one another trying to gauge how far they were willing to push the issue.
The second MP spoke up, attempting to be diplomatic. "Look, if you're so concerned about it, why don't you come along? Not to face charges, mind you, but just to explain your side of the story. I mean, you don't really have anything at stake here, right?"
Kagome considered, and while his opinion of what was at stake seemed sorely lacking, he had a point. Besides, going with them would probably by some time for Kaede to finish running her errand. "Alright then. I'll come with you, but he's passed out, do you really think you'll need the handcuffs?"
The first MP stopped removing the cuffs from his belt and looked at Kagome somewhat ashamed. "No, I suppose not."
"Good. Then let's move him to the jeep. He's heavier than he looks."
Kaede was just walking up to the VOQ she and Kagome were staying in when the jeep sped off with Kagome and a sleeping Inuyasha in the back.
She sighed, "Well, at least all this walking is keeping me from getting lazy in my old age."
With a grunt she readjusted her shoulder bag and started walking in the general direction the jeep took off in—towards the base headquarters and the jail.
This time when Inuyasha woke up his eyes weren't quite so blurry, but he had a splitting headache. 'Boy,' he thought, 'who knew that truth drugs could be so potent…I feel like some rolled over my head with Sherman tank.'
When he had managed to calm his throbbing arteries and temples, he looked around him to see where he had managed to stumble off to while he was asleep. It was a very sparse room, with only a cot, a wash pale, and a single window at the top of one wall with bars covering it. Bars? Suddenly Inuyasha had a sinking feeling that he had not wandered here of his own accord.
As he was contemplating what he might have possibly done this time, he heard raised voices from one of the offices somewhere else in the HQ building. There were two or three distinctly male voices and one higher pitched, but strong, female voice—that had to be Kagome.
He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but suddenly there was halt to the discussion—more like an argument really—as another voice joined. This one sounded slightly winded and he couldn't tell which but it was either an old man or an old woman. As soon as this person stopped speaking he heard some heavy footsteps coming his direction.
The boots on the feet he was hearing turned out to belong to one of the MPs he thought he had dreamed earlier. "You're a strange one Kusanagi, but I don't think your butt's out of fire yet. They want to see you."
Inuyasha merely shrugged, since the man's statements didn't seem to explain much and he was still feeling pretty out of it due to his headache. He allowed the MP to lead him through what seemed to be a couple of really long hallways in his state of mind, but he knew they had to be short since he had been listening to the conversation.
As soon as they entered the office all eyes were on him. The inhabitants of the office were all higher ups and he was getting more and more worried as time went by without anyone speaking. Behind the desk was Colonel Matheson, the base commander, and stuffed uncomfortably in the normally large office were Kagome, Kaede, Sesshoumaru, the two MPs, a gentlemen with glasses and a tweed suit, and a very elderly and jovial looking man with a pipe in his mouth. Colonel Matheson nodded to the MPs who quickly left and shut the door.
When the silence was broken, it was Colonel Matheson who spoke first. "Private Kusanagi, do you know why you're here?"
"Well, judging by where I woke up and who brought me from there I'd say I'm probably in trouble…again…and the word 'insubordination' probably has something to do with it as well." As he spoke he remembered the exact number of times he'd screwed up the day before: he didn't stay confined to barracks, he manhandled a lieutenant, he didn't return to his barracks before lights out...yeah, one of those probably did it.
"Well, ordinarily you would be right," Matheson started, "but today we have something of an interesting situation here. It seems that in spite of your spotty record, you've been requested by name by the Office of Special Services to participate in a covert operation. Do you know what that means, Private?"
Inuyasha was a little surprised by this and quickly glanced at Kagome, who wasn't looking at him at all, then replied, "No sir, I really don't know what that means."
The Colonel smiled slightly—this made Inuyasha nervous—and in the manner of a father speaking to a small child said, "That means that, assuming you choose to accept the assignment, the Army will wash its hands of you. You will no longer be our problem. If, for some reason, the OSS decides it has no use for you and sends you back, you may face a summary court martial to review your record and your behavior as a soldier. Upon commencement of your assignment to the OSS you will be reinstated to your rank prior to any disciplinary action by the Army. Do you understand?"
Inuyasha blinked and wondered what strange world he'd woken up in. "Sir, you're saying that if I accept this assignment I will be a Staff Sergeant again, my records won't indicate that I was ever charged with any violations of military law, and I'll be participating in a covert operation?"
"That's correct."
"What happens when the operation is over?" Inuyasha asked apprehensively.
This time the gentleman in the tweed suit spoke. "If you complete the operation successfully you will be transferred back to the Army as a Sergeant First Class with your choice of assignment."
"Furthermore," the older man spoke "once you have been promoted you will be given the option to renew your assignment to the OSS—if the war is still on, that is."
Inuyasha was dumbfounded. Whose crazy dream was this? It couldn't be his, he had never been so optimistic. This had to be Kagome's doing, something to do with that assignment of hers. It seemed obvious now that she worked for the OSS, otherwise she would have been dismissed from the room with the MPs.
The older man, smiled widely, asked, "So, can we count on your help?"
Inuyasha grinned slightly, "Why the hell not?"
Miroku woke up suddenly as a jeep roared past his bedroom window.
"Jeez, you'd think they could keep it down a little so early in the morning."
He yawned impressively and then stood up to head into the shower. He looked at his watched and noted it was actually pretty late. He had slept past 0800 hours—that had to be the first time since before he joined the Army.
An hour and three S's later—Shower, Shave, and Something else—he felt ready to face the world. Sitting in the sitting room, of all places, he was sipping coffee and reading the newspaper when he remembered he needed to check on something. It was a little after 0900 in London which meant it was a little after 0400 in Washington. As he put on his jacket to head toward the HQ building he thought 'I hope Myouga still lives at work."
Once the orders had been signed and the formalities of promoting him had been taken care of, Inuyasha felt unbelievably good. Sesshoumaru had looked fairly miffed as he read through the paper work to make sure it was all in order. He really enjoyed seeing Sesshoumaru stew and boil over things like this. 'Well big brother,' he thought, 'technically this is all your doing anyway, so you have no one to blame but yourself.'
After everything was set in order he followed the gentlemen in the tweed suit and with the pipe and Kagome and Kaede to another office hidden in a remote corner of the HQ building. Once they entered it became apparent that this was not a permanent office. There were no personal effects on the desks, no office materials or paper, just a set of briefcases and a film projector.
The man in the tweed suit motioned to a set of chairs which everyone took a seat in and then the older man began to speak.
"As you know Sergeant Kusanagi you have been selected to participate in an operation being carried out by the Office of Special Services. Miss Higurashi has requested your presence in this operation because after a review of your records and an interview she determined that you would be an asset to this mission. We had some doubts but Kaede here can be very persuasive." Inuyasha looked over at Kaede who merely grinned at no one in particular.
The younger man stood and moved to projector and began speaking. "Now here is how our chain of command stands. Inuyasha and Kagome will be our field operatives, Kaede, being the senior operative, will be their handler, and Wellesley and I—my name is Arthur Coolidge by the way, and that is Sir Robert Wellesley—will be the coordinators here in England. After today, Inuyasha and Kagome will never speak or see us again until the mission in complete. Are there any questions?"
Inuyasha raised his hand, "One sir: when does the operation start."
Coolidge smiled, "It already has. Oh, and you don't have to raise your hand. If you'll all please turn your attention to the screen I'll begin the briefing."
After searching for what seemed like an eternity, Miroku had found a secure phone he could use to call Myouga. Once he had discovered that Myouga didn't really sleep anymore (and after hear all the reasons why) he started asking about the information that he had asked Myouga to look up the day before.
"So Myouga, did you find anything on Kagome or not?"
Jittery as always Myouga replied from across the ocean, "Oh sure, it took a little while to find since it was packed in with all the Souta Higurashi stuff—I told you the sneaky bastards do stuff like that—but I found a whole accordion folder full of stuff on Kagome."
Miroku was becoming intrigued—when Myouga's paranoia proved to be correct, things definitely started getting interesting. "Well Myouga, what's the story then?"
Myouga, now in his element of analyzing and summarizing information, spoke confidently and calmly. "So, it turns out that during auditions for USO singers in Chicago Kagome was singled out and told she would be getting a call soon because she had been selected. As far as she and her family knew, that meant that she was going on a USO tour. Well, when she arrived at the office she was told to go to they asked her a series of very intensive questions regarding her loyalty to the United States and so on and so forth. When they were satisfied that she was indeed loyal to the US they offered her a proposition—if she would agree to participate in a secret operation, they would release her extended family from internment. Naturally she agreed and so they began training her. From her records it appears that she is a very proficient marksman—ahem, markswoman rather—and she can speak a number of languages, including French, Italian and German. The details of her assignment are somewhat sparse but she is supposed to be traveling under the guise of a USO performer with her manager and is eventually supposed to infiltrate enemy territory in order to replace a Japanese woman of striking similarity working as a maid in Germany for high ranking German officials. After the replacement is complete she will begin gathering information from the German officials and transmitting the data to her handler. The hope is that sensitive information about German offensives and defensive positions will be acquired and that it can be used to turn the tide of the war."
Miroku sat on the other end of the line speechless. Who knew such a young girl would be given so important an assignment? Inuyasha was really going to be in for a surprise when he heard this.
About that time Myouga was startled, "Oh! Someone's coming. I've got to go. Take care Miroku…I know I will." Then he hung up.
Miroku just replaced the handset of the telephone and shook his head. He had to find Inuyasha before they left for their next venue.
"Okay, so Kagome is supposed to infiltrate Berlin and replace this doppelganger. What's my part in all of this?"
Coolidge smiled his knowing smile—in fact that seemed to be the only way he could smile—and Inuyasha wanted to knock it clean off his face. "Granted Miss Higurashi has considerable training in infiltration and marksmanship, but she lacks practical experience in the field. She has proposed, and I agreed with her, that having an experienced scout accompany her through German lines would significantly increase the probability of this mission's success."
Inuyasha was almost afraid to ask, but he figured it was better just to confirm his suspicions. "So, what do I do once I finish getting Kagome in?"
Wellesley fielded this one, probably because he could talk without flashing that fake smile. "Well chap, the French Resistance has a strong presence in the Rhineland and we will be able to supply you with the necessary pass phrases that you can use to join up with—"
"So what you're saying is I'm expendable."
The elderly knight sighed, "Yes, I'm afraid that's about the size of it, my boy."
"Well," Inuyasha stated without much regret or concern, "it's not the first time, but I'm gonna make damn sure it's not the last either."
Wellesley was silent for a moment, then cracked a wide, genuine smile and laughingly said, "That's the spirit, chap!" Turning to Coolidge he said, "This boy is going to be just fine."
Kagome shifted in her seat and looked at Inuyasha's determined visage as he set his jaw and looked ahead at Wellesley. 'I'm sorry Inuyasha—I didn't think you'd be expendable.'
Inuyasha spoke next. "So, when do we leave? We've got a show to get to, right?"
Coolidge turned to him with his false grin, "Right now, sergeant. Right now."