Chapter Fifteen: Entangled in a Thread of Deceit
Inuyasha rushed through the doors to the Library and glanced around the vast structure searching for Kagome. He wrinkled his nose, chastising himself for not telling her exactly where to meet, but he did have his nose. Grinning foolishly, Inuyasha lifted his nose to the air and tried to pick out her scent among all the other mortals and youkai rushing through the place.
With a grunt, Inuyasha wandered over to the desk at the front and was about to ask the librarian if she had seen anyone, when his eyes caught sight of the very person he was searching for. Kagome was seated next to the computer section, with a pile of books on the table, almost hiding her from view. Inuyasha snorted and made his way through the vast amount of people and he slipped into the seat across from her.
"Oie." He smirked, and glanced at the books on the table. With a frown, he read the labels. "Riddles?"
Kagome shook her head and shrugged. "A past time?"
Inuyasha frowned deeper. "Feh, try again."
Kagome swallowed nervously and she winced when Inuyasha regarded her firmly and unrelenting. "He told me this one and said I had three days to come up with the answer. Then he gave me a book title before your brother took the phone."
Inuyasha stiffened. "Uhh…guy on the phone? You mean the bastard who called the other night?"
Kagome nodded shamefully.
"Keh! What's the riddle?" Inuyasha scoffed.
Kagome sucked her breath in sharply. "First think of a person who lives in disguise, Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. Next tell me what's always the last thing to mend, The middle of middle and end of the end? And finally give me the sound often heard during the search for a hard to find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"
Inuyasha furrowed his brows for a long moment before he snorted. "That's the riddle he gave you?"
Kagome nodded slowly.
"You ever read Harry Potter?" Inuyasha smirked.
Kagome frowned and shook her head. "No, why?"
"The bastard took it from the book. The answer is spider." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
Kagome glanced up startled. "Spider?" With a loud sigh, she slumped her shoulders. "I don't get it, why me?"
Inuyasha shook his head slowly. "Because he can. It's not you he's after, but Sessho and me. I guess he thinks that because you associate yourself with me, that you would make a good target to get to either me or my brother."
"This guys after you? Why?" Kagome asked, leaning forward slightly.
Inuyasha shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe someone in my family pissed him off, and now he's taking it out on us."
"What do your parents say about all this?" Kagome bit her lip.
"What can they say? They're dead." Inuyasha mumbled.
Kagome gasped audibly and her eyes widened. "Oh, Inuyasha, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
Inuyasha shrugged. "Don't matter. What did this guy say to you exactly?"
Kagome pushed the riddle book towards him and sighed. "Well he told me that riddle, and said I had three days to solve it or it would get personal. I had no idea who it was, and it scared me. Then before your brother took the phone, the guy said I had to solve the riddles in this book…" She waved her hand at the blue bound novel in front of the hanyou, "That was it, or all I got before Sesshoumaru took the phone."
"Did he give you a time frame for solving these?" Inuyasha asked, flipping through the small book.
Kagome shook her head.
Inuyasha read over a few of them and then glanced up at the girl. "Most of these seem pretty simple. The guy will probably call back at some point, and I can help you with these if you want."
"You actually go through all this? What about the authorities?"
"Feh! What about them? They don't do nothing to help youkai out, unless it's another youkai in the field." Inuyasha snorted.
Kagome shook her head and frowned. "That is so unfair."
"Life is full of unfairness. Look how your schoolmates treat hanyou and youkai. Think that is just by chance?" Inuyasha growled.
Kagome nodded. "We aren't all bad." She whispered.
"So I noticed. In any case, if you want help with these, I'll do it. Just so you don't get involved further with this bastard. As for the festival, Sess told me I couldn't go." Inuyasha snorted.
"With all those calls I can see why." Kagome nodded in understanding. "Maybe we can see it on the internet? I know that people upload that stuff all the time onto websites."
Inuyasha shrugged. "I wanted to check out the museum in all honesty. There's going to be a ton of stuff there from the feudal era, and even stuff from before then."
Kagome smiled. "You're really into this history stuff, aren't you?"
Inuyasha shrugged again. "I suppose. My father owned an antique business, so I guess it runs in the family."
Kagome gasped and her mouth fell open. "Owned? Really? What kind of stuff?"
"Feh, like that rosary thing that was on my neck. Other things too."
"Does Sesshoumaru look after the shop now?" Kagome asked, leaning on her elbows.
"Yeah, but he is a computer baka. I don't know how he'll be able to run it efficiently seeing as the whole place is computerized." Inuyasha chuckled softly.
"What happened to your parents?" Kagome asked somewhat hesitantly.
Inuyasha pulled his lips into a tight line, and furrowed his brows. "An accident. I don't know. It was Sess' birthday and we had all gone out for the night. We crashed, or something crashed into us, I wasn't really paying attention. All I know is that my head cracked against something and I blacked out. I remember lying on a gurney thing and watching the doctors move around the car. I saw my dad and for some reason this is where I get all confused. I forgot to tell Sesshoumaru more about it, but I could have sworn that my dad looked right at me, and said something to me. But the doctors said that he died right away."
Kagome swallowed. "You don't know what really happened. What did they tell you?"
"That my parents died instantly." Inuyasha clenched his teeth together. "I'm sure I saw my dad awake though."
"Did you ever think about going to the death records building and finding out for sure?" Kagome asked gripping Inuyasha's hand tightly.
Inuyasha glanced up at her startled and then stared at their clasped hands. "Uhh…no. I didn't. I guess I could though, I do have access to it."
Kagome smiled encouragingly. "Yes, you're family. When my father vanished, my mom went there to find out if there had been any record of his death."
Inuyasha nodded. "Did she find anything?"
Kagome shook her head. "No, it was like he just vanished off the face of the earth."
"How old were you?" Inuyasha asked curiously.
"I was eight, I think." Kagome released Inuyasha's hand and pulled her history book forward. "We should get started on this before the library closes."
Inuyasha nodded with a frown. "Hai."
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Sesshoumaru shook his head and gave a long sigh of relief when he finally closed the book he had been going over on how computers were operated. It had taken him nearly four hours to read the 'How to…' Book for Computer Dummies, and his head now hurt from all the information he had had to process. With another sigh, Sesshoumaru stood up from his desk and grabbed his jacket and keys, to leave the office for the day.
He had been cooped up inside the building since early that morning; after he had gone back home to change, and had arrived just to find out he had a line up of meetings for the first part of the morning.
Once that had been placed behind him, he had gone into his office to catalog the artifacts that had arrived, and had placed most of them that had seemed important to him in the vault his father had had set up in his office. Once he had opened the vault, Sesshoumaru had only stood there and stared at the hundreds of items that were hidden inside. Most were cataloged and placed perfectly on shelves, and there was even a tiny desk inside with papers scattered all over the surface.
Sesshoumaru had shut himself up inside the vault for roughly three hours, before he had discovered several letters and parchments on artifacts that were so rare that his father had been terrified to keep them in view. He had followed the detailed outline of where the items were hidden and had been somewhat surprised to find them in the very room he was in.
Sesshoumaru found the items easily enough and had been confused as to why his father would even be afraid of the simple things, but shrugged it off for the time being. He had left the vault only to discover that there was a message on the new computer that had been installed in his office and had grown quite angry at the stupid machines. Not only was he uncertain as to how to turn the offensive machine on, he had no clue as to how to check his messages.
Sesshoumaru had called down to his secretary and had sent her on a mission to find him a book on computers, and had been pleased with her results when she had arrived less then fifteen minutes later with the how to book. He had thanked her and had immediately begun his task of reading the book over and figuring out how the stupid things worked.
Now he was too tired to even glance at the computer, let alone check his email. But he had a little more of an idea on how to work the machines. With a shrug, Sesshoumaru exited his office and found the place empty. Shaking his head, he entered the elevator and promptly arrived on the first floor, and walked to the entrance where a single guard sat at a desk.
"Good evening, Mr. Souske."
Sesshoumaru inclined his head but remained silent as he opened the large glass doors. All he wanted to do now was to get home and relax. Not to mention the fact of using his new computer knowledge and testing it out on the home computer. With a snort, Sesshoumaru strolled towards the lone car in the parking lot and he glanced around at the blackness the night cast over everything.
He almost jumped out of his skin when his cell phone rang and he quickly dug into his pocket for the noisy abomination. He lifted it to his ear, and uttered the usual greeting, wondering if it was Inuyasha.
"Mr. Souske, how wonderful to hear your voice again."
Sesshoumaru growled loudly. "What do you want this time?" He demanded of the voice on the phone.
"Leave off your pathetic search for these artifacts. It is pointless for you, as you don't understand the importance of these items."
"I will not. This is obviously something of importance if it has you threatening my family."
"Ahh, yes. Your family. Which seems to have grown by one? Now who was it? Oh right, a little girl, if I'm not mistaken. A human girl wasn't it?" The voice taunted.
Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth angrily. "Are you still watching us?"
"Very closely in fact." The voice sneered. "You have a decision to make. You have roughly an hour to make it. Either you gather those files from your office and bring them to the benches at the monorail, or your brother will suffer the consequences."
"You leave my brother out of this." Sesshoumaru snarled into the phone.
"Oh, I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, I'm watching him as we speak, doing rather nicely on his project with that human girl, Kagome. You have an hour. If you don't comply, your brother will suffer, and if that doesn't motivate you, the human child is next."
Sesshoumaru gasped when the phone clicked and he blinked for a moment before lifting the phone once again dialing his home number.
"You've reached the Souske's, leave a message." Sesshoumaru's own voice filled his hearing. "Baka! Inuyasha pick up the phone." He demanded. He waited almost a minute before uttering. "Inuyasha when you get this, call me back immediately." He hung up the phone, dialed his brother's cell number, and got his voice mail. Cursing under his breath, Sesshoumaru almost shouted angrily over the air. "Baka! Why do you have your phone off? Call me as soon as you get this!"
Snapping the phone shut, Sesshoumaru about faced and stalked towards the building he had just exited out of. "Blast it, Inuyasha!" He raged.
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Inuyasha stretched and rolled his aching shoulders. "I guess that pretty much does it for us, huh?" He smirked as Kagome released a wide yawn.
"Yeah, I'm beat. But we got a ton finished." Kagome grinned and gathered up her books. "So? I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow?"
Inuyasha stood up and snorted. "What? You think I'm going to let you walk home this late, especially after that phone call? Forget it, Kagome!"
"Inuyasha, you don't have to, honest. I can call my mom and she can pick me up. I don't live that far away, you know." Kagome protested, shouldering her backpack.
Inuyasha lead the way towards the front of the library and waited as Kagome checked out the riddle book. "I said forget it. I'm walking you home."
Kagome rolled her eyes and giggled. "If you insist." She teased.
Inuyasha shook his head and they walked side by side to the entrance, but Inuyasha glanced back before opening the doors, noticing that Kagome had paused. "What's wrong?"
Kagome stared right past him into the darkness.
"Oie! Kagome." Inuyasha waved his hand in front of her face, and Kagome turned her eyes to his.
"I think I've seen that car before." She whispered, moving her eyes once again to the glass doors.
Inuyasha turned his head and frowned. "Hey, that's the same car I saw this morning." He muttered as he caught sight of a black car parked across the street.
Kagome blinked. "I saw it when I left school this afternoon. It was parked in the parking lot. I don't know if it's the same car though."
Inuyasha pushed open the doors and stared at the black tinted windows of the black car. "I think it's the same one I saw on my street. I mean how many black cars have that dark of tint on the windows?"
Kagome walked up behind him slowly. "Isn't that illegal?" She whispered, and sucked in her breath when the car began to roll down the street slowly.
Inuyasha let his eyes follow the progress of the car and he growled. "Come on, let's get you home."
Kagome swallowed nervously. "I can call my mom." She whispered, grabbing his shirtsleeve. "I don't really want to walk home now."
Inuyasha turned his eyes to her and stared for a few minutes. "Feh, don't worry about anything. I'll protect you." He grinned cockily. "Nothing's going to hurt you."
Kagome nodded slowly after she took a long breath. "Okay." She whispered.
Inuyasha pulled her along and shook his head. Now that he was aware that the car was following him, he put his senses on high alert. He dug into his pocket and took out his cell to see if he had any messages and he flinched visibly at the four left from his brother's cell number.
"Uhoh!" He mumbled. "I think I'm in shit."
Kagome turned her head towards him as they rounded a corner, and almost cried out in fear when his phone rang loudly.
Inuyasha glanced at the number and opened the phone. "Yeah?"
"Inuyasha Souske?" A hushed voice asked.
"Yeah, what of it?" Inuyasha snarled.
"I have some information for you. It's important, meet me at the fountains in Central Square tomorrow, during the festival. I'll be waiting at five."
"Who is this?" Inuyasha snapped.
"It doesn't matter who I am, if you want to find out what happened that night your parents died, then meet me there at five. I won't wait long, ten minutes max, if you don't show, the information burns. I can't be found out." The voice hissed anxiously, the phone clicked dead.
"What the hell?" Inuyasha snapped his phone shut and closed one eye as he dialed his voice mail.
He lifted the phone to his ear and sucked his breath in nervously.
"Baka, why is your phone off? Call me as soon as you get this."
"Inuyasha turn on your bloody phone! Call me back."
Inuyasha swallowed again and groaned.
"Inuyasha, I swear if you don't call me back, I'll break every bone in your body."
"It's Sesshoumaru, call me back immediately. I've tried home three times, and your cell four. I swear if you are playing some sick joke, I'll kill you myself. Call me back!"
Inuyasha closed his phone and hesitantly called his brother's number. "Oh, Kami, I'm so dead."
Kagome shook her head.
"Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru's anxious voice filled the hanyou's ear.
"Hai, what's wrong?" Inuyasha grit his teeth together.
"Damn it, Inuyasha! Where the hell are you?" Sesshoumaru growled angrily.
"I was at the library doing homework with Kagome." Inuyasha snapped back. "What's wrong?"
"You baka! I got a call from that bastard again and he said he was watching you!" Sesshoumaru snarled.
Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder and shuddered. "Watching me?"
"You and that human girl."
"At the library? But I didn't see anyone." Inuyasha's eyes widened. "Wait, there was this black car outside. I saw it this morning before I went to Chidori's and Kagome said she saw it at school this afternoon."
"Get home!"
"Sess? I offered to take Kagome home, I'll be there soon."
"Hayáku! I'll meet you there!"
Inuyasha shook his head and closed his phone. "Damn. I'm in shit. This sucks. I don't know what to do."
Kagome creased her brows confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well the festival is tomorrow, Sess said I couldn't go, and I got this phone call from this guy saying he had some information for me, about the crash. He told me that if I wanted it, I had to meet him at the festival. Not only that, Sess got a call from that bastard saying he was watching us. I bet you it was that car." Inuyasha growled low in his chest.
"What if this is a trap? I mean, what if this guy wants you to go to the festival so he can hurt you?" Kagome whispered, glancing over her shoulder nervously.
"Keh! In the middle of the afternoon around hundreds of people? I doubt it." Inuyasha shook his head furiously and sped up his pace leading towards the shrine where Kagome resided.
"Inuyasha, this whole thing is creepy. I mean, who is this guy." Kagome asked, glancing around her nervously.
"Hell if I know." Inuyasha snorted. "Not like it matters. Seriously, this guy is just trying to get under our skin."
Kagome swallowed uncertainly, and followed Inuyasha as they climbed the steps to her home. "Hey, while you're here, why don't you come see the Goshinboku?" She asked feeling better on her home soil.
Inuyasha grinned and nodded. "Sure. Why not."
Kagome lead him around the side of the house to the back yard and pointed excitedly at the large tree surrounded by a wooden fence. "There."
Inuyasha followed her finger and nodded as he took in the great tree of ages. His eyes caught sight of a string of sutras around the base and then his eyes caught sight of the oval shaped burn mark. "Wow. That must be where that hanyou had been sealed." He shuddered at the thought.
"Hai. They said a priestess broke the spell on him and they traveled together for a year or so before all trace of them vanished." Kagome sighed and stopped at the protective fence.
Inuyasha stared up at the mark and he frowned as his eyes caught sight of a glint of silver just off the center of the burn. "Hey, what's that?"
Kagome squinted and shook her head. "I don't know." She climbed over the fence and tried to reach upwards for the small hole that seemed to be embedded in the tree. It was just out of her arms reach. With a sniff, she stood on her tiptoes and lifted herself higher with one hand while she stuck her finger into the small hole. "Ow!"
Inuyasha hopped over the fence and shook his head. "That was kind of stupid, don't you think?" He snorted and took her hand. He caught sight of a small bead of blood on her finger and he chuckled. "Clumsy one aren't ya?"
Kagome huffed. "Hey!"
Inuyasha shook his head again, placed the injured digit into his mouth, and licked off the blood. To his surprise his blood hummed at the contact of hers on his tongue and he pulled back gulping loudly. He tore off a piece of his shirt and wrapped her finger in it slightly dizzy from the feeling of heightened senses as her blood burned into his memory.
Inuyasha lifted his gaze to the tree and dug his claw into the hole to loosen the object that was embedded in it. He dug the thing out and pulled it down to his eye level between his claws. "It's an arrow head." He muttered softly. The object glinted softly in the dull lights around the shrine home and he turned around to look at Kagome curiously. "Do you know anything about this?" He asked
Kagome shook her head and stared at the bluish object in Inuyasha's hand. "Look, it has a bit of pink in it."
Inuyasha frowned. "Pink?" He glanced down at the arrowhead and yelped when it flared brightly and sizzled his hand. "Damn it!" He cried out dropping the arrowhead.
"It still has purifying energy. Wow." Kagome whispered. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Inuyasha snapped, staring at the glittering pink object on the ground at his feet. He took a wary step back from it.
Kagome giggled. "Don't tell me you're afraid of this thing, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha snapped his head up sharply. "Of course I'm afraid of it, baka! I'm part youkai, you know."
Kagome shook her head and picked the thing up. "It can't really hurt you much now. The energy isn't as strong as it used to be."
"Feh! Damn thing could still purify my ass, or seriously hurt me." Inuyasha lifted his burning fingers to his eye level. "Look what it did." He stated thrusting his palm under Kagome's nose. "It gave me a damn blister."
Kagome feigned a mock gasp. "Oh you poor baby, want me to kiss it better?"
Inuyasha flushed and dropped his hand. "Oh would you?" He rolled his eyes and gave a sharp snort.
"Do you think this is the arrow that sealed that hanyou in the feudal era?" She asked, turning it over in her hand.
"If it is, that must have been some priestess."
"What do you mean?" Kagome asked looking at the hanyou.
"Well think about it. If that is the same arrow from five hundred years ago, and it still holds some purifying powers, then that would have made that priestess extremely powerful." He shuddered. "Hanyou and youkai back then had to survive against those who wished them dead." He waved at the arrowhead. "They had to either kill or be killed."
Kagome nodded. "I guess. It must have been some time to live in. No laws, no rules to follow."
"Keh! I'm sure there were rules, but youkai back then didn't have to worry about sentences. I mean back then if a youkai killed someone, they could easily get away if they were smart enough. Here though, we are caught immediately, and either sentenced to a lifetime of sealing, or have our asses purified." Inuyasha snorted.
"True, but humans have sentences too, you know. If they kill they are given the death sentence, or life in prison." Kagome said, placing the object into her pocket.
"What do you think you're doing with that?" Inuyasha sniffed.
"Well we could use it for our project. I mean it could be the same arrow from when the hanyou was sealed. It could boost our marks up a bit."
"I don't need no good mark."
"Maybe you don't, but I do!" Kagome hmphed and turned away. "Thanks for walking me home, Inuyasha."
"Yeah, yeah." Inuyasha waved and stared up at the tree once more, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the aura still residing within its branches. It almost felt familiar to him; this particular tree and it sent shivers running through his back. He shook off the feeling and left Kagome's yard quickly.
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Inuyasha ran up the walkway to his door and swallowed nervously when he saw lights on inside. "Well, here goes." He muttered under his breath and turned the handle slowly.
He pushed open the door, poked his head in side, and sighed in a small bit of relief. So far so good. Inuyasha shut the door behind him and yelped loudly when a tight grip clenched around his throat slamming him against the wall.
"You baka!" Sesshoumaru raged into his face. "Are you completely brain dead half-breed?"
Inuyasha gripped his brother's arm trying to hold himself up. His breath was no longer possible through his mouth or his nose and he choked.
"What could you have possibly been thinking? Do you think that this whole bloody thing is a game? This bastard stalking us isn't playing!" He snapped into Inuyasha's face. "You idiotic half-breed. This bastard is serious!"
Inuyasha got his fingers wedged in between Sesshoumaru's tight grip and gasped.
"This guy is out for our lives and he is not playing some stupid game!"
Inuyasha lifted his feet, kicked Sesshoumaru back, and heaved deep breaths into his lungs when he dropped to the ground. "Yeah! I kinda realized that!" He snarled. "Figured this wasn't a game when he blew up the house, you remember that?"
Sesshoumaru glared at his brother, and growled under his breath.
"I also realized that this guy has some kind of power over you! Which you don't seem to want to share. You can't do this on your own, bastard!"
"I'm not the bastard here!" Sesshoumaru snapped. "It's that sniveling irritating excuse for a caller who is watching our every move."
Inuyasha got to his feet and glared right back at his brother. "Yeah, true enough. I got a call tonight, before I called you. It was some guy telling me he has information on our parents death!"
Sesshoumaru frowned deeply. "Oh? What else did he tell you?" He asked crossing his arms.
"First, we need to sit and do some serious talking. There are things I remember from that night, things that don't make much sense, and I need you to help me sort them out." Inuyasha shoved past his brother and walked into the living room.
Inuyasha flopped down onto the couch, rubbed his neck, and glared at his brother when he waltzed into the room. "At the park, remember I started telling you what I remembered, but I wasn't able to finish?"
Sesshoumaru sat down in a chair and nodded. "Hai."
"Well, when they pulled father out of the car, I remember him looking at me! He was alive, Sessho. I don't know if it was the drugs, or if I was completely out of it, but I swear, I remember his eyes on me, almost begging me. His mouth moved, like he wanted to say something to me."
Sesshoumaru listened intently and nodded again. He remained silent, fully intending for his brother to finish before he interrupted.
"Something sharp jabbed my skin, I think it was a needle or something. I remember they took you out of the car and you still had your arm then, but it was really bleeding and you were so pale I thought you were dead. I mean you were white as a ghost."
Sesshoumaru cleared his throat. "The doctors said father and Izayoi died instantly, Inuyasha."
"Hell, I know what they told us. Damn it, Sess, you're not listening. I remember!" Inuyasha all but yelled. "Kagome said there is a death records place here, that has files on time of death, place, how, and so forth. I want to go check it out. I need to know if I'm crazy, or if I really did see what I saw."
Sesshoumaru lifted a brow. "Inuyasha, it's over. Nothing we do will bring them back."
"That's not the point, Sess, and you bloody well know it. I don't want to bring them back, I want the truth!"
Sesshoumaru sighed. "I don't have any memories of this night other then hearing you when we were in the car. I was in a lot of pain and blacked out at some point. I think it was when the Jaws of Life slammed into the car."
Inuyasha snorted. "I take it that would have been the big bang and crunch sounds I heard?"
"More then likely. I'll make a deal with you, I will let you do this, if you promise to tell me everything you discover."
"Fair enough, if you promise to tell me what the bastard said to you on his last call." Inuyasha crossed his arms and gave his brother a cocky grin.
"Today's call, or the other night?" Sesshoumaru snorted.
Inuyasha blinked. "The bastard said something tonight didn't he."
"Same threats."
"Which are…?"
"Every time he calls me, he threatens your life. Today he threatened Rin's life." Sesshoumaru looked down at his feet. "I believe him, Inuyasha. You have got to be careful."
"So do you, baka." Inuyasha snorted. "It's not just me he's after."
Sesshoumaru nodded and heaved a sigh. "You scared the shit out of me, otouto."
"I kind of gathered that much." Inuyasha rubbed his throat, and swallowed. "In any case, I want to go to this records place tomorrow."
"You have school, baka."
"I know that, but I think this is important. Call and make up an excuse for me. Like I have an appointment or something." Inuyasha leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. "I'll go to school after I get that done."
Sesshoumaru closed his eyes pondering his brother's request. "I don't like being the pawn in this." Sesshoumaru held up his hand when Inuyasha was about to protest. "But…I will do this on one condition. What ever you find, you call me. I don't care how small it seems to you call me. Do you understand?"
Inuyasha nodded. "Fine." He picked up the TV remote and was about to turn it on when Sesshoumaru snatched it out of his hand. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Inuyasha, it's late. It's after ten already."
"So what? Who cares?" Inuyasha grabbed the remote back.
Sesshoumaru was about to retort when a tiny little girl ran into the room wrapped tightly in a blanket. The youkai glanced over at her as she fell to her knees and grinned at them before covering herself completely with the comforter.
Inuyasha lifted a brow curiously and had to stifle his laughter when he saw the mound of blanket inch forward. The bulky blanket stopped and then inched forward again as an eruption of giggles filtered out from the blue comforter. Inuyasha turned his gaze to his brother with a quirk in his lips.
Sesshoumaru moved his eyes over to Inuyasha for a brief second before watching the blanket move closer to them, inch by inch, as though it were a bug of sorts stalking them. His brows lifted up completely under his brows when a loud impressive growl erupted from the comforter and Sesshoumaru smirked.
"It seems, little brother, that we are being hunted." Sesshoumaru snorted.
Inuyasha blinked at his brother completely floored as Sesshoumaru played along with the human child's game. He bit his tongue holding back his laughter when Sesshoumaru slipped out of the chair and lowered himself to the floor level. How he wished he had a video camera at that particular moment. The hanyou watched fascinated as his brother sniffed the ground and then released a playful growl at the child under the mound of blankets.
The comforter giggled again, and froze, before it jumped up and tackled Sesshoumaru, taking the youkai by surprise. Rin grinned widely as she appeared out of the blankets and asked gleefully.
"Did I take you by surprise? Master Jaken and I were working on stalking our prey all day long. It was so much fun, Sesshoumaru-san."
"Hai, you did well." Sesshoumaru shook his head with a small laugh. "With more practice you will be a good hunter."
Rin grinned and looked over at Inuyasha. "Are you over your grumpy mood now?"
Inuyasha choked and flushed. "I wasn't grumpy." He snorted.
Sesshoumaru raised a brow at his brother with a frown. "Indeed. Should you not be sleeping Rin?"
"Hai, but I wanted to test my new skills on you, before I went to sleep."
Sesshoumaru nodded his approval and watched as she raced from the room as quickly as she had come in.
"Interesting child, you have adopted, big brother." Inuyasha mocked.
"Adopted? Ridiculous."
"Really? What do you plan to do with her then? Eat her?"
"Don't be foolish." Sesshoumaru stood up and dusted his pants off. "I'm heading to bed. Good night."
Inuyasha held back the grin that was trying to force its way onto his lips. "Yeah, night." He watched his brother leave the room and inched off the couch slowly, making his way closer to the stairs silently.
The grin spread across his face slowly and menacingly waiting with pent up excitement. He heard his brother's door shut, and he listened carefully as his brother's steps made their way to the bed. He grit his teeth tightly together and burst out laughing when he heard the faint snap, and then the raging curses erupt from up stairs.
"INUYASHA SOUSKE!"
Inuyasha snorted through his laughter and high tailed it out the front door as his brother's steps ran to the hall and then down the stairs. He glanced over his shoulder and yelped when he noticed how close his brother was on his heels.
"Guess the mouse trap wasn't a good idea then?" Inuyasha called back and leapt up into the air when his brother made to tackle him.
"Get back here, you bloody prankster!" Sesshoumaru cried out, picking himself up from the ground.
"Come and get me!" Inuyasha snorted and jumped again, landing off to his brother's left. He ducked under a swipe from his brother's hand, and yipped when the claws grazed one of his ears. "Watch the ears." He laughed, took off around the back of the house, and leapt over the wooden fence.
Sesshoumaru growled and jumped over the fence after Inuyasha. The youkai watched as the hanyou leapt over the other side of the fence into the large field out beyond their yard, and snarled playfully as he took to stalking his prey. Inuyasha was going to pay.
Inuyasha scrambled towards the trees in the distance and dodged blow after blow that his brother aimed at him. He planted his feet and leapt into the air, twisting in mid flight. Sesshoumaru leapt up, caught his brother around the waist, and pulled him back down. They tousled for a few minutes before they both fell into a fit of laughter.
"Damn, Inuyasha! You and your bloody pranks." Sesshoumaru heaved, lying on his back.
Inuyasha gasped in his breath. "Hey, I thought it was rather funny."
"You try having a trap snap you in the ass, and see just how funny it is."
"I'll pass thanks." Inuyasha sat up and chuckled. "Hells, I would have given anything to see your face when it went off."
Sesshoumaru snorted and pushed himself up right. "I bet you would have. You're getting faster. I'm impressed."
Inuyasha smirked and rolled to his feet. "Well, what now?"
Sesshoumaru snorted and headed back to their house. "I'm heading back to bed."
Inuyasha shook his head and followed his brother back to their yard. When they approached an old man poked his head over the fence and glared at them. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha shared a look and then turned their gazes to the old man.
"Can we help you?" Sesshoumaru inquired curiously.
"Yes, you can keep it down. Humans do have a tendency to sleep at night." The old man snapped.
Inuyasha smirked. "Indeed. Some youkai tend to sleep during the day, but you don't see us complaining, now do you?"
Sesshoumaru cuffed his brother over the head. "Enough, otouto. We will try to keep the noise down to a minimum." He inclined his head at the old man and proceeded towards the back door.
"Be sure that you do." The old man grumped vanishing back into his own yard.
Inuyasha rubbed his head and glared at his brother's back. "What was that for?"
"Learn to keep your thoughts to yourself, baka." Sesshoumaru snarled softly and entered the house without another word.
"Feh! They have to learn to keep their noses out of other peoples business. The old man is nosy." Inuyasha griped and closed the door behind him.
"Good night, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru groaned, and ignored the glare the hanyou shot at him.
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Inuyasha stretched and rolled onto his back with a groan. He had only gone to bed three hours ago and already his alarm was blaring its annoying tune, signaling that it was time to get up. He cracked open an eye to catch a glimpse at the time and groaned again. Muttering darkly under his breath, he slammed his hand down on the alarm clock and flopped over onto his other side. It was still dark out and he was not ready to wake up. He had signed onto the mirc networks, trying to find signs of Shippo within the group of people who frequented the chat spaces but had come up empty handed.
The whole night had come to a crashing halt when the one person Inuyasha did not wish to speak with popped into the channel being his old cocky self. The wolf youkai had tried to goad Inuyasha into an argument and the hanyou had left the room before he lost himself to anger. Kouga had always thought himself better then anyone, and it was that particular attitude that Inuyasha despised the most. In his books, everyone was equal to a point, no one better then the other, or perfect in anyway. But Kouga always seemed to get on his nerves the most.
A knock at the door, brought Inuyasha out of his light slumber and he growled. "Not here, come back in a week!"
"Inuyasha, get up." Sesshoumaru's voice drifted through the door.
"No. Another five minutes."
"Get up, or I'll make you get up."
Inuyasha groaned and then whimpered in defeat. "Fine! I'm up." He sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He kicked off his blankets in his frustration and finally placed his feet on the ground to stand up, only to yelp in shock and surprise when something snapped onto his toes and send a shooting pain up his leg.
Inuyasha glared at the door when his brother's distinct chuckles echoed through the house. Snarling loudly, Inuyasha yanked the mousetrap off his toes and whimpered pathetically at the red throbbing appendages. "Damn, what a way to wake up." He grumbled.
With a sigh, Inuyasha stood up, walked tiredly to his dresser, and pulled out a pair of black pants and a red t-shirt. With a shrug, he headed downstairs with his clothing and entered the bathroom with a grunt. At least he didn't have to go to school today. He could go investigate further into what had happened that night of the crash. He slipped into the shower and tilted his head back as far as it could go comfortably and he held his breath as the warm stream of water ran over his face.
All too soon, he finished his shower and exited the bathroom dressed for the day and smirked as he walked into the kitchen to see his brother sitting at the table, looking the worst for wear. "What's the matter, Sess? Didn't sleep so good?"
Sesshoumaru ignored his brother, downed his cup of coffee, and poured himself another one. Finally after several minutes of silence, Sesshoumaru turned to Inuyasha.
"I called the school already and told them you had to go to massage therapy for your leg. I told them you would be there after lunch."
Inuyasha nodded and prepared his coffee. "Thank you."
"Remember our deal, anything you find, whether it be small or huge, you call me." Sesshoumaru said pointedly.
Inuyasha nodded and stretched his hands over his head. "Hai." He groaned as his bones popped back into their sockets. He heaved a sigh when he relaxed and grinned. "Wow, love that feeling."
Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes and shook his head. "So what did you do all night that made you stay up as late as you did?"
Inuyasha glanced at Sesshoumaru with a raised brow. "Damn, nothing gets by you does it?"
Sesshoumaru smirked and shook his head.
"I was on the net searching for news on Shippo. We haven't heard from him since that night we met him at the old restaurant."
"Old is an understatement. Condemned should be more like it."
"Whatever." Inuyasha shrugged and placed his mug into the sink. "I'm going to go, I'll call you as soon as I find anything."
Sesshoumaru inclined his head and glanced back to his coffee lost in thought.
Inuyasha snorted and walked to the front door exiting it before his brother could tell him to be careful. He knew that it would come, but if he were far enough away, he wouldn't have to hear it.
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Inuyasha held the address he had torn out of the phone book in his fist as he glanced at all the numbers on the buildings. He was getting close, but this was a different area than he was used to. He had already passed the Koishikawa Kouraku-en gardens and was nearing the street where the records building resided on. Inuyasha shook his head and sped up slightly as he rounded the corner. He had already been searching for the better part of the morning, which left him less then two hours to find the information on his father and make it back to school by the time lunch ended.
Inuyasha reached into his pocket when he took the first step up the stairs, somewhat surprised that his phone was vibrating announcing a caller. "More then likely, Sesshoumaru." He grumbled as he flipped it open and placed it to his ear. "Yeah?"
"Ah, what a pleasant surprise." A dark voice hissed.
Inuyasha frowned. This was a different caller then before. "What do you want?"
"What I want? What I want is for you to turn away from where you are headed, Inuyasha, and head right back the way you came."
"What for?" Inuyasha snarled into the phone but paused on his climb to the large building within his reach.
"The information you seek is not important. What you need to be concerned about is the safety of your brother, Sesshoumaru." The voice roared into his ears.
"Feh! Sesshoumaru is quite capable of taking care of himself. His safety is not in jeopardy." Inuyasha snorted into the phone. Like they could even lay a hand on his brother.
"Continue on your current path Inuyasha, and you will find your brother in little pieces before the week is out." The phone clicked and Inuyasha frowned deeply staring at it. Was this guy really serious about attempting to attack his brother? Inuyasha snorted and almost burst into laughter at the mere thought of what the guy would look like should he go through with his threat.
He pocketed his phone and darted up the rest of the stairs with a smirk on his face. His mind was fully intent on finding out the truth. The bastards calling Sesshoumaru and himself were obviously uncomfortable with his searching the records on what happened, so maybe this whole thing was deeper then he first thought. Inuyasha's grin widened, he would find out the truth one way or another, even if it meant having to go against Sesshoumaru and go to the festival later that day.