Part 22: Frayed

A/N: Hello! I apologize for how late this update is. Good news, I got an awesome promotion at work, bad news, it leaves me with even less time to write fanfiction :( However I have never left a story unfinished, and I don't intend to start now, especially not this close to the end of Criminal Union! Look forward to continuous updates, albeit slower ones. Warning this chapter will be quite gory, so settle your stomach before going forward.

Thank you for reviewing:

Little25Victor

AmorPorSiempre

Mommy2Melody

Overninethousand

Harul The Nightrage Beast

| Hypocrisy |

Wastedyouth (Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying the story!)

ddddaaaae

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish for it, I unfortunately own nothing except my plot, and a few OC's here and there.

"Still no news?"

I knew I had asked that very same question only a few minutes before, but having to wait was driving me crazy. Sesshoumaru had dispatched all the men from his outfit to look for my mother. All he had been able to find out as of now was that she had been taken by a group of mercenaries named the Shichinintai; a band of humans making use of demon artifacts to enhance their powers and abilities to carry out missions for pay. Apparently they used distinctive youkai-made weapons that made them easy to identify. Not that I cared one bit. All I wanted was for mom to be safe.

"Not yet, but I have all my best men looking for her. We are bound to hear something soon. In the meantime, get some sleep."

I had been up for 48 hours straight, and had no intention of going to bed any time soon. Ever since mom had been taken away, the thought of going to sleep had not even crossed my mind.

"No thanks. I'd rather wait up."

We had established our base of operation in Sesshoumaru's office. Miroku and Inuyasha periodically came in to give whatever information they had managed to get their hands on. Kagome had taken her two children, the entire Higurashi clan and Rin somewhere safe. Sango had gone with them to watch over them. I could tell the bodyguard did not like being taken away from the action, but she was the kind of woman who followed orders. Their location was so ultra secret that we were only allowed to call them from the family-only secure phone lines.

Before she had left, Kagome had set up a refreshments station in the corner of Sesshoumaru's office. Worry had robbed us all of our appetites, so it had remained mostly untouched. Despite that, Jaken came in a couple times a day to take away the uneaten food and replace it with more tasty treats. Usually I would have eaten my way though the mini food bar, but right now the only thing I craved was a caffeine fix. I needed a kick to stay awake.

I walked to the bar, topped up my cup of coffee and drank the piping hot liquid in one gulp. For the last two days, I had been mostly living off on caffeine, and as little food as I had been able to keep down to settle my queasy stomach.

I knew Sesshoumaru was worried about me and my well being, but right about now the only thing I wished he would focus on was getting my mom safely home.

My lover sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He too had been up for the past two days, and the lack of sleep and anxiety had taken their toll on him. Dark smudges had appeared under his bloodshot eyes, and his skin looked more pale than usual.

In truth I guessed I looked about the same if not worse; after all I had just not looked myself in the mirror in a while. Not that it mattered much; my appearance was currently the least of my worries.

Yesterday, I had wanted to go confront Naraku and force him to tell me about mom's whereabouts, but Sesshoumaru had held me back by pointing out that it would probably push the asshole over the edge, and give him cause to kill mother. Gritting my teeth, I had given up, but that did not mean I liked it one bit. I had made myself a silent promise that if we did not hear anything in the next few hours, I would take my chances and face off with Naraku.

My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I felt a vibration in my pocket. With trembling hands, I fished out my phone. I had cracked the screen when I had dropped it upon first hearing mom had been taken, but I did not need a clear view to see the message displayed on it.

'Another delivery.'

Without speaking a word, I rushed to the front door of the house. I heard Sesshoumaru following close after me. The last time we had been in a similar scenario, I had received mom's blood splattered dress. I could only imagine what kind of horrors awaited on our doorstep now.

Sure enough as soon as I opened the door, only a small cardboard box greeted me. I let go of the breath I had not realized I had been holding in. A part of me had been expecting to see my mother's corpse as in the horrific nightmare I had had a few weeks ago, so seeing only a box was sort of reassuring. I was no fool though. I knew I should not feel relieved just yet. I heard Sesshoumaru stop right behind me, and before he could talk me out of checking the box out myself, I crouched and gingerly lifted the lid. I immediately recoiled in horror and shock as soon as I spied what was inside.

A hand. A bloody long fingered pale hand. The severed limb had been unceremoniously dumped in the container, the fingers all bent. I had no doubt about whom this hand belonged to. I recognized that nail polish. I had applied it myself when I had manicured the long fingers attached to the severed limb only three days ago.

I doubled over and threw up in pure disgust. The coffee I had just gulped down was coming back out with a vengeance. I retched until all I could do was dry heave. My stomach had been empty save for the few cookies Kagome had forced me to down with my coffee when we had last spoke on the phone a few hours ago. I chanced another side glance at the box and its contents. By the shape of the hand and the bloody stump, clearly the hand had been cut off when the owner was alive and the thought of it brought on another bout of nausea. My stomach clenched and I turned my head to the side before I puked once again. This time only foul tasting bile came out.

This had to be another nightmare. Naraku or his mercenaries could not have butchered my mother in such a horrific way. I expected to wake up any moment. This simply could not be happening. I jolted when I felt another dreadful vibration. With shaking hands, and my head still in a fog I picked up my phone. The words plastered on my broken screen made my head swim.

'You have 24 hours to give up, or the carving continues.'

My stomach rebelled once again as nausea rolled through me.

"Kagura." Sesshoumaru brought his hands under my pits to drag me back to a standing position. He fished out a handkerchief from some pocket somewhere, and wiped my mouth. I wished he could so easily remove the horrifying sight from my mind and acrid taste from my mouth.

He leaned forward to pick up the box and its abhorrent contents.

"Take it away." He turned to hand over the package to Inuyasha. I had been so stuck in my fog that I only had just noticed the hanyou had joined us. He then turned back to face me. "Did you get another message?"

I silently handed him my phone. I felt nothing. I was completely drained of emotion and energy.

"Let's go back inside." Sesshoumaru took me by the shoulders and led me towards the warm entryway.

"It can't be real." I whispered more to myself than to anyone. "Naraku must have faked this in some kind of way." Even as I spoke the words, I knew I was lying to myself. Doing such a horrible thing was just up that sadistic bastard's alley. Considering how angry he must have been about us spiriting mom away, it was not surprising that he would retaliate in such a horrible way. Even the thin veiled denial was not enough to distract me from thoughts of the horrors mother had been put through. She must be so scared and in so much pain.

"You mother is strong. She has been grievously injured, but she will survive this." Sesshoumaru tried to bring me hope. Mom might not be a strong inu youkai, but she was a demoness, one who had survived decades of almost daily torture. I knew she was strong, but fear and pain still ran rampant within me.

"Do not give up and become discouraged. She needs your strength and confidence in her." My lover added, as he justly must have felt my anguish. I tried and failed to pull my lips in some sort of smile. Despite Sesshoumaru's kind words, I felt far from reassured. All I could think about was the threat of mom suffering even more harm.

"Keh! One thing bothers me." Inuyasha reappeared, bringing me out of my dark thoughts. "Those text messages are too well timed. Whoever is sending these must be nearby." The hanyou stepped on the threshold, ready to step outside. "I'll do a sweep of the property, see if I can find traces of someone lurking around somewhere on the grounds.

"Go. If you find anything, inform us." With a nod of understanding to his brother, Inuyasha rushed past Sesshoumaru and I, and went out the front door.

It only now dawned on me that I should have asked him what he had done with mother's hand.

I tried my hardest not to picture the severed limb lying somewhere in the house, and decided to try instead to focus on the only task at hand: saving mom. Inuyasha's mention of the text messages made me realize something.

"Based on the latest message, Naraku obviously wants you to withdraw your challenge…"

I wondered if we should. I struggled between wanting mom to be safe and wanting revenge. As long as the hanyou was out there and alive, he would always find ways to torture all my loved ones. After all even if he released mother, what could stop him from snatching her again if we ever did something to displease him. What would even guarantee he would free her in the first place?! I was so torn.

"We will not give up, not so close to our goal. Naraku does not get to win." Sesshoumaru looked down into my eyes. "I promised we would get your mother back, and I intend to keep this promise. I am sorry he has hurt her in such a heinous way, but this is not a life threatening injury; I should know."

Sesshoumaru gently rolled his left shoulder. I knew he referred to the fact that Inuyasha had once cut off his arm by accident. It was so easy to forget that he too had suffered such an injury. His limb had grown back, and had he not told me about the provenance of the scar on his bicep, I would have never guessed. He had meant to reassure me, but all his words did was evoke once more the sight of the horrifying delivery left on our doorstep. The reason why Sesshoumaru had healed so nicely was that he had immediate medical care. For all I knew mom was chained in one of Naraku's dungeons, the wound of her stump left bloody and festering with infection. Maybe Naraku and his mercenaries were even in the process of cutting more body parts off of mom.

My head spun in all directions, and I could not help but wonder what Naraku would send me next? Another hand, a foot, her head?! Bile rose in my throat. Had my stomach not been empty of contents I would have been crouched on the ground puking my guts out once again. I clenched my eyes closed. The image was too vivid in my head.

"You know, we were supposed to cook homemade noodles this weekend. She was going to teach me…" How would she be able to roll the dough with only one hand?! She had told me it had taken her years to manage the perfect flick of the wrist, and had promised to teach me. "I had promised the kids I would make them the best noodles in the world based on my mother's recipe." I now may never get such a chance. I realized I was babbling nonsense, but it was only when Sesshoumaru ran a finger under my eye that I realized I was crying. These were the first tears I had shed since mom was taken.

Even as I tried to repress them, sobs escaped my throat. I hated being so broken and vulnerable. All the exhaustion and emotional upheaval of the past few days was catching up to me, and I slid to the floor of the entryway. It was as if all my bones had gone soft, and the sheer effort of holding myself together was insurmountable. I felt Sesshoumaru picking me up and cradling me in his arms, next thing I knew, everything went black.

I woke up with a start. Sadly it only took a few seconds for my brain to catch up to what had been happening in the past few days. I instantly wished I could go back to the nice oblivion of sleep. I shook my head. I did not get to sleep and rest while mom was locked up somewhere being tortured. From the few rays of sunshine coming form the window, I could tell I had been lying in bed for hours. Damn it! I had lost valuable time.

A quick scrub to my face, a much needed change of clothes, and I was rushing downstairs in search of some news. As soon as I entered Sesshoumaru's office, I saw him standing, looking out the window to the rising sun.

"You let me fall asleep?!" I was mad at myself for giving into the weakness of rest at such a time, and I was madder at him for not waking me up.

"You needed the rest." He turned around to face me.

Just as I opened my mouth to argue and spew more anger, he raised his hand.

"I have news." This killed any retort I could have mustered. It was only then that I took a closer look at my lover. Some of the shadows in his eyes had faded away. I knew then that something had happened. Something big.

"While you took you well deserved rest, we found the location of the hideout of the mercenaries."

I gasped in a mix of shock and excitement. "Then what are we waiting for? Let me get my fan and let's go!"

"The team I mandated already went there…"

"Did they get mom out?" My heart pounded in my chest.

"Things did not go exactly as this Sesshoumaru had hoped."

"What happened?! Is she gone?" I could not quite bring myself to ask if she had been killed.

"I don't know. I do not believe so." He walked up to me and placed comforting hands on my shoulders. "While doing a sweep of the grounds, Inuyasha found a drone. We believe it was used to follow up on your movements. This explains why the text messages were always sent in such a timely fashion."

I could tell my lover was angered at the idea that someone could have come and spied on our home and family without him knowing.

"Sango and our IT team tracked down the drone's command center to a warehouse on the border of Naraku's territory and Menoumaru's. Inuyasha and Miroku led a strike team there in the hopes of rescuing your mother. Unfortunately, she was not there, but almost all the mercenaries were."

He took a brief pause as if mulling his next words over. I wanted to prompt him to speak faster, but I bit my tongue.

"Our team fought the Band of Seven mercenaries. Five were killed. One ran away. We suffered heavy casualties."

That last piece of information made me gasp. "Are Inuyasha and Miroku okay?" While I felt for all of Sesshoumaru's employees who had risked their lives to save my mom, I was most worried for the hanyou and the human. They were family.

Another pause. I knew what Sesshoumaru was going to say would be bad. "Miroku was seriously injured to the face. He is in the hospital, in recovery. He had surgery. Sango is by his side… my brother is okay. He is with the leader of the mercenaries, we captured him."

My heart broke at hearing about Miroku's injury. More pain, more suffering. It had to stop. "Is Miroku going to be okay?"

"The surgery went well, but he might still lose his eye. Sango is keeping us informed."

Sesshoumaru clenched his fist. I could only imagine how Miroku's I jury affected him. My lover cared for all those under his protection, and even is Miroku had the official title of lawyer, we all knew he was actually family. Him being hurt like this broke all of our hearts. I especially felt guilty. Had it not been for Naraku, none of this would have ever happened. I swore to myself then and there that I would do everything in my power to make sure the hanyou paid for all the hurt he had caused.

Sesshoumaru's secured cellphone line pinged. He picked up the phone to read the message displayed.

"Inuyasha has readied things. Let us go."

We drove in silence to a grimy one story concrete building in the heart of Sesshoumaru's territory. This one was in a more dingy part of town, far from the family mansion and the nice Sakura house. From the short phone exchange between the Tashio brothers, I had gathered that the plan was to torture the leader of the mercenaries until he gave up the information of where the only other living member of his outfit was keeping mom captive.

My heart in my throat, I closely followed Sesshoumaru. As soon as we got out of the car, he went straight to the basement of the building. It was dark, damp and cramped. I did not fail to notice that the place was soundproof. Naraku had outfitted his own chamber of horrors with a similar design. Clearly the Tashio brothers had made use of the place as a torture chamber in the past.

At the bottom of the stairs, two tall light haired inu youkai guarded a reinforced door. As soon as they spotted their boss, they stepped aside to let Sesshoumaru and I in. Without a word, my lover went forward, and we came upon a surprising sight.

Inuyasha was perched on a tall stool, his sword across his lap. His eyes were locked on a person sitting on a chair with their arms locked behind their back. The stranger was wearing tattered bloody clothes, and the long braid thrown over his shoulder was mated from blood gushing from a gash on his forehead. He raised his head upon hearing us approaching, and struck me with the calm look in his blue eyes. For someone who was about to be tortured and probably killed, he was too calm. The mercenary was younger that I expected. He was human, but I could feel some youki coming from him. How strange. I remembered then that the Shichinintai used youkai weapons, which probably explained why the leader of the mercenaries showed youkai traits.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, pleasure to meet you. Wished it had been under better circumstances." The grin on the corner of the mercenary's lips infuriated me.

"Bankotsu." Sesshoumaru walked up to the human. "Your men are dead. You have nothing left. Tell us what we seek, and your miserable life will be spared."

"Nope. Don't think so. Whatever I might say, there's no way I'm coming out of this alive; otherwise you wouldn't have brought your muscle guy." He shot at look at the hanyou. "Besides, all my men are not gone. The best one is still alive and well." The mercenary, who I now guessed was named Bankotsu, grinned wider. "And I think he has with him something you'd love to have back."

Inuyasha growled, I clenched my hands in frustration, but Sesshoumaru stayed as cool as ever.

"This Sesshoumaru keeps my word. Always. If you speak, we will spare your life."

"I'm not dumb. I know of you, M. the Killing Perfection." Bankotsu spat. "By the way how's your little human friend? The way I carved his face with my Banryu, I'm pretty sure I took out his eye for good. Pretty boy won't ever be the same." The vile man threw his head back and laughed.

"Keh! Enough of this bullshit. I can make the bastard talk." Inuyasha jumped down from his stool and cracked his knuckles.

I had been a victim of torture often enough to never want to make another person suffer the same way, but this was the man who had kidnapped and mutilated my mother. As of now he was the only one who could give us information on her whereabouts. I was willing to do whatever it took as long as I got her back.

"Inuyasha, let me do the honors." The words had come out of my mouth before I had even realized what I was saying.

"Are you sure?" The hanyou asked. I knew if I wanted I could walk away from here and let him do the dirty work. He was his brother's enforcer after all; he was used to such work.

"Yes, this is my fight." I flicked opened my fan and stepped forward.

"Oh, so you're the ungrateful daughter of Naraku?" Bankotsu leered at me. "I see the resemblance with the old lady now. Too bad Jakotsu hates women, my brother could have given your mother one last ride."

That the monster could joke about his accomplice raping mom on top of all the pain and suffering she had already gone through brought me over the brink.

I summoned a wind blade, and aimed it at the prisoner's face. It sliced him open, causing more blood to drench his face.

As much as I hated the man, attacking and hurting someone who was tied down was still distasteful to me. It reminded me too much of all the times Naraku had done the same to me. I wished the man would speak already so I would not have to drag the torture any longer than necessary.

I sent a second blade. This one struck his shoulder, leaving a bloody gash behind.

"Your men died for this, why should you too? This is not your fight." I growled. "No money Naraku has given you could justify you dying for."

"It's not about that fucking hanyou, or the money. It has gone beyond that." The mercenary spat. "You killed my brothers, but I'm not worried. Jakotsu will avenge us all. Just wait and see. Wouldn't surprise me if the old bitch is already a cold chopped up corpse lying in a ditch somewhere."

I lost it. One moment I was thinking about where to slice him next, then next I had unleashed my fiercest attack. I swirled my fan around with a well-practiced flick of my wrist. A powerful tornado appeared out of thin air, and slammed into the prisoner.

To his credit, Bankotsu did not scream or even cry out as dozens of wind blades ravaged and tore at his body.

"Enough." Sesshoumaru reached over to touch my arm. The action caused me to come back to my senses, and I lowered my fan.

Inuyasha, stepped closer to Bankotsu. In my fury, the winds I had unleashed had broken the chair, undone Bankotsu's restraints, destroyed his clothing beyond repair and covered his body in bloody cuts of various sizes. Despite being freed, the man was unmoving, lying facedown in a growing puddle of his blood.

The hanyou crouched next to the man and sighed. "He's dead."

I gasped in shock. This was a battle-hardened mercenary, a human with youkai attributes, a man who had faced Miroku and Inuyasha and survived. How could my attack have killed him?!

"Did I kill him?!" Even if I was in shock, one emotion prevailed: anger. I was furious that my inability to control my emotions had cost us a valuable informant.

"Nope. He reeks of poison." Inuyasha grabbed the dead mercenary by the hair, bringing his face up for us all to see. A green tinged foam was slowly trickling from the corner of Bankotsu's mouth.

"He probably swallowed the poison the moment he was taken captive." Sesshoumaru growled angrily. "He provoked us as a means to gain time to minimize the chances of him revealing some information under torture."

"Damn it!" Inuyasha dropped the corpse. "What's our next step?"

"We have to find his associate Jakotsu." I stated. 'And hope mom was still alive.' This last part I had kept to myself. I was scared that speaking it aloud would somehow jinx things, and jeopardize mom's safety.

Finding a mercenary and his captive turned out to be harder than expected. Sesshoumaru's men fanned all over the city, and my lover had even called in a favor to get Kouga and his wolves to join the search. Still Jakotsu and mom proved to be impossible to find.

While Inuyasha got back on the field, Sesshoumaru and I had spent another day franticly waiting for information. We had stopped by the hospital in the afternoon to check on Miroku. Considering that he was still in the intensive care unit we had not been allowed to see him. Talking with his surgeon had reassured us that he would make a recovery, so we had gone back to the search. I had expected Sango to blame me for what had happened to her boyfriend, but she had simply greeted me, with no malice in her eyes. Part of the weight had been lifted off my guilty conscious. However I would only be truly absolved when Miroku got home form the hospital, and mom was back home with me, where she belonged.

I almost dropped the cup of coffee I had been nursing when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. My heart almost jumped out of my ribcage when I saw who was calling me.

"Naraku. What do you want?" It had taken all the self-restraint I had not to drive over to his house when we had gotten back from the hospital. I wanted to unleash my tornadoes on him in order for him to tell me what he had done to mom.

"I am calling with appalling news my dear." He sniffled, and I wished I could reach through the phone to punch him in the face. He wasn't fooling anyone with the fake crying. "I had not told you as I had not wanted to worry you, but you mother went missing some time ago. The clinic she had been placed in for her own safety told me she sneaked out during the middle of the night…"

"Go on."

"Sadly, the poor creature was not well enough to live on her own out in the real world." Naraku pretended to blow his nose. "They found her at the bottom of a ditch, her neck broken. She had been dead a number of hours. As I wished to spare you pain, I had her body cremated this afternoon."

I heard his words, but I could not grasp what he was trying to say.

"You're lying, mom is not dead…"

"On the contrary my dear daughter." All traces of his fake grief were gone form his voice, replaced by utter glee. "She's dead and gone now. You will never see her again."

To be continued…

A/N: Don't hate me! This chapter turned out to be a lot bloodier than I expected. As we get closer to the end of this bumpy ride, expect some more bloodshed and death. I apologize in advance! The next chapter will be heartbreaking, and will be aptly named Crushed.