Author's Notes: Whaaat? Chapter 20? No way! I can't believe this crazy ride is still chugging right along. And what's that? 200 REVIEWS?! I'm so stoked, my reviewers are the best. Thank you for sticking with me and continuing to review!
Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to alex's world, for posting the 200th review for YITM! Thank you so much for your review alex's world! I'll keep churning these babies out as long as you keep reading them!
This chapter was written to various songs by Hammock.
Disclaimer: I wrote my first Inuyasha fanfiction thirteen years ago. And still, I own none of the Inuyasha series or its characters. So sad.
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Chapter 20: The Thing About Hojou…
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Sango
Sango followed a safe distance behind Kagome and the youkai, her eyes never leaving the back of his head. She meant it when she told Kagome she didn't want him in her house. After the shit he pulled with them earlier, he was lucky he was still alive.
He had saved Kagome's life, and Sango was nothing if not honorable. She loved Kagome like a sister. Letting Inuyasha go was paying a debt for returning her friend safely, but if he stepped inside her house again she'd kill him.
As Sango moved out onto the porch she froze at the sight of Kagome climbing onto his back. Her initial reaction was to reach out and rip her best friend away from the dangerous youkai, but she squashed that urge deep down. She bit the insides of her cheeks, straining to keep her mouth shut. Her fingers clenched into tight fists at her sides, willing herself to stay in control. She kept her eyes locked on her best friend. "You want me to come with you?" She asked, half hoping Kagome would take her up on her offer, and half hoping she wouldn't.
"That would be nice." The overwhelming sincerity in Kagome's answer didn't go unnoticed.
Inuyasha growled then, showing off more of his youkai traits. "No way am I carrying you on my back, slayer-bitch. I trust you about as much as I trust my own damn brother – and I don't trust him at all."
Sango lost control of her temper a bit. She said her words as if she were spitting on him. "I wouldn't get on your back if it were the only ride out of hell. Don't worry, I know my own way." She gave a curt nod to Kagome then, needing Inuyasha gone as soon as possible. "I'll check on Kohaku and meet you there, Kagome."
"Your brother is fine, I didn't fucking harm the brat."
Sango was going to throttle him. She felt her heartbeat pounding out the rhythm of her anger, throbbing in her chest, the need to finish him off rushing through her-
"Can we please stop the bickering until I at least know my family is okay?" Kagome's voice cut sharply through Sango's rage, and she instantly regained her self-control. "Sango, I'll see you at my place."
"Fine," Sango said, relieved that she didn't lose it right then and there. She turned on her heel and slammed the door behind her, then quickly moved to the window to watch the pair as they started to argue.
Damn Inuyasha. Damn him. The only reason she had been able to subdue him so quickly before was due to the element of surprise. Without that at her side, he was going to be harder to take down. And she didn't want Kagome in the middle of it when she tried again.
Besides, now he knew Sango's true intentions. He was going to be wary of her from now on. She was going to have to get a lot more practice actually killing youkai, and quickly. Either that or she'd need backup.
It was like the gears in her head clicked into place.
Backup.
She watched from behind the curtain as Kagome pointed off in the general direction of her house, and Inuyasha crouched down and shot up into the night sky.
Backup.
Her parents. She needed to call her parents. Now that the youkai was out of her house and Kagome was, for the most part, fairly safe, Sango had the wits about her to actually think her actions through.
Her parents would rush right over from their training seminar. They'd be back by morning, and then they'd help her hunt down and kill Inuyasha, and then Kagome would truly be safe, and they wouldn't have to worry about magical spells or haughty, cocky, overbearing youkai barging into her house and stealing her friend away into the dead of night.
Sango rushed up into her bedroom, where Kohaku was still crumpled up on her bed. She went to his side and placed her hands on his cheeks, leaning in close to check his breathing. He moaned, soft and low, but he was breathing and no arms or legs appeared to be broken. Quickly Sango moved to her desk, swiping up her cell phone and flipping it open to see a purikura photo of her and Kagome making silly faces into the camera. Sighing out of pure frustration she hit the button to call her father.
It rang. And rang. Just before it went to voicemail he picked up, out of breath and voice strained.
"Hello?"
"Dad!" Sango cried as she flopped bonelessly into her desk chair. She'd never been more relieved to hear his voice.
"Sango, what is it? I'm in the middle of – dammit! – training!"
"Well, you should stop training and listen to me for five seconds. It's an emergency."
He paused on the other line, and Sango heard scuffling and grunting.
"Hold on one second!" He finally said, the noises continuing. Frowning, Sango straightened up and pulled the phone away from her ear, glaring down at it. Had he actually picked up her call and then continued a sparring match?
After a few seconds of scuffling and grunting – a few screams and shrieks of terror as well? Or was it just her imagination? – and her father was back, a bit more breathless than before. "What is it Sango? What's the emergency? Is your brother okay?"
"He's fine, but…" She hesitated, worried for a split second that she'd dreamt the whole thing up - the mirror, Inuyasha, the secret basement under her house. None of this was normal. A rational person would have gone insane at this point. But there was no way to tell him other than to just spit it out. "Dad, I found the secret room. I found your recording."
He didn't reply.
"About the youkai…" She said, her voice raising in uncertainty at his lack of response.
"How did you find it?" He asked, his tone rough and… did she detect anger?
"One of them got into the house. A youkai."
"What?"
She could feel his anger through the phone. "Dad, this youkai broke into my bedroom and attacked me and Kagome. He threw Kohaku across the room. I had your gun and I shot him, but it... it missed, and then he grabbed me and he-"
"Sango!" Her father shouted through the phone, cutting her off. "Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine, but I remembered what you said about the laundry downstairs, and I found the room and-" She was babbling. She could hear her voice shaking and she was talking way too fast. Taking a deep, steadying breath, willing herself not to cry, she clutched her phone in both her hands, trying to keep herself together. "Dad, can you and mom come home? I don't think I can handle this with just Kohaku and myself." She felt her face flush with shame.
He sighed, loud and heavy through the line. "I'm sorry baby girl, I can't," he said, and Sango felt her chest tighten in panic. "Now that you know the truth about our family though, I can tell you that your mother and I are not at a training seminar."
She sat up straight in her chair at his confession. "What?"
"We're not at a seminar, we're on a slaying hunt."
"….What?!" Sango cried, all present concerns momentarily forgotten. "What are you saying? Are you… Are you slaying a youkai while you're on the phone with me?"
He paused, and through his silence, Sango listened more intently to the muffled noises in the background.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Sango yelled, standing abruptly from her desk chair, causing it to clatter noisily to the floor.
"Hey, young lady! Language!"
"You've been going off on these dangerous missions without telling me about it?!" She cried, ignoring his lame attempts to remind her who she was talking to. At the moment, Sango didn't care who she was talking to. All this crap was coming at her at once, it was too much. She whipped around when Kohaku moaned and turned onto his side, rubbing his right shoulder.
"Sango, we didn't have a choice, you and Kohaku are too young to come along and we-"
"I'm seventeen!" She shrieked into the phone, on the verge of truly flipping out. She paced back and forth across her bedroom floor, keeping watchful eyes on Kohaku as he slowly arose from oblivion.
"Calm down." Her father's voice had switched to the tone he used when trying to gain control of an argument. It always worked. Sango snapped her mouth shut.
"Your mother and I cannot come home right now, we have to finish the job, but you-"
"Dad, this youkai flung Kohaku across the room like he was a ragdoll! He almost choked the life out of me, you can't just leave me here to do this alone, I-"
"Sango."
Her teeth snapped shut again at his tone, but she couldn't help the frustrated tear that slipped over her lashes and trailed its way down her cheek. Sango's hand came up to furiously wipe away at the offending leaked water. She refused to cry. Refused.
"We're not abandoning you to fight this alone. There's someone who can help you there. I'm going to give you a number to call. Write it down. You ready?"
Biting back a frustrated grunt, Sango moved back to her desk and grabbed a pen and tore a piece of paper off her notepad. "Go ahead." She scribbled down the number as he recited it to her. "Who is he?" She asked.
"A friend. Sango, I have to help your mother, we'll be back soon. Call him, he'll help you take care of the problem. And stay smart, you understand? Youkai are dangerous. I've trained you your whole life for this, so remember what I taught you."
"Dad, I-"
"Love you baby girl." The phone cut off.
It took all of Sango's control not to chuck her phone against the far wall and watch it shatter into a million pieces. Instead, she moved to Kohaku's side. He was blinking up at the ceiling, his eyes confused and worried.
"…Sango?" He asked.
"Hey, you feeling okay?"
He nodded his head, and slowly sat up, looking around. "What happened?"
"Everything's okay, Kohaku," Sango said, trying to reassure him, but feeling more like she was reassuring herself. "That man won't be back to bother us anymore."
"I- I thought he was going to kill you."
"I took care of it." Sango reached out to run her hand through his hair. She ruffled it a little. "I'm just glad you're okay. I have a lot to tell you, but first I have to make a phone call. You feel sick? Nauseous?"
He shook his head.
"Okay good. I'll be right back. If anything hurts, shout for me." With another nod of confirmation, Sango stood and made her way out of her bedroom and into the hall. She took the stairs two at a time and headed straight for the kitchen. She stood over the spot where she had knocked Inuyasha to the ground earlier. What would have happened had Kagome allowed her to finish him off? What would it have felt like to slay her first youkai?
Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest. She would never have thought in her wildest nightmares that she would one day be standing in her very own kitchen debating about slaying anything, much less spell-weaving youkai. But this was what her life was now. Her father's confirmation made the whole ordeal so much more real. And this person he wanted her to call, this slayer that could help her… It meant she wasn't alone. Her family wasn't alone. There were other slayers out there.
She wondered what this person was like.
Well, she'd find out soon enough once she called him. Steadying her hands, she punched the numbers into her phone and waited.
He picked up on the second ring.
"Sango."
Shocked, she didn't reply right away. It was five in the morning, he should have been asleep. But whoever he was, he sounded awake and alert.
He also sounded familiar.
"Sango, you there? Is everything okay?"
There was something about the way he spoke that sentence that made it click for her. She immediately knew who he was. She inhaled sharply, reeling at the secret he had been keeping all this time.
"You've got to fucking be kidding me!" She roared.
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Inuyasha
"Who the fuck are you?" Inuyasha growled, pushing as much menace behind his words as his voice would allow. He had the human's shirt fisted in his grasp, tangled in his claws. His knuckles were pressing into his chest, holding him up against the wall. He immediately couldn't stand this guy. He dug his knuckles into his chest harder and smirked when the human winced.
The bastard smelled like Kagome. Inuyasha's sensitive nose could pick up the trace scent of her on him. Which meant that she touched him. A lot. And now that he thought about it, he'd smelled this guy on Kagome back when she first pulled him from the mirror. It was all nonsensical smells back then, little details that he hadn't had time for, but now it bothered him.
It shouldn't bother him, because what the hell did he care who the wench was close to? Who she touched? Who she kissed?
Me. The youkai inside him growled. She kisses me. He tried to shove his youkai back, but it was fighting him, and it was pissing him off. Stupid doppelganger, kissing him like she wanted him, kissing him like she wanted nothing but him. "Why do I need you so bad?" She'd asked him. "Why can't I stop thinking about you?" And he'd been furious over being accused of spelling her to kiss him, so he'd called her things like 'obsessed' and 'crazy bitch,' while his youkai had been grinning inside.
Of course she needs you. Of course she can't stop thinking about you. His youkai had murmured comfortingly. And who the fuck would choose some simpering, cowering human male over someone like Inuyasha?
He frowned mentally, remembering Kagome's reactions to him after he'd been sucked back into the mirror that time. Her disgust for him. She claimed she was no racist, but he'd seen the same fear in others' eyes before her. He'd seen it over and over. Three-hundred years was a very long time to go through life as a half-breed.
Despite her wavering affections, Inuyasha still didn't like the fact that he could clearly smell her on this guy. He didn't fucking share the women he was planning to bed, and at this point, he'd be damned if Kagome wasn't going to be in his bed one way or another.
The human brought his hands up to tug at Inuyasha's arm, but that only made him tighten his grip and narrow his eyes in warning.
"L-let me go!" He demanded.
Inuyasha shook his head. "Answer my question."
Instead of obeying, the prick moved his wide, terrified eyes to Kagome, one hand reaching out towards her. "Ka-Kagome." He gasped.
Oh good, a second reason to dislike the bastard. The way he spoke to Kagome. Like he was worried for her safety. Ha. Her safety. As if she'd be in any danger when she was with him. ...Well, sure, Kikyou had gone after her, but that was hardly his fault. He wasn't the one born with the damn jewel in his side. But one thing was for sure, Kagome was safer under his watch then she would be under a stupid little human boy. And he sure as hell wasn't letting anything happen to the one person who could free him from the mirror other than Kikyou.
Inuyasha reached out and slapped his stretching fingers down, gripping him under the chin, squeezing at his cheeks so his lips scrunched together to look like some sort of malformed fish, and forced his gaze back to where it should be. "Oi, don't talk to her, talk to me."
That brought about the third thing he didn't like about this guy: his eyes. They'd been friendly enough when Kagome had first opened the door, true, and he guessed he could see why the human might be somewhat attractive to her, but they were also clear and calculating, although he was doing a damn good job of looking scared shitless.
None of that changed the fact that as soon as this Hojou guy had stepped through the door, a sharp chill had made its way up Inuyasha's spine.
So screw the fact that Kagome was currently pulling on his arm, demanding he let go of the human right this instant. He didn't fucking trust this guy, and he wasn't taking any damn chances.
"Kagome, back off," he growled, keeping his eyes on the bastard and pressure tight against his chest.
"Let go of him! Why are you always choking my friends out against a wall? Hojou isn't dangerous, he's my …my boyfriend!"
Inuyasha whipped his head around to glare down at her, his eyes narrowing. She was biting her bottom lip, her eyes downcast. ...At least the bitch admitted it. Keh. Boyfriend. He fought down the youkai rage growing inside him, threatening to break free. "Boyfriend, eh?" He asked, and he watched in satisfaction as the color slowly drained from her face.
"K-Kagome," Hojou managed to choke out. "Get back."
Inuyasha turned his gaze back to the human male, The youkai inside wanted to throttle him, and he was barely managing to reign it in. Although his human side wanted to throttle him too. "I guess that answers who you are. Kagome's little boyfriend. Now we just need to find out what the hell you're doing here."
"He can't answer you, you're choking him!"
He loosened his grip. Only slightly. "I'll ask one more time. What are you doing here?" His question was a threat, and from Hojou's wide eyes, it looked like the message was being received.
"Sango called me, she woke me up, asked me to come check on Kagome, something about her family...?" His voice trailed off and his eyes darted to Kagome. "Are they okay?"
Inuyasha let the growl rip from his throat as he pulled Hojou slightly away from the wall before slamming him back into it. He listened in satisfaction as the wind rushed out of his lungs. "Don't fucking talk to her, talk to me." He said, raising his voice over the youkai screaming at him from the inside. He could feel it trying to claw its way out, a heated pressure in the center of his chest.
"Hey man, I don't know who you are, or... or what you are, but Kagome is my girlfriend, and I'm talking to her."
Kagome's not his girlfriend if he's dead. His youkai said. "Kagome's not your girlfriend if you're fucking dead." Inuyasha seethed, aware that his youkai was slowly winning the fight.
"Inuyasha, don't!" He heard Kagome cry from somewhere off to the side. He couldn't figure out where she was, dammit, he was too focused on controlling himself, on keeping himself in check. He could feel his control slipping away.
If this bastard didn't back down soon, he was going to turn full youkai. And then Hojou really would be dead. But this wasn't the time. Not yet. The thought of what he might do to Kagome if he turned made him push back harder. He glared up at Hojou, slowly pushing his youkai back, back, back into the far corner of his mind.
Something changed. It was a mental shift. Quickly Inuyasha dropped his elbows down, effectively blocking the uppercut meant for his ribs. "The fuck-" he started, eyes darting up to see the sharp change in Hojou's eyes, the small quirk of his mouth. His hands moved, almost too quick to see, in a swift upwards motion, causing Inuyasha's hand to fly away from his chest.
Then he came back for another punch, this one aimed at his jaw.
Inuyasha leaned back and felt the bare miss of Hojou's fist as it swung by him, then again, and again. Inuyasha dodged and spun out of the way, just able to avoid each attack, putting a bit more space in between them each time. The bastard was fast, but Inuyasha was faster. He slipped fluidly under Hojou's next attack and shot back up with an elbow to his solar plexus. Or, what should have been his solar plexus.
He hit forearms instead.
Hojou stared down at him, his face no longer terrified. He grinned. "Sango tells me you've been dragging my girlfriend around for the past few days. That's not the way you treat a girl, youkai."
"That what the slayer bitch told you? Why don't you ask Kagome herself?" He growled, bringing his knee up to strike and slowing his movements down, just enough.
Hojou let his hands drop, falling for the bait, and Inuyasha swung a right hook, hard, cracking it against his jaw and sending the human flying across the room. He slammed into the far wall, plaster splinting from wood and sending the framed, hanging photos falling to the floor with a crash.
"So, it seems like Sango's family aren't the only slayers around here," Inuyasha said, cracking his knuckles to let Hojou know he was still good for more. If he could still stand after that last punch, that is. He hit him hard enough to do some serious damage, if not outright kill him.
"What the hell? What the hell?!" Kagome cried from off to the right. He turned his gaze, narrowing his eyes at her accusingly. All these slayers popping up out of nowhere, all somehow connected to the doppelganger, it felt like one big, ugly trap.
"What the hell is right. Are all of your friend's slayers?"
"N-No!" She stuttered, her wide, beautiful eyes relaying her shock and confusion. "I mean, I don't think so."
"Then why the hell is your boyfriend trying to kill me?" Dead boyfriend. His youkai growled. He fought against it, focusing his heated gaze on Kagome.
"How should I know?" She shot back. "It's not like it came up on the first date. 'Hi, my name's Hojou, and I like video games and healing remedies and slaying youkai.'" She crossed her arms, mocking him in an unconvincing male voice.
It was a funny thought, and Inuyasha felt the corners of his mouth quirk up at her stubborn, angry face. He almost chuckled, until the human coughed from the slightly-caved-in wall.
What the hell? The bastard shouldn't be able to move. Inuyasha watched in almost-disbelief as Hojou moved his head around in a slow circle, cracking his neck and rubbing at his jaw, which was already starting to swell.
"Sorry Kagome," He apologized, pushing himself back onto his feet and wiping at the trickle of blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. "It's not like slaying is a first date sort of topic. More like a tenth date or so, wouldn't you say?" And then he grinned. And charged.
Inuyasha growled and extended his claws. He had to admit, he was impressed he could still stand. But he had enough of this shit. He was going to gut this Hojou guy straight through his chest, make a nice, round hole, rip his spine through his back and then pull it out his front. Do it. His youkai seethed, and he smirked in satisfaction, finally willing to let it take over. He pulled his arm back just as the human swung.
And then Inuyasha wasn't facing him anymore.
His viewpoint had changed instantly. One second the human was coming straight at him, and the very next, he was in the doorway, looking into the kitchen, watching Hojou's shocked face as his fist hit thin air and he crashed to the floor.
"Hojou!" Kagome cried, and Inuyasha watched as she raced over to the fallen human and knelt down next to him, putting her hands on his arm.
Rage brimmed over the top of his control. The urge to keep her away from something that might harm her filled him suddenly, left him thinking of nothing else. He had to get her away from him, he had to keep the situation under control until he figured out a way to get the hell out of Kikyou's spell. He stepped forward to stop her and promptly smacked into glass.
"What the fuck?" He roared, pounding his fist on the transparent wall. He looked up to see the rocky ceiling of his cell, just above his head. He was back in the mirror, trapped, and through his rage, what happened finally clicked into place.
The kitchen was lighter. Daybreak had come.
And Inuyasha was back in his mirror, helpless but to stand and watch as Kagome worried over someone who wasn't him.
His youkai boiled inside of him as he watched Kagome's bottom lip quiver, watched her call out Hojou's stupid name.
He was going to kill the fucker when he got back out.
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I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please review, let me know what you think! Reviews are like air for me, I need them to survive!
~SugarRos
