Disclaimer: Nope... Not mine.
Author's notes: Hey all ya'll! How ya feeling? You feeling up to reading another chapter ofmy story! I've been working really hard on this chapter here, took me ten full pages just to get the whole point of the chapter. I feel kinda bad though, I really didn't know where the story was going until I started this chapter, so now I have some direction (claps hands)... Ok... need to shut up... READ AND REVIEW PLEASE! Oh yeah, one more thing, flames are ok, if you're not too mean, this is only my second fic.
Chapter 4: Wrong Place at the Wrong Time or Was It?
"Blasted wolf!"
InuYasha grumbled below his breath for at least an hour about the stupidity of wolves, a certain one in particular. "Where did you say you knew that idiot from?" He snarled in Kagome's general direction.
"We dated for about a month in high school. What a mistake that was!" Kagome sighed in reply.
"Keh." InuYasha huffed as he knelt down beside Katsu and scrubbed at a nonexistent grease spot.
"The race that determines the best racer in Tokyo and the winner of 700,000 yen will begin in ten minutes! The finalists are as follows…" A voice came over the loud speakers and everything stopped, people stood still in anticipation. All that Kagome could remember of the fifteen that where mentioned was that InuYasha was third on the list with Katsu. She squealed with delight and turned to see what InuYasha's response was.
"Good. I need that money." He said calmly. "Kagome, you gonna be ok while I'm racin'?"
Kagome turned away from him in an effort to hide how red she turned at the last comment. "I'll be fine. I'll stay out of trouble. Maybe I'll just snap some pictures while I wait."
"Whatever, just be careful. Well, I better get Katsu ready. I'll be back here bout half an hour from now." The hanyou pronounced and promptly left for the starting lines.
Kagome sighed and leaned back against one of the many windows that lined the street. It had already been a long night, and she knew that the two of them would probably be there for a few more hours after the final race doing who knows what who knows where. She looked down at her watch. One in the morning. A yawn managed to escape her throat before she slid down and plopped her butt on the sidewalk. Off to her right, a flash of something white and shiny caught her attention.
A long white limo was pulling down the road. It parked not even twenty feet down the road from where she sat. The last door slowly opened and a young man who had been lounging around with some buddies stepped up and looked down into the car. For some reason she could not explain Kagome pulled out her camera and aimed it at the limo, focusing in on man that now leaned against car. She snapped at least ten pictures of the goings on at that limo before she finally got up and discreetly moved a little closer.
"I already told you, I'm not going to do anything until they announce the winner! That's the best time to do some damage! Everyone standing in a big crowd, no one will think a thing about a few guys getting a little pushy on the sidelines or even notice if someone happens to pull out a gun." the young man whispered savagely into the car.
"Alright. I'll have the money wired to your account." A silky smooth voice replied from within the dark confines of the limo.
"You'll be seeing my face plastered allover the news with those guns this time tomorrow!" the man said proudly as he brushed his long black braid back over his shoulder.
Kagome's hand flew over mouth to stifle the sound of her gasp. Without knowing where she was going, she turned and ran. Not once did she stop to look back as she shoved her way through the crowds toward the starting lines. Kagome hoped that the races had not yet begun so that she could catch InuYasha and tell him what she had heard. But no luck. Just as she turned the corner the starting gun banged and roar of fifteen engines filled the street.
Not knowing what to do, she pulled out her camera and searched the crowds for the face of the man with the long black braid. She was rewarded with his presence directly across the street where he conveniently lounged only ten feet from the platform where they would announce the winner. Quickly she snapped a few pictures and settled down to wait for the end of the race.
xXx
The only way to describe how InuYasha felt was euphoric. He had always loved the sound of an engine beneath him and rush of the wind as he sped down the road. So far, six laps into the race, he was doing pretty well. He was riding right on Kouga's tail, literally, which put him in third place. He was not even really trying too hard. He stayed put where he was until the twelfth and final lap. Putting Katsu into full throttle, he easily passed Kouga and came nose to nose with the first placeholder. It was only a few metres from the finish line that the hanyou started to sweat. He was still nose and nose with the other finalist and he was riding as fast as he could. Pushing Katsu with all his might, he leaned down and hoped that he would make it.
The black-checkered flag came down and waved around for a few minutes until all the contestants had pulled to a stop. The crowds that lined the streets were going wild with screams and hoots and catcalls. InuYasha pulled his helmet off and waved his silver hair free. A smirk curved his lips when he saw Kagome running towards him. But deep down in the pit of his stomach a feeling of alarm churned and only escalated when he saw Kagome's face.
"Daijoubu, Kagome? Douka shita no?" He said as he grabbed Kagome's arms to help her slow down.
"InuYasha! Something bad's going to happen! I overheard some guys talking!" She wheezed desperately, her breath coming in short gasps.
"When? Do ya know what they're gonna do? Are you sure you heard them right?" He asked calmly, trying to keep the frantic girl relaxed.
Kagome took a deep breath and replied slowly. "They said sometime during the time when they give the winner the money. I didn't manage to hear what they were going to do aside from some casual mention of guns, but I'm almost certain I heard them right. I even saw the guy over by the stage." She pointed towards the platform where people were started to gather.
"Take me to him." InuYasha growled.
Kagome took his hand and led him through the crowds. Just when she spotted the man, who now stood with six others, someone grabbed InuYasha's free hand and tugged him the opposite direction. Both stopped to see who had brought their search to a halt. A young boy, probably around thirteen, held the hanyou's hand and looked up.
"InuYasha-sama, they want you on stage." He said as he pulled InuYasha towards the stage.
"Tell 'em I'll be there in a minute! I got business to attend to!" InuYasha pulled his hand away from the boy with vigor.
"But if you don't come now, InuYasha-sama, they'll have to give the money to the runner-up!" the boy called.
Curses poured through InuYasha's mind as he tired to figure out which option was the best to take. On the one hand, he had money to collect and use to fix up his warehouse, on the other he had a supposed mass murder to check out and get rid of. Deep in his mind, a voice told him that Kagome had probably just heard wrong, besides, she had even said that she was only mostly sure, not completely. After at least a minute of uncertainty, the scale finally tipped toward the stage.
"Alright. I'll be there in a second." He sighed. The boy turned and ran happily toward the stage to get the mics ready.
"InuYasha, what are you saying? What about those guys!?" Kagome searched the young man's face for an answer.
"Kagome, I need that money. Besides, I don't think anything really big is gonna happen," the hanyou said confidently, "but just in case, I want you to come up on stage with me."
Kagome's shoulders sagged as she allowed InuYasha to lead her to the stage. Once they got there, they were ushered to the side of the stage to wait to the presentation of the prize. A handsome young man walked up to center mic and called for the mass' attention. He brushed back a lock of curly black hair from his eyes and proceeded to inform the crowd of what a pleasure it was that they came and to thank various companies for sponsoring the event, the normal pleasantries. When he had finished with the boring stuff, he moved to the side to make room for a young woman. At least, that was what most of the people thought "she" was... it was really a young man, that behaved and dressed very convincingly like any ditzy blonde. He flipped his long black hair away from his face to reveal two purple tattoos that looked almost like triangles that stretched from his eyes to his jaw line. Kagome could only say that this guy gave her the creeps.
"Alright, now for the moment we've all been waiting for!" Kagome caught what looked like a wink from the creep to a bald priest with similar tattoos that stood just off stage.
"And the winner of the grand prize of seven-hundred-thousand yen is…" Mr. Creeps, as Kagome had dubbed him, stopped to deepen the anticipation, "The daringly dashing… Tessaiga InuYasha-sama!"
The crowd went wild with screaming. People pulled poppers, sending streamers and confetti everywhere. The DJ put on a hard rock song and people started dancing and singing along in a wild frenzy. InuYasha stepped forward, pulling Kagome with him, and received the prize from Mr. Creeps. All thoughts in his head of the murderous group fled like scared birds. But Kagome was not as easily fooled or set aside, and she saw the signal that Mr. Creeps gave to someone in the crowd.
Suddenly, gunfire rang over the raucous, through the whole street, and six people fell to the ground either dead or wounded. Chaos ensued and everything except escape was forgotten. InuYasha fell to the floor of the stage and pulled Kagome down with him.
"(bleep!), I should have known! Kagome, stay here, and stay the (bleep!) down!!" InuYasha yelled over his shoulder as he pulled a gun from his belt and leapt off the platform.
Not wanting to miss the chance of getting some good pictures to sell to the newspaper, Kagome jumped up and lifted her camera IB: funny how she always seem to do that, eh?). She could barely hear the sound of her own thoughts over the screams, sirens, and gunshots. The young woman jumped down into the street and ducked behind a car and continued to snap pictures of the melee. It was not until the platform that she had been standing on not ten minutes earlier exploded and a severed arm splattered down at her feet that the camera dropped and Kagome screamed for help.
Meanwhile, InuYasha was making himself as useful to the policemen that had just arrived. His nine-millimeter seemed to never stop spouting bullets. Now he had his sites set on the bald priest carrying a twelve gauge IB:man, this is scary… I'm actually naming the guns they're using. O.o). Presently, he ducked behind an abandoned car and reloaded his gun. Just then, Shippou dropped down beside him.
"What's going on?" He shouted over the roar of the fires and guns.
"Hired mercenaries. Hey, what happened to your girl?" InuYasha peeked out from behind the car to see if he could get a good shot, but ended up turning into the target himself and ducked back as a bullet glanced off the car.
"She had a twelve o'clock curfew. Good thing too. Hey, should I send my kitsune-bi at him for a distraction?" Shippou asked, eager to be helpful.
"No, I need ya to go and get Kags off that platform, I have a feeling it's gonna end up in pieces." Even as he said this, a short and squat little man threw what looked like a grenade at the platform, blasting the whole thing into smithereens.
"(bleep!) you, (bleep!)er!!" InuYasha screamed. "Shippou, get out of here and wait for me at the warehouse! I'm gonna finish off that (bleep!), and then I'll meet ya there! Go!" he shouted as he shoved Shippou towards his bike.
He cocked the gun and jumped out into the chaotic melee with a violent fury. The moment he spotted the man, he called a challenge and started firing his gun. The man, seeing he was, at best, cornered, shoved his hand into his pocket and threw little pouch to the ground where it promptly exploded in smoke and gas. InuYasha coughed and put his arm over his mouth and nose. He cursed inwardly and outwardly about sensitive noses and such, then followed where he guessed the man had disappeared.
Just as he penetrated the cloud, he eyed the man making his escape up a fire escape ladder. The hanyou grabbed a dagger he had concealed in his boot and sent it spinning hilt over blade towards the gasser. True to his aim, it buried itself in the little man's back and he fell to a very painful and slow death on the streets. InuYasha brushed the sweat off his brow and growled. Now to find Kagome's body and get out of here. Having no more ammo in his gun, he shoved it back into his belt and sprinted off.
He made his way easily through the streets to the wreckage of the stage and began digging through the splintered boards for Kagome.
"InuYasha! Abunai!" he turned to see Kagome standing a few metres away then turned to see what she had been calling out for him to see.
Off to his left stood the tall young man with the long black braid holding up silver handgun with his sites set on InuYasha. Evil flashed through his eyes and pulled a wicked grin over his lips, revealing rows of perfectly straight white teeth.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, if only for a few seconds. The name's Bankotsu." He called over the din.
"It ain't a pleasure." InuYasha growled menacingly.
"OK then, I'll make this short." Bankotsu cocked his gun squeezed the trigger.
InuYasha gritted his teeth and braced for the impact of the shot, hoping it would not hit anything vital. But the impact never came. He opened his eyes to see Bankotsu smiling and lowering his gun slowly. The hanyou spun to see Kagome collapse to the ground holding her bleeding shoulder.
"Kagome-!"
"Uh, uh, uh." Bankotsu sang, "I'm your opponent, leave the girl to die. She is just a human anyway."
"You sick twisted jerk! You'll pay for that!" InuYasha leapt forward and swiped at the man with his claws.
Bankotsu nimbly evaded the swipe and hit InuYasha on the back of his head with the butt of his gun as he passed. This only served to enrage the hanyou even more, who now fought for all he was worth. With a deft flick of his arm, he dug four red lines across his opponent's chest. Just when he seemed to be getting the upper hand, a black van drove by and its sliding door swung open. Someone called to Bankotsu, who in turn jumped in and rode off through the fire and dead bodies.
"Dajakuna!" InuYasha called to the retreating van. He did not have time to follow up though. He had to see if the bullet had done any serious damage to Kagome.
He knelt down next to the girl and asked how she was. Her face twisted in pain, she took her hand off her left shoulder and looked down at it. Blood dripped steadily from it, her once green tank top was now slowly turning deep crimson from the blood. She looked up at his face with eyes brimming with tears.
"Come on, we gotta get you to a doctor." InuYasha scooped the girl up bridal style and started jogging.
"What about your bike?" Kagome asked.
"Shippou took it a while ago. Don't worry, I know how to get ya there faster anyway." With that, he took a flying leap and began to soar through the air, occasionally jumping from roof to roof to gain momentum. Kagome let out a frightened squeal and hid her face deep in his chest. He would have smiled, had he not been so worried about her. She had lost a lot more blood than he had first thought; he could feel it trickling down his chest, not to mention smell it's distinct iron tang. He had to get her to the hospital soon; she was growing paler and weaker with each passing moment.
xXx
It only took about five minutes to get to the hospital and six minutes to be waited on, mostly due to the fact that both persons were covered in fresh blood. The doctor gave a positive prognosis though, saying that all Kagome needed aside from a sling and bandages was lots of rest. The blood she had lost would come back in no time and the wound would heal, although it would leave a scar. So much for flawless skin.
"Are ya sure you're gonna be ok?" InuYasha asked as he dropped Kagome off at her apartment.
"I'll be fine." Even as she said this, her knees gave out beneath her. InuYasha was right there, though, and caught her before she fell.
"Keh, like I believe that." He scooped her up into his arms IB: Dude! NEVER listen to sappy love songs when writing love scenes!! Who knew I could be such a hopeless romantic. I guess it comes when ya got a bf that is… ). With that, he carried her up to her apartment and helped her in.
"Thanks InuYasha." A blush flooded Kagome's face as the hanyou let her done just inside the door.
"Keh, whatever. I'm just sorry it had ta end like this."
"Hey, everyone needs a little excitement now and then." Kagome smiled and patted her left arm, which was now held in a sling to keep her wound from opening.
InuYasha had to smile. He admired her spirit. She had spunk and that was more than he could say for some of the girls he had been with. He had half expected her to be dead from the bullet wound, and when she had not died, he had expected her to scream at him for getting her into the whole thing and almost killing her. But she had not done that. She had joked about it IB: More than I could say for myself -.-)! More than anything, he wanted to learn more about her, what made her tick, everything.
"Well, goodnight, InuYasha." Kagome said quietly.
"Oyasuminasai." InuYasha turned around and started walking down the hallway.
"Oh! InuYasha?" He turned to see Kagome half in, half out of her door.
"Thanks." She smiled shyly and nodded to him. He gave her a half smile and nodded back before descending the stairs to the lobby.
xXx
Kagome closed and locked the door, leaned heavily against it and sighed. It had been quite a night and she was exhausted. When she looked up the clock above the TV, she did the classic anime sweat drop and sank to the floor. How am I going to make it to the bedroom? I'm too tired to even walk! Just then, Kirara appeared out of nowhere and rubbed against her legs in an effort to comfort the wounded girl.
"Hey girl. Is this a way of telling me to get up off my butt and go to bed?" The little nekomata mewed softly.
Kagome gathered all her strength and pushed herself up with her good arm, wincing slightly when she straightened out. She took one step forward before she crumpled to the floor. She gazed longingly down the hall to her room. Suddenly a great burst of flames enveloped the tiny cat at her side and left a giant sabre-toothed cat when it had faded.
"I haven't seen this side of you before!" Kagome gasped at the transformed Kirara in astonishment.
The now giant cat nudged Kagome to a standing position and allowed the young woman to lean heavily on her as they made their way to the back room. Slowly, with Kirara's help, she made her way to the bedroom, carefully pulled off her soiled clothes and threw them into the hamper.
"Thanks girl." She sighed as she rubbed the still downy fur of Kirara's head.
Flames once again whirled around the cat and left a tiny nekomata in its wake. The yellow and black cat jumped up onto the bed and mewed. Kagome chuckled shuffled over to her bureau. She dug through her drawers for a minute before pulling out a warm but threadbare pair of flannel pants and an old shirt she had had from fifth grade. It had been like a dress then, but now it fit quiet nicely, even if the logo was a bit cheesy with its big green bug eyed frog that said "You're ribbeting!"
"Good night papa. Aishiteru yo." Slowly, she fell into a deep sleep.
xXx
The next morning dawned earlier than Kagome would have wanted. Her alarm clock was once again her undoing. It chimed out a happy tune at seven o'clock sharp and ended up on the floor next to the table it had occupied shortly before. Kagome sat on her bed for at least ten minutes before finally resigning herself to another day. She had classes that day, but decided that all she wanted was to sleep, so she called in sick.
Sluggishly she made herself a pot of tea and sat down to that and a slice of toast. It was about eight-thirty when her phone rang for the first time that day. Biting back a curse, she took one last bite of her toast and picked the phone up off its cradle and held it up to her ear.
"Moth moth, Higuthathi thpeaking." She said through a mouthful of bread before swallowing.
"Oh my gosh! Kagome! I'm so glad you're alive!" Sango's worried voice flooded the line.
"What the heck are you talking about?"
"The whole thing with the race last night! I woke up early this morning and flipped on the TV and saw the whole thing on the news! The whole place was trashed and they said the over two hundred people were dead, and only ninety-six of those bodies had been claimed! I no idea whether you had lived through it!" Sango sucked in a breath.
"Yeah, I'm alive. I did get bullet in my shoulder though." Kagome said casually.
"You WHAT!?!?" Kagome pulled the phone away from her ear and winced at the volume Sango had chosen.
"I got shot in the shoulder. But I'm fine, really. They said it should heal in a week or two."
"That's what they always say. Glad I'm coming home tomorrow, then I can pummel some common sense into your head!"
"Thanks for caring Sango. By the way, you were the one that suggested I go." Kagome breathed calmly, now fully awake. It was silent on the other side for a few minutes.
"Sorry Kags. You know I love you, right?" Sango queried.
"Yeah, I know."
"Hold on a minute, would you?" Kagome heard the sound of a painful slap and something hard hit the floor. She smiled and chuckled into the phone. Miroku the lech had struck again.
"Can't you see I'm having a sentimental moment with my best friend? Couldn't you save the lechery for later!?" Sango yelled at the offending man. He mumbled a reply and she put the phone back up to her ear.
"Sorry about that Kagome, some men can't control themselves."
"No problem. But I do think I need to go now. I got some stuff to do." The girls said their goodbyes and hung up.
Kagome grabbed her camera and purse, which had somehow ended up on her couch IB: I wonder -.-). Popping the back flap of the camera, she pulled out the film and dug though her purse for the three other rolls she had used IB: She's a shutterbug like me, I love to take pictures!). She walked into her bathroom and pulled two tin canisters out from under the sink, shut the door, and flipped the lights off. With practiced ease, she popped the film holders open, transferred the film to the reel, and shoved them into the canister. Then she turned the lights back on and went about developing the film.
While she was doing that, she turned the TV and tuned into her favourite soap. She had a thing for soaps when it came to doing her film developing. She sat there entranced for forty five minutes before finally turning the TV off and hanging the film up to dry. She would wait for a few hours to start checking out if there were any pictures worth printing.
xXx
The sound of the ceiling fan whirring at top speed, metal welders buzzing down in the warehouse, even that obnoxious rock music playing full-blast could not clear InuYasha's mind like it had in years past. Images of the night before flooded his memory like a tsunami. Guns blazing, people falling like flies, fires searing through the streets, and most of all, Kagome falling. He did not want to think about that, he did not want to get attached to her, and especially with the way his last relationship had ended. But Kagome seemed different, more innocent and incapable of doing the same things Kikyo had.
"Dang women make things so confusing." He sighed as he leaned back into his seat.
Just then, a certain kitsune boy walked in and opened up the shades of the window, letting the sun's light pour into the room. A low growl rumbled down in the hanyou's chest and he slowly stood to face the offending being.
"Why the (bleep!) did you do that!?" He near screamed at the boy.
Shippou shrugged his shoulders. "It's passed noon, InuYasha, and there are things to do. Besides, you said yourself that Kagome was gonna be ok."
InuYasha's shoulders sagged as he sat down on the corner of the desk. He ran his claws savagely through his hair and then shoved them into his pockets. Shippou was right, there was a lot to do yet, and he knew that Kagome would be fine. He only hoped she did not hate him for the night before, though he would have totally understood her if she did.
"Com' on, InuYasha-sama, there was something I wanted to show you." The young man allowed Shippou to take his hand and drag him down the flight of stares to the welding shop, and resolved that he would not think about Kagome… at least for now.
xXx
"Dang it, they're all blurry!" Kagome held up several strips of processed film and wondered how they had all ended up turning out so bad, she was a professional with lots of training and practice.
Down at her feet, Kirara mewed and nudged a sleeve of film towards Kagome, almost like she wanted Kagome to check this one before giving up completely. Kagome picked the sleeve up and held it up to the light. Of the twenty-four pictures, ten were in focus. She squinted her eyes and looked closer. These were the pictures she had taken of Bankotsu and the man he had been talking to.
"Thanks Kirara. I'll just blow these up with the enlarger and see how they look." Kagome ruffled the neko's fur.
Once she had gotten the pictures all enlarged and printed she lined them up on her kitchen counter and studied them. Most of them were of Bankotsu's back, or of his face and completely useless, but one stood out. It was a side view of the young man leaning up against the car and you could see into the limo a little too. She picked it up and looked closer. A small gasp escaped her mouth. There was a man sitting on the seat with long wavy black hair and strange eyes! He was the one who had commissioned the whole thing!
Kagome snatched up her cell phone and dialed out a number as fast as her fingers could move. She started pacing impatiently when it started ringing. Pick up, come one, pick up the stupid phone! The other side clicked and someone answered.
"InuYasha! I know who got the whole thing started last night! He's right here in the picture!"
END of CHAPTER
TRANSLATIONS:
Daijoubu?: Are you ok?
Douka shita no?:What's wrong?
Abunai: Watch out!
Dajakuna: Coward
Oyasuminasai: Goodnight
Aishiteru yo: I love you
Notes to the reviewers:
OK, now it's time to answer those reviewer (all three of 'em T-T)! kagome2234: here's another chapter just for you guys that reviewed! Thanks a million! sasha the water goddess: thanks, I'm trying really hard… I worked on this chapter for a whole week! petpeeves12: Yeah, they're really fun. I hope you liked the little epi with the guns and such!
Final words:
PLEASE REVIEW ALL OF YOU (gets down on knees and begs), I'm begging you! I need more input from you guys!! Ok… time to go! Sayonara!!