THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Kagome. These characters belong solely to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz.
Oh, and the SVU characters belong to Dick Wolf's company!
I do however own my own creations.
Chapter 21
Inuyasha lowered the paper back onto the pile. Searching the surrounding area, he tried to take in all that appeared before him. People walked around, but all the women had their faces and bodies fully covered,
'This reminds me of what I saw when we visited Afghanistan before the attacks on the World Trade Center. I can't tell if they're Japanese or not. The men look Japanese but the soldiers ... they look ... could it be?' he thought, then looked at the paper again, 'Damn. Now I recognize the letters. It's Arabic writing. Arabic? In Japan?'
Inuyasha decided to walk around the streets of Tokyo for as long as he could. Soldiers lined the streets, automatic rifles at the ready. In the distance, the sound of rapid fire and bombs could be heard. As his eyes took in the sights, he noticed that other Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples lay in ruins, and, amidst the ruins of stores and homes, were hovels full of people,
'Jesus Christ.' he thought, 'It's fucking armegeddon!'
As he continued to walk through the streets filled with debris and hungry, decrepit people, Inuyasha noticed that every now and then, he thought he saw people dressed in capes that covered them head to knees. When he glimpsed this, he would turn his head towards the sight, only to find no one around with that type of clothing,
'I must be going nuts.' he thought.
Walking further downtown, Inuyasha was jolted by aside by something. In his peripheal vision, he glimpsed another sight in a black cape, but, when he turned and looked around, he saw no one in a cape on the street,
'What the hell?' his mind commented, then something caught his eye. Looking down his left arm, slightly sticking out of the slit of his hitoe, was a note,
'What? My spell should cover my clothes ... how would someone see my hitoe?' he thought.
Grabbing the note, he quickly took cover in an overgrown, bombed out house. Opening it up, he was surprised to read,
"Greetings. I noticed you also wear a magic spell. You must be one of us. I am Shuichi, leader of the rebel rebellion of Area 18. You are welcomed to join us tomorrow evening at the Tadahisa shrine basement. Please join us. We need all the rebels to fight the opposition."
Inuyasha folded the note up when he heard behind him a voice spouting a strange language,
Inuyasha turned and faced a group of three soldiers pointing automatic rifles at his face. When his face registered confusion, one of the soldiers spoke in broken Japanese,
"You there. Put up your hands. What are you doing here?"
Comprehending now what was being said, Inuyasha weighed his options. Standing here and seeing what they wanted, battling them or fleeing outright. He decided to stay put. In Japanese he responded,
"You have business with me?"
In broken Japanese, the one soldier spoke,
"You are unfamiliar in these parts. Who are you and what business do you have here?"
"I live here and I am looking for my family." Inuyasha responded.
"What is your name?" the soldier asked.
"Kateitenma." Inuyasha replied simply.
This caused the three soldiers to begin whispering amongst themselves frantically. Finally, the one who could speak some Japanese demanded,
"You are a fool to show your face out here. The Kateitenma family is a leading band of rebels against the rule of Muhammad bin Laden!"
"Who?" Inuyasha asked, looking totally confused.
His question caused a stir amongst the soldiers. The soldier with barely passable Japanese came forward, violently, attempting to attack Inuyasha,
"How dare you pretend to not know the supreme ruler of the world, Muhammad bin Laden, son of the great jihadist, Osama bin Laden!"
As the soldier reached Inuyasha, Inuyasha reached out with his left arm and grabbed the rifle, breaking it in half with his hand, as his other hand gripped the soldier's throat, lifting him into the air, threatening to crush his windpipe,
"Bad move, little man!" Inuyasha bellowed.
As the soldier held up by Inuyasha gasped for air and struggled, the other two soldiers' eyes opened wide at the sight. They screamed and turned around, running back into the city streets. Inuyasha didn't understand what they were screaming, but he knew he had better make his disappearance fast. Dropping the gasping soldier to the ground and tossing the broken rifle aside, Inuyasha leaped up to the tops of the buildings and took off. Behind him he heard the shouts of men and the firing of rifles, which he was pretty sure was aimed at him,
"Good luck in hitting me, is all I can say." he muttered to himself, as he ran into the distance.
Inuyasha's mind raced.
'Muhammad bin Laden? The son of Osama bin Laden? Osama bin Laden was dead, killed by American soldiers in a raid at the Pakistan/Afghanistan border in 2010. And now his son was ruler of the world?'
Inuyasha headed toward the Tadahisa shrine. He didn't know why he was 10 years in the future or why the world was now plunged into the ravages of hell, but, apparantly his family was still alive and fighting desperatly to put an end to this nightmare,
'Yasha, Kentaro, all of you, I'm coming! And Kagome! I hope you're safe.'
Somewhere else ...
The young man nervously flipped through the newspaper. His Arabic was decent so at least he could understand what was being said. His features were handsome, but somewhat ragged after 10 hard years of battling the evils. He rubbed his eyes as sleep threatened to take over. Sleep. He hadn't any in three days. Too much fighting. Another man entered the room,
"Aniki. Area 18 is meeting tonight. They have been very unorganized as of late. Should one of us attend?"
The man sitting at the table rubbed his temples and sighed,
"God, Aniki, you look so much like father when you do that." the other man said.
"HMPH! Look like him when? When our dear mother first disappeared and was gone for 10 years? I feel so much older than I really am, Bunza."
"I miss father. I wish I knew what happened." Bunza said quietly.
"Sousson-Pannan happened. He won. He was able to get the mystic powers of siblings as well as our mother. He won. We lost. It's that simple. Father was just another casualty. Just like my wife. My daughter. And that human Olivia."
Bunza looked at his oldest brother. His oldest brother had assumed the position of leader of the pack when their father never returned from the time travel to Japan. It was a position he knew his brother did not want but took upon himself, knowing that it was his duty. Bunza shook his head,
"Aniki ... about the meeting...?"
His brother waved his hand to signal him to go,
"Don't worry about it. I need some sleep."
Bunza quietly left the room, leaving his brother to his thoughts. As the young man continued to flip through the paper, an article caught his eye,
"Local Soldiers Overtaken by Insurgent"
The article went on to describe the attack and that the insurgent was a wanted man. The description of the rebel made the young man's stomach curl and his heart leap. The description was of a Japanese man, but it didn't take much for the young man to change the wanted man's hair color to silver, eyes to gold,
"FATHER!"