Hey guys! Sorry it took awhile to update, but I'm somewhat reluctant in ending this story (no matter how badly I can't wait to start a new one) plus grade 11 is killing me already! Plus cadets and concert band are going to be starting up again this week soooo...AND I'm now into Final Fantasy X-2 so I wanna keep up with that too (since I'm borrowing the game '). Thanks to all who have reviewed and have been with me since the beginning; I write for you guys! glomps all readers Oh, and sorry about last chapter's format. is being stubborn. Anywho, please enjoy Chapter 11 and REVIEW!
Disclaimer: InuYasha and company aren't mine. I wish they were. But they aren't. Which really sucks because I wish they were. But they aren't. I would be really happy if they were. But they aren't. --
Chapter 11: Punishment and Truth or Dare
Musou paced back and forth nervously across the room. Kagura stood and watched, exhausted from her escape from Sesshomaru. She was just as nervous as he was, even more so. If Naraku found out, she would certainly suffer the consequences. Musou would too.
It was only a matter of time…
"How could you let that happen?" Musou said, "Now we're both going to suffer!"
Kagura straightened up, angry at him for accusing the entire predicament on her. "It's not just my fault! You're the one who was supposed to give me the odourless poison! So if we're going to suffer, it's your fault!"
Musou turned to look at her, daggers flying from him and at him at the same time. "That may be so, but Master Naraku gave you the task of killing Sesshomaru, not me," he said, almost whispering. Kagura had to admit to herself-he had a point.
Neither said anything to each other after that. All that could be heard amongst the silence was the water dripping from the pipelines in the hallway and Musou's footsteps as he continued pacing back and forth. No one would have heard her coming.
There's got to be a way out of this somehow…Musou thought. He glanced at the door and froze in shock. Kagura was also staring in the same direction, except with deep fear in her eyes.
In the doorway was their older sister Kanna, dressed all in white, with her pale skin and eyes, looking emotionlessly at them.
"Master Naraku wishes to see you now," she whispered.
Musou once again found himself in Naraku's office, but this time, he knew a punishment would certainly be given. He swallowed hard. He noticed Kagura slightly trembling and beginning to perspire.
"I assume you both know why you're here," Naraku began. He stood up and walked over to the corner of his desk, and sat there. "I'll begin with you, Kagura,"
Kagura stiffened, her eyes not leaving Naraku.
"I am disappointed with your performance. I give you simple tasks, and you fail to carry them through. Not only that…" Naraku explained, as he took something from a box in his desk, crushed it in his hand.
Kagura felt a deep, searing pain in her chest. She fell to the floor, clutching the area where her heart should have been. It was hard to breath. She looked up at Naraku, who seemed to be enjoying her pain. He walked up to her, and knelt to her level. All she could do was glare; her voice had been lost.
"It hurts, doesn't it Kagura? To have someone crush your heart like the vermin you are. You want to know what else hurts?" he said, squeezing the heart in his hand a little harder, causing Kagura to groan in pain. "Carelessness; that's what hurts a business man like my self, when those who work for me are careless enough not to do what they are told, or notice little things," he ripped a piece of flesh off her neck, causing her to gasp in even more pain. She couldn't breathe now.
"See this?" he asked, showing her the piece of her own flesh in which he just ripped off. "On this piece of flesh I hold here, is a tracking device, which was put on Sesshomaru, the one you failed to kill!" He threw the flesh at her, stood up, crushing her heart as hard as he could now. Kagura screamed in pain.
"Now, because of your carelessness, I might be found! Everything I've worked for, gone! Everything that I've ever given to you, lost forever! I do NOT tolerate failure! Do you understand?" Naraku yelled. Kagura just moaned in pain in response, her vision beginning to blur.
Naraku just smirked. He released his grasp on her heart. She let out a huge gasp, and began taking in deep breaths. Sweat rolled down her cheek as she lay on the floor, a small puddle of blood forming from where he ripped the flesh.
"You forget that I created you, Kagura. You are part of me; I own you. My advice to you is to learn that soon," Naraku said quietly. "Kanna put her in one of the cells,"
Kanna did as she was told. Musou tugged at his collar after witnessing what Naraku had done to his sister. Surely he was in for the same fate.
"Now your turn Musou," Naraku began.
Kagura felt exhausted, as she took in another deep breath. Kanna had long since left her, tied to these chains in this God-forsaken cell. As long as she was still alive, she found that she didn't really care anymore. After what just happened to her, this was a walk in the park; or nap, maybe.
She began to feel a little bit worried about her brother, but didn't dwell too much on that thought. Naraku always liked him more anyway. Her mind instead drifted to Sesshomaru…why had he spared her life?
Then she remembered: the tracking device. Of course, what use would a tracking device be if the person you were following was dead? But still…he could've just killed her anyway…despite his threats and such, that was the closest thing kindness Kagura had ever encountered.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of something being dragged out in the hallway. She peered through the darkness to try and see. She saw Kanna and another useless incarnation dragging something very large; something that appeared to be a body. Kagura looked closer and gasped when she saw what it was.
The body of her brother, Musou.
The little dot that was blinking on the computer screen had long since disappeared. But it stopped in one final location, the basement of an abandoned basement on the outskirts of Tokyo; Naraku's hideout.
This was enough to satisfy Sesshomaru. Now that he knew where to find Naraku, he just needed something to prove that he and Kikyo were behind the disappearance of his brother and where he was. He had a plan.
Bankotsu stood at the other end of the room, leaning against the wall. The suit had long since been removed, now wearing a light blue button-down shirt, with the first few buttons undone and black pants. Jakotsu was still wearing his fancy kimono.
"Now that we know where Naraku is, what do you suggest we do?" Bankotsu asked, staring at Sesshomaru with no peculiar interest. Sesshomaru did not look up at him.
"You are going to go there, and get him to admit that he had part in my brother's disappearance, as well as Kikyo, and have him tell you where my brother is," Sesshomaru ordered point-blank. He knew that undercover work was one of Bankotsu's specialties.
"What do I get to do?" Jakotsu asked excitedly. Sesshomaru just glanced at him.
"You…get to follow Kikyo around," he stated. Jakotsu stopped bouncing in excitement, with a look of disappointment on his face.
"It's not fair! Ban-kun gets all the fun jobs!" he moped. Bankotsu let out a small laugh.
Sesshomaru just rolled his eyes. Soon it would all be over.
The sun was beginning to set on the island. The gang was sitting around the fire, since it was starting to get chilly at nights. Kagome suggested, at the obvious boredom of everyone, that they play truth or dare. Everyone reluctantly agreed, seeing as there was nothing else to do.
Kagome started the game. "Hmm…InuYasha, truth or dare?" InuYasha just rolled his eyes. He hated trivial games like this.
"I don't know…truth," he answered.
"What was your most embarrassing moment?" Kagome asked.
"That's your question? Well, let's see…there was this one time, no wait, there was this other time…aw damn," InuYasha complained, releasing his life in general was his most embarrassing moment. The others giggled.
"I have a few good ones," Miroku suggested. InuYasha just glared at him. Of course Miroku would have 'a few good ones'.
"If you want to keep your job, then those few good ones will stay inside your trap," InuYasha threatened. Miroku let out a nervous laugh, not saying a word.
"I take it you've had quite a few?" Kagome inquired. InuYasha could only reply with a single 'keh'. She decided it was time to move on. "How about you Miroku: truth or dare?"
Miroku pondered the thought for a moment. "I will have to say…dare,"
This caught Kagome by surprise, and she began thinking of all the dares he could do. Sango put in her suggestion.
"How about you dare him not to grope anybody for a day?" she said, with a smug look on her face.
"Now, dear Sango, you know that I cannot do such a possible thing!" he replied.
"And why not? Or does the rule of 'keep your hands to yourself' not apply to you?" she threw back at him.
"I assure you, it does, but because I am insecure of my own feelings, I feel that touching others is my only way to communicate my feelings," he explained, attempting to sound intelligent. "I wish I could stop, but I am afraid to bring out my true self in the presence of others, and it places a dark hole in my very soul,"
Sango looked at Miroku, as if she actually believed him. He took notice of this, and continued.
"So, you must understand, I mean you no harm, I'm just demonstrating how much I care, and being my true self," he said, sneaking his hand to stroke her butt.
When she finally realized what was going on, she began to feel very angry. She slapped him-hard. She stood up.
"Does your true self happen to be an inconsiderate pervert!" she yelled, and stormed off. The sun had long since set, and they could no longer see her angry figure.
Miroku looked shocked. He stroked his face…she never slapped him that hard before… "Was it something I said?"
Kagome sighed.
"Well, duh," InuYasha added. Miroku looked confused.
"Well, maybe it was because you were leading her to believe that you finally realized that you have a problem and that you actually cared about her. Then you go and do something stupid like grope her!" Kagome explained.
"I never realized that…maybe I should go talk to her…" Miroku said, to no one in particular. He ran off in the direction that Sango ran in.
Kagome and InuYasha just sat there and watched as Miroku ran off.
"So much for that," InuYasha said, resting on his head on his hand.
"I just hope they can work things out. Sango seemed really upset this time," Kagome replied, then remembering what could've made her so upset.
"Oh my god…I almost forgot…" Kagome said, looking back in the direction which Sango left. InuYasha just ignored her. He was too tired to really care anyway.
Miroku tried to find Sango, but it was too dark to see. The moon was only a crescent moon, so its light was no help. Miroku stopped to catch his breath, and turned to look around. The campfire could no longer be seen, and neither could anything else. All he heard was the ocean surf and…crying?
He turned to his right towards the jungle, where he finally saw Sango's figure, her head bent low; she seemed to be crying into her hands. He decided to approach her quietly.
"Sango…what's wrong?" he asked, trying to sound as concerned as possible. Her head shot up when she heard his voice, and she turned around to confirm her fears. Although it was dark, he could see the stains that the tears placed on her face.
"What's wrong? You're asking me what's wrong? Are you that blind? You sit there and tell me you care about me and then pull the same stupid trick that you pull on every girl you see! You're inconsiderate and perverted and you'll never understand!" she shouted, new tears now streaming down her face as she began walking in the other direction to get away from him.
"Sango wait!" he cried, catching up to her.
"Go away!" she cried back. He ran up in front of her, to stop her from going any further. He held her firmly by the shoulders, and tried to look her in the eye, but she would just look away.
"Sango, I'm truly sorry for my actions, just please tell me what I don't understand," he pleaded with her. She still refused to meet his eyes, but she stopped struggling to get free. Silence was all that greeted him.
"Please…" he whispered. She sniffed, tears bordering her eyes again. She finally spoke.
"It was three months ago today," she began. Miroku removed his hands from her shoulders and listened intently. "Three months…since my father and brother were killed.
"I was coming home from work after working the graveyard shift. It was late, and I was expecting my father and brother, Kohaku to be home in bed when I came home. But when I got upstairs I…" she closed her eyes, and tears began to fall.
"It's okay, you don't have to…" Miroku began but she shook her head, indicating that she was going to continue.
"When I got upstairs to our apartment I noticed that the doorknob had been broken. I opened the door and found the place destroyed, and…my father…dead on the floor. He had been shot in the head. I…I couldn't believe it. I went to go check on Kohaku and found him under hostage with a gun pointed to his head. The man told me that it was Kohaku that killed our father…I didn't believe it, but the police found his fingerprints on the gun later on…Kohaku looked so scared, and this guy wouldn't let him go…he just…killed him. He killed a young boy, mercilessly…
"The man told me before he shot Kohaku; 'I want you to remember, Sango. Remember what happened. Remember the power I have. Remember who I am. Don't you dare forget!' And I feel like I've let both my father and Kohaku down, because I haven't been able to forget. I'm…not strong enough to forget…"
She bent her head low in shame and began crying again. Miroku gently lifted her head to look at him.
"You are strong, Sango. You are the strongest person I've ever met," he stroked her tears away with his thumb. "I wasn't lying when I said I cared about you Sango. I care about you very much. You're extremely special to me and I'm sorry for my actions lately," he explained softly.
"Miroku…" she began, but couldn't find the words.
"Sango…I love you," Miroku said, bringing his lips to hers.
Sango was shocked, but immediately gave into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around him, for once, feeling safe…and happy. When they had to leave the moment to breath, Sango said, "I love you, too Miroku,"
And they kissed again.
Kagome quietly jumped up and down happily in the bushes that were concealing both her and InuYasha. It was Kagome's idea to come check up on them to make sure murder wouldn't take place. InuYasha reluctantly came along, but he knew nothing but murder was going to happen.
Or so he thought.
"See! I told you they liked each other!" Kagome whispered excitedly. He rolled his eyes.
"Whatever," was all he had to say.
Naraku was now sitting at his desk, looking at the blood stains on the floor, where Musou's body had once lay. He decided to kill Musou because he had become useless to him; he failed to kill of InuYasha in the first place. Kagura, he kept her alive just so he could have someone to torture.
But Sesshomaru is still a problem…looks like I'll have to take this into my own hands; just like that doctor girl's father…Sango, was it? She still cannot forget me, as I've seen the pain in her face when I've followed her. Interesting how she is on the same island as InuYasha…he thought, but then went back to the problem of Sesshomaru.
I will kill him myself. Sesshomaru…your days are numbered…
An evil grin lurked across his face.
There! The Sango/Miroku relationship is resolved, and the plot is working up, which means the end is near! OMG! The end is near! Anyway, more Kagome/InuYasha fluff is coming, I'm just saving it for the end! Trust me, I have a master plan! Oh, and it was kind of sad that Musou dies, but I felt it would add to the drama. Plus, it's all part of my master plan with Kagura! Muwahahaha. Please read and review and stay tuned for Chapter 12! Ashieyu66