A/N:
Sorry for the long wait my six year old brother thought it would be hallairious to dump a 64ounce foutain drink upon my computer, suffice it say everything is better now and the nice computer guy was able to fix the poor sugary drenched machine. Anways here it is, read and enjoy!
Disclaimer: If you don't know it by now after fourteen chapters, then I don't know what to say other then I do not own Inuyasha.
Hidden Beneath a Smile
Chapter Fourteen: Restless
As the night passed on the thunderstorm grew steadily worse, the rain pouring down upon the earth in unwavering rivulets nearly flooding the country's draining systems. The smell of the underground sewers growing more pungent as time went on were even a human would feel light headed and ready to sick up. The day was not one for traversing the city's drainage system.
Inuyasha held the body of the injured woman up high hopping not to allow her wounds to touch the murky waters of this place he did not even want to think about. In fact, he was trying to think about anything but where he traveled, not wanting to allow his mind to realize that the reason the place stank as bad as a Porte potty was because its were flushed toilets sent their waste. He shivered in revulsion trying not to breathe while also trying not to pass out from the lack of oxygen; the girl did not know how good she had it being passed out for their journey. Too bad this route was the only one he could think of that would allow them safe passage without being seen by unwanted eyes. Their faces were probably plastered all over the news by now, well as least his would be, he did not think that Miroku or Sesshoumaru would allow pictures of the two siblings reach the press.
Shaking his head of the thought, he turned to his right, while trying to securely hold Kagome with one arm, he used the other to help himself into the slightly higher up pipe. Instantly sighing in relief that he would no longer need to trudge waste deep in the slimy remains of peoples' waste, only his ankles would need to tread it, and held the human girl once again in both of his arms. It would not be too long now before he found the place were he told Shippo to take the younger sibling, a large fifteen inch metal door that was directly below the spider's club. The spider did not know of it's existence so he had no worries of Naraku finding him below his joint, not that he would have any worries of anyone thinking to try and locate him in such a place as it was deemed one of his most disliked places. Everyone knew of his disdain for the spider.
Turning another corner the hanyou soon found himself before the large metal door, moving the girl in his arms so that he could hold her with one without disrupting her wounds he set about to typing the code into the key pad sitting chest level within the door frame. His ears twitched as the mechanisms clicked clanked and twisted together working to open the heavy metal piece that blocked his way of entrance. He moved in swiftly, purposefully, and though it had been a while since he had visited this place, he knew quite well the layout of the underground hideout. Opening the door that was located straight across from the main room he laid the injured girl down; he called over his shoulder for Shippo. "Oi runt," he knew that kit was there, Inuyasha could smell the child's scent the moment he walked through the door despite his agitation. "Get me a bucket of warm water, and some clean towels now hurry!" He bade harshly hoping that the severe tenor would have Shippo hopping to quickly comply.
To stave the girl from having to suffer through a horrendous infection of her waist Inuyasha would have to clean the wound thoroughly, as he eyed her bedraggled form he could not help but notice the extreme paleness of her skin. Before he could worry about it, much longer the kitsune child came stumbling in with an arm full of pristine white towels along with the dark haired child that sported a buck of water. Upon seeing the state of his sister that bucket nearly fell from his arms, and as he rushed forward water sloshed in every direction drenching the carpeting where it fell. "Kagome," he wailed and Shippo followed after the boy his own distress showing through his scent and expression.
"Keh, she'll be fine kid, just needs to be cleaned up a bit."
The boy seemed to sag in relief at hearing that and with a wrinkled nose that smell and look of her offered with a dry chuckle, "yeah, Kagome hates to be dirty, she bathes compulsively." Souta took to running his finger through her tangled mass of raven locks trying to comfort himself with feel of her, starting madly when he realized she wasn't wearing a shirt and the dog eared man was removing her pants as well. "What are you doing!" He flashed indignantly, not appreciating the man trying to take liberties with his injured sister, with him in the room no less! Did this dog-eared man have no shame?
"Tch, unless of course you want her die from infection I'd shut your trap." Inuyasha bit out harshly, he was not some sick pervert who took advantage of helpless near dead women. Near dead, the thought echoed through his mind and he took a sniff of the air was sure enough there a slight hint of death. Horrified he took another look at her pale face noting that her breaths were shallow and that her heart beat was slow and barely audible, he also noticed that Shippo seemed to realize the same thing and his eyes were glazed over with tears. Had she lost so much more blood then he realized, so much that her body could not replace it fast enough? "Oi kid, if you want to help why don't you wash her hair," he needed to keep the kid distracted with something so that he would remain the dark, at least until he through of a way to prevent her rapidly deteriorating condition.
All Inuyasha could think about was the pain Miroku was sure to feel were the girl to die, he had risked his own life to protect her and the hanyou wasn't as stupid as most would like to believe. He could see quite clearly that his partner cared for this girl on some deeper level, almost like a sibling. "All right," he heard Souta murmur as he got one of the cloths Shippo brought bringing it down into the water only to apply it to her hair. Inuyasha could also see that the kitsune he had taken in to be his ward would be effected deeply were the girl to leave this world for the afterlife, and both thoughts were killing him.
"Oi kid," he asked conversationally, "how effected would Miroku be were she to…" he trailed suddenly realizing how insensitive the question was. Normally he would not have given slightest care to feelings of another, however he felt a slight compelling need to not be so brash with the boy in this situation much like the need to be polite he had felt within his apartment before it blew sky high.
Souta immediately went on the defensive, "how do you know Miroku, and who are you, where's that other guy, Inuyasha?" He queried through narrowed eyes, his entire being radiated with distrust.
The half-youkai blinked owlishly, "…huh?" What's that brat droning on about… wait, the thought was a little more then foreboding, but did the kid hit his head harder then Inuyasha first thought? It was not until he heard the kit's muted whisper that he felt apprehension clench his gut in a cold vice. Oh he was going to be in so much trouble, if Sesshoumaru did not kill him then Miroku would, he may not have understood that connection between his partner and the siblings but knew the monk would not appreciate his bringing to child or the girl into the society. What was done was done. "Keh," Inuyasha snorted, "I am Inuyasha, brat, your looking at the real me." He picked up a towel, got it wet, and began to scrub the blood and dirt from her bare body trying desperately not to blush at what he was doing.
"Wha?" The boy's startled reply ripped a smile from the hanyou.
Kagome's heart slowed a fraction, his ear twitched as he caught it, turning a glower upon the young boy he said harshly. "Do you want your sister to die?" He was considering something, something for the boy he had adopted and for the partner he viewed almost as a brother, but first he had to know if the action would be at all worth it. When the girl's brother shook his head roughly, he added. "Then answer my question, would Miroku be effected or not?"
"Of course Aniki…" he trailed his eyes widening as he dropped the cloth in his hands, "I mean to say…"
Inuyasha felt himself start at the words, leaning forward towards the girls wound taking a large sniff of her blood, his mind working through the intricacies that were present until he found a small thread that reminded him of his partner's scent until it had recently been distorted. Suddenly many things became clear to the hanyou in that one moment, Miroku's strange tendencies towards the siblings, the reason 'he' would even try to attack them and what he had to do in regards to her present state. "Shippo leave, take Souta with you." His quiet voice laced with a hard steel demand had the kit leaping to obey without so much as a word of protest.
The younger one looked ready to argue, but Shippo spoke before he could get a word in. "What are you going to do?" He whispered, knowing that the girl he had come to care for almost as much as he had for his own mother was so close to touching death. Right now all the redheaded child wanted to do was cry himself to sleep much like he had when his true mother had died, and his face twisted in an effort to keep the hot tears that prick his eyes at bay.
"Something that'll likely get me killed," he allowed and then growled lowly, "now leave unless of course you want your sister to die because you halted my attempt at saving her." That seemed to stop Souta from making any moves, he looked torn and finally his eyes started leaking tears causing the hanyou to panic. He hated tears, more than anything; especially the tears of a woman did, even more when those tears were because of his actions.
"S-she's g-going to d-d-die!" The child began to breath heavily, erratically, at the thought his heart constricting so painfully in his chest that he thought the organ was going to burst. Falling to his knees Souta tried to ignore the way the blood in his neck pulsed, causing him to panic more making him fear for both his sister and the fact that he might be causing himself one of the attacks she so frequently had. The boy stood shakily making his way towards the man that claimed to be Inuyasha, grasping his dirty sewer smelling clothes in a tight but shaking grasp. "W-what are you going to d-do, you have t-to save her! D-do a-anything!" The boy pleaded through gasping breaths, he could not lose his aneue, not his beloved sister, and certainly not so soon after his mother and grandfather. He still had not gotten over those deaths, he was still trying to be strong for his sister, and he still had barely mourned for her sake so that she would not have to witness his sadness.
Inuyasha avoided looking into Souta's chocolate brown eyes, taking the child's hands from his sodden red shirt and black trench coat and said. "I'm going to give her some of my blood," Shippo squeaked knowing what that meant, while the kid looked on in horror.
"Y-you, can't do t-that, you d-don't even k-know her b-blood type, y-you'll kill h-her!" The boy protested and then proceeded to try to drag the hanyou from his sister's bedside unwilling to let the man harm his sister. He may have only been ten years old, however he knew that one could not mix blood unless of course they had they same blood type. He also knew that said blood had to be tested for any impurities because even if the blood matched there might have been something wrong with it that could kill his sister in the end.
"Runt get the kid out of here," he ordered and the kit jumped to comply, taking Souta from the room and despite the kid's struggles could not brake away from the kitsune's hold. In spite of Shippo being younger by nearly half the Higurashi boy's age he was able to over power the kid's attempt to stay in the room with his sister due to youkai strength. Though pitiful, kitsune were known for their tricks that were used in battle and not their strength, the power of his grip was enough to take on a human. Inuyasha ignored the yells and screams as the door shut behind Shippo and Souta, and battled inwardly with himself.
Did he truly need to perform what he was about to perform, he already stitched her main offending wound together, no one would argue that he had not done enough. Still this was Miroku's little sister and no matter his brusque treatment of those close to him, of his partner, he did not want the man he had know for eight years to go through the pain of loosing someone that was obviously so important to him. Suddenly he remembered the incident at the shrine; the old man and middle aged woman that had been murdered. That must have been his mother and grandfather, and murmured a foul curse beneath his breath, it was good thing he had seen fit to bring their bodies to society's morgue for Miroku to say his last good-byes.
What if he had scented wrong? It had been a good while since he had gotten a clear whiff of his partner's scent, perhaps he had mistaken what he got from the little thread of smell in her scents general make up. If he were wrong did he truly want to be stuck with consequences, his actions would bring about; did he really have a choice? There was only a slim chance as he had the nose of an inu-youkai, his father's strong blood flowing through his veins, and those of his bloodline were hardly every wrong when it came to smells. Steeling his nerve, Inuyasha knew what he had to do, there was no other choice for him to grasp at that he could see for himself.
Taking a claw, he slid it over one of the main veins of his wrist and then over the main vein of the girl's wrist, placing the small lacerations together before his skin healed completely. The veins coming together acting as one pulling blood from him into her and vise versa, after a few moments he took his wrist away and brought hers up to his mouth to lick the wound clean. He watched with a sort of morbid fascination as her cut began to heal, taking the properties of his blood and already using them to her advantage. Was it supposed to happen this quickly? Shaking the thought from his head, Inuyasha re-cut his wrist and brought it to the girl's pale lips, coaxing her throat to swallow with the fingers of his left hand. Once he was sure she had taken enough he stopped; not even bothering to perform the next few tasks in this ritual, knowing that what he had done was enough to save her life.
The hanyou was yet again surprised when the smaller cuts and scrapes that had marred her body from the explosion began to fade away. Why was his blood reacting so strongly within her veins? Deciding to ignore it Inuyasha picked the rag he had dropped from the ground, re-wetting it, he began to scrub the dirt away from her wounds. Despite having his blood in her now, she would not wake yet, not for a couple days at least, while his blood worked in her body making slight changes some that would stay and some that would leave as his blood thinned out through her bloodstream. Once her chest and waist was free of dirt and blood he moved on to clean her arms, hands and legs lastly coming to her face.
Delicately he took the cleanest corner of the cloth and began to wipe away the dirt that marred the features of her face, marveling at the beauty he now seemed to noticed that lied their. Swallowing he also noticed that as the color returned to her face that beauty seemed to grow, and he was finding it hard to take his hands away from her. It was not until his lips were mere inches from hers that he backed away from her with so much force that fell over backwards. What had he done? His entire body shook with the effort of not moving back towards the young woman prone across the bed, what had he done?
Taking a shuttering breath, he knew exactly what he had done only he had not realized that it would be this difficult, his entire body trembled with the effort it took not to finish the ritual he had started. His instincts crying out in frustration as his blood in her body called to him, with a vicious growl tearing from his throat, Inuyasha ran from the bedroom out into main room finding Shippo trying to clam down a rather upset Souta. "Oi Runt, go get some blankets for the girl, and stay with her. I got some things I've got to talk to the kid about."
The kit gulped, looking towards Souta who gazed at Inuyasha almost fearfully. "Inuyasha," he whispered, "your eyes are flashing red and you smell like blood."
"What did you expect," the hanyou groused as he tried to force his mind from thoughts of unconscious girl, trying to calm his raging youkai half. "With what I've done what did you expect! Just go all right, you don't have to worry about my other half, just go!" Shippo took one hesitant glance his way before rising to do what was asked of him, and now that he and kid were, left alone he forced his body to relax smelling the fear that was pouring off the child in waves. It too was beginning to pull at his unstable instincts. "Hey, I ain't gonna hurt you, so stop fidgeting." He pulled a face as he came to sit beside the kid and he backed away only slightly.
"Shippo told me what you both were, but how is it possible, I always that youkai were just myths." The smell of fear around him did not dissipate and the hanyou found himself brining a hand up to his nose just to lessen his intake of the putrid tang in the air. "I believe it, I guess, grandpa always said that they existed but Kagome and I never believed him. We just thought that because he owned the shrine he bought into all of those old legends."
"Keh, are you afraid of us now?" He queried, willing to do anything to rid the air of fear.
The room was silent a moment "…no." Come the hesitant reply, and Souta shook his head roughly a fresh wave of tears cascading down his cheeks as the situation with his sister and the one at the shrine came tumbling down upon the small boy causing his chest to constrict. Without warning he launched himself into Inuyasha's arms, if he could not find comfort with his sister then, he would take what he could with this stranger. "You said she was going to die, I don't want her to die, Kagome's all that I've got left besides Miroku."
Inuyasha was stumped, he had no idea what do with this, and slowly he patted the back of the boy's dark head awkwardly. "She's not gonna die, I took care of it." Souta continued his cries, burying his head further into Inuyasha's red shirt, shoulders shaking with each sob. "Hey," the hanyou spoke accusingly trying disentangle the kid from his middle, "stop crying, I told ya she was going to be all right."
The boy would not stop quivering against him, and then finally looking up with a face twisted in pain, tears sliding down his cheeks falling toward the half-youkai's lap one after another. "I want my mama, I want my Ji-chan." The boy wailed, throwing his face back into Inuyasha's chest.
Blinking rapidly the inu-hanyou suddenly saw Shippo in place of Souta, and felt his heart tighten, pulling the boy against him much like he had with the kit when he made a similar demand after had gotten him away from the streets. Rubbing his back, Inuyasha could not help but think of himself when his mother had died, much like he had done with Shippo, and felt his sympathy for the young boy grow. "Kid, it's gonna be okay, just," he swallowed hard already regretting what he was about to say, "just cry till you've got nothing left. You'll feel better for it." He assured, still taking a clawed hand up and down the boy's back in an attempt to comfort him much like he had done for the kit.
"I can't, I can't cry," Souta murmured, trying to stop the avid flow of tears, "Kagome tries to be so strong, I can't, I don't want to make my aneue sad." He hiccuped and then whispered pitifully, "I don't want to let her down."
Inuyasha shook his head, biting back the harsh remark he wished to make, this was Miroku's little brother whom was still mourning the loss of his mother. He remember, although it had been quite a while, what he felt when his own mother passed on. "Cry, I won't say a word, she won't ever have to know." He whispered trying to coax the child into letting his tears flow freely, letting the sadness bottled up inside of him out. It was not healthy to keep such strong emotion inside such a small body, the hanyou knew what that was like, knew what could happen when one let sadness fill their entire being that they practically tingled with the sensation until it could no longer be restrained. When that happened sadness gave way to anger, and when he got angry, when he felt anger so thoroughly, his youkai side fully came out to play. Though that would not happen with a completely human boy, there were other effects, he was sure, that could surface were Souta to prolong his needless suffering.
He shook his head roughly, "no… I have to be strong for Kagome." He insisted.
"Keh," Inuyasha snorted, "strength don't matter a damn thing if yer mentally weak!" He chastised and then forced himself to add, swallowing hard, "strong people cry, its how you know that you've got strength if you're able to cry and let those closest to you see your pain and allow them to soothe it." He was one to talk, the hanyou thought dourly, he never allowed anyone to see his mental grief over his mother's death. He had held it all inside, and then when all became to much to bare he snapped loosing himself to darkness of his other self, drowning completely in maddening voice that was ever present in the back of his mind. His youkai blood had dominated his human half possessing his body for a destructive joy ride doing all of the things Inuyasha's hanyou self had denied it. It would be different for this human, but that did not matter; mental anguish was mental anguish. "Tch, you and I ain't exactly close, but just this once I'll listen and I won't mind your tears." He hated tears, but this was his partner's little brother and Miroku was like a brother to him and were Souta to fall prey to grief's madness then his partner would also know sadness and pain. It was a sibling's duty to keep their sibling from feeling any negative emotion if could be helped, and though when it came to Sesshoumaru he was not exactly diligent in such a duty, he did try his hardest. Such a self-taken task, he would never admit aloud he partook, feeling the admission damaging to reputation.
He felt Souta shutter a sigh against his chest and this time the hanyou could smell the boy was not trying to hold back his sadness, and he smiled. Finally, he had gotten to the stubborn boy. "You should tell that to Kagome, it's good, she suffers so much to be the rock the family can hold on to never speaking of her own pain even if it's obvious in her smiles and in her eyes." Stunned at such an insightful reply was made in return for his attempt to goad the child in mourning, making himself appear older. That all vanished anon as the boy suddenly whimpered, "I want mom, and Ji-chan."
"Hai, kid, I know." He offered softly, and said nothing more and they sat like that in comfortable silence until Souta slowly cried himself asleep in the hanyou's arms.
Glaring hotly at the cell that lay upon the coffee table across from were he sat hunched on his couch, the more he thought about it, the more he felt the dark glower upon his visage seep further. How dare that taiyoukai, he mentally seethed, how dare he think that he held such power over the ex-agent that could order his sorrows away after only a day of mourning for the family that he lost. Telling Miroku that he had to stop by the youkai's office to handle some minimal affair with him, and so he cast his sadness aside forget that he had lost his sister and brother.
Miroku took a deep breath.
Turning that glare from the cell phone he brought them to his gloved right hand that itched uncomfortably, he needed to calm his emotions, sensing the odd effect his anger was having upon the cursed hand. He shoved the remembrance of the day he had received the steadily growing hole upon his hand aside not wanting to relive that time nearly eight years ago. There were two ways to relieve himself of the curse he'd found himself under, kill the man whom had given it to him, or find a willing companion who would share the burden of his curse and bare for him a son. Since finding the man whom had performed the curse seemed impossible, he had tried finding a woman, but the results of actually doing so could vary. The curse could disappear all together, but then the old woman Keade of their society whom dealt with such magic said that could also leave him and pass on to his offspring. Condemning the child with the burden of the open vortex in his hand that threatened to consume him whole, Miroku had very little doubts that he could perform such an act were that true.
The monk smiled slightly when he remembered the mournful way Kagome had cried for him when he explained the situation, leaving out curses and youkai, telling her that it was some sort of nano bot that would eventually consume him whole. She claimed that she would hunt down the man that had wrought this wrong against him, giving him over to a life of loneliness. The smile slipped to a frown, Kagome was gone now, and so was Souta, though there was slight chance they were still alive with his baka partner, yet there was a greater chance that is two siblings were not. His heart sank, and he threw himself back onto the couch staring up at the ceiling listlessly. Without his family what sense was there to continue on, they were his reason for living, for taking on 'him' for their protection.
The brother of none snorted in disgust at his recent thoughts.
Falling so deep into despair was not a place Miroku oftener treaded, so far that he actually began to contemplate ending his life. Suicide was never a good place for thoughts to wander; it was never the answer to heavy problems how most would like to believe, actually the cowardice act was not a suitable answer for anything. Still he gave began to give the thought serious consideration despite that if he were to kill himself heaven would be a place that he would not end up.
Thought ceased as a pounding at his door roused him from his deep musings, for a moment, he considered not answering the incessant call, but the person seemed adamant in being seen. Irritation won and Miroku found himself lazily propelling himself to his feet to see who exactly would dare to interrupt him at the late hour. Crossing the threshold of the entryway he noted from a clock hanging upon the wall that it was roughly around three thirty A.M. causing him to grit his teeth, did no one have respect for a man in mourning any longer? First, it was Sesshoumaru, the fifty thousand calls to his cell and now a knock at his door when most would be fast asleep, what would come next. Someone barging in on him whilst he used the bathroom?
He was a quite surprised to find the assassin he had created starring back at him in such worry that it caused his heart to clench, he vaguely recalled Kagome staring back at him with such a look when she found out about his curse. "Sango," he murmured, swallowing the rush of sadness that had suddenly overcome him, "what are you doing here?"
"Houshi-sama…" Sango trailed seeming lost, and then finally launching herself into Miroku's embrace suddenly fearless of the infamous wandering hands. "It's been three days since anyone had heard anything from you," she explained stepping away just as suddenly as she had come a slight blush staining her cheeks, "and when Sesshoumaru said that you had not answered a single of his calls since the first day I had gotten worried."
"Three days," Miroku echoed dully, "I hadn't even realized so much time had passed."
"It has." The assassin confirmed, and then went on in a tone holding a regretful and miserable quality. "The reason why Sesshoumaru-sama was trying to get a hold of you so desperately was because he wanted you to come with him when he went to see the remains of Inuyasha's penthouse. Instead he ended up taking Kouga with him on account of the wolf being the only one available at the time and apparently he required help with the loading of his brother's prized weapons."
Miroku grimaced, knowing that neither of two particularly got along, and that he now would likely pay a price for Sesshoumaru having to stomach the wolf's presence. "How did that go?" He painfully queried.
The taijya shared his look and replied, "not well at all. Kouga's nursing some pretty bad wounds right now, apparently the wolf's hatred for Inuyasha sparked him to remark on a hope for the hanyou to be dead."
Leading the woman further into his apartment, Miroku groaned at the news and seated himself in his previous seat. His resting-place, apparently, for the last few days he had been spent in total isolation. "Wonderful, at times like this I find myself loving Kouga even more," he spoke tightly motioning for the girl to seat beside him as he tride valiantly to bring a good humor about himself but failing at it miserably. "So, why are you here, other then to inform me of this?"
"Since you were ignoring Sesshoumaru's calls I was sent to deliver the news and an order that despite his command that you spend time to mourn recent events have made the action impossible now as taking care of 'him' can no longer wait." Sango informed exactly as the taiyoukai had bade her too, "they found Tetsusaiga amongst the other blades and were told three bodies were found burned beyound recognition. The boss believes that your siblings are dead," she swallowed weakly, "and Inuyasha with them."
Miroku felt as though the air had been knocked from his lungs and no matter how hard he tried, he could not replenish the supply fully and not without pain. "Are you sure?" He rasped, grasping her hands in his own pleading for her to tell him anything, anything that pertained with what he wanted to hear. At her reluctant nod her limbs fell from his grasp, and he inquired, tone unsteady, "and they are certain it is him whom committed the crime?" Again she nodded and in those few minutes he sat there in silence a thousand thoughts filled his head all at once, thoughts that went along with his earlier musings to other's that were memories of his childhood with his siblings. He could not help but feel the life drain from him as each flash of life with Kagome and Souta flew right bye his mind's eye as the realization of their death became a permanent one. The ex-agent could no longer comfort his heart with ideal thoughts of his partner managing to come to the rescue of his most prized treasures, the two he had left. His mother was gone too, he wouldn't get see her warm smile greeting him when he finally came home to the shrine, nor would he get to hear his mother chastise him for lengthening his time apart from them each visit. He would not get to hear his grandfather's tall tales; tales of which held more truth to them that most of the recipient could ever believe, as he had lost the old man along with everyone else important in his life. Slowly anger surged to life beneath his skin, making his blood sizzle in his veins, and he stood very slowly.
Sango whom had been watching the myriad of expressions that had crossed his face when he had grown impossibly silent and still, wore a look of fear towards the cold anger that burned brightly in her savior's eyes. A look that had reminded her of Sesshoumaru, a look that she had never viewed in his dark pupils of all the years she had known the facetious man. "Miroku," her worry and quiet alarm causing her for the second time to speak his name, "are you all right."
Miroku tried to smile for her after she spoke his name with such emotion, truly he did, but he could not manage it, as the look upon his face was firmly ingrained. "No," his voice was a deadly tenor, the rage boiling deep allowed for nothing less, "I am far from all right, but once I kill that bastard I'll be just peachy." That being said Miroku slammed his fist into the wall across from his couch that housed the big screen TV, causing the wall to shutter and turn revealing a wall lined with different types of guns and such weaponry. He eyed them all before strapping a few guns around his waist, some knives around his ankles and wrists, and finally he took a rather wicked looking sword from the hidden niche behind his television set.
Sango watched his preparations warily, and once he was done and the wall flipped back around, she spoke cautiously. "Houshi-sama, what are you doing, you can't possibly think to storm the agency looking for him can you? We don't even know who 'he' is yet and we won't know until we find some solid lead or you remember what your father said to you before he died."
"My father's last words were to protect Kagome, and nothing else," he finally revealed after many years of denying ever knowing what his father's last words were, "and I have failed his dying wish." He finished solemnly. Donning a black leather jacket over his purple button down shirt, he stalked with deadly purpose towards the exit of his apartment. "As for what I am doing, I am going to Sesshoumaru and then I am going to stand in for Inuyasha and together he and I will avenge our fallen family members."
"Miroku!" She called and when he paused in his doorway waiting for her continue, she fumbled with her words a moment before finally speaking what she wished. "Let me come with you, I want to help. I too have a personal stake in seeing 'him', finally get what he deserves, my brother, my father, and my mother was burned alive because of him. Please Miroku," Sango pleaded when she spotted his tensing of his shoulders taking it for a sign that he was about to deny her, "don't shut me out from this. Whether you want me apart of this or not, you can't stop me-"
"You can come." Miroku interrupted her long-winded speech, turning with a small smile that did not quite reach his eyes he added, "stubborn as you are you wouldn't listen even if I said no. Just like Kagome." The assassin did not reply to her savior and that was all that had been said between them their entire journey to office where Sesshoumaru was most likely to be. The taiyoukai was rarely ever spotted anywhere outside of his place of business, unless of course he was at home resting due to the nagging of the only two women he would deem worthy of taking the suggestions of. The entire way was made in deep contemplative thought, and Miroku could not help but to dream of the revenge he would exact while Sango prayed that the death of his two siblings had not entirely broken her savior beyond repair.
The air surrounding him despite being in such a large office was suffocating, it was too thick, it was too humid and perhaps it was the small innocently silent object lying upon his desk that made his chest tighten so. Swallowing hard, he took large gulps of air caring nothing for desecration as he looked upon the valuable piece of work, the sign of it with him speaking of life no longer living. A life that despite his harsh words and careless actions, he cared for with all of his being. There was not a sibling alive that, deep down, no matter what words were spoken or actions taken, loved their little brother or sister with all of their might. Though this was something a taiyoukai like himself would never let out into the open, would not let other's see, he still felt the loss of his brother as he would if any number of his limbs were severed.
Suddenly he slammed his fist over the blade in his anger and the sword it self-clamored back and glowed slightly as if to protest his harsh treatment, a voice that only his half-brother would have understood. A voice, he at one point in time would have given his left arm to hear resonating through out his mind, lending to him the secrets of it's unfathomable power. His father had been right in his assessment of his two sons and the weapons of his fang they had received. Inuyasha was rash and uncontrollable, his youkai because of his personality flaw always trying to devour his human blood and gain control, and so despite the Tetsusaiga matched his half-brother's personality it also tempered that brash behavior and quitted the darker half.
He and the Tensaiga on the other hand were nothing alike and yet the sword tempered the steal around his heart. His father saw his first son's iron clad organ, saw how the young taiyoukai refused to allow it to beat warmly towards another living soul. The Tensaiga was constantly whispering in his mind whenever it felt his heart harden towards his adversaries and allies alike, talking him into actions that would not be harsh upon the scourge whom sought mercy or aid. However, when family was threatened and people he cared about harmed the Tensaiga roared harshly in his ears, roaring along with his soul, as it cried out for vengeance. Even now, he could hear the Tensaiga echoing his sorrow in the very corridors of his mind crying the tears of sorrow he could not bring himself to shed. The very first time he had heard the fang's voice was when it begged him to save Rin, to bring her back to life, to bring her family back to life from what obviously looked to a death bestowed by the wolf youkai under his rule.
He slammed his hand down again as his mind wandered back to present, back the reality of his brother's death, and he growled ferociously at the Tetsusaiga suddenly unreasonably angry with the second fang of his father as though it were at fault for his pain. The blade flashed and answered back in a sound he could not decipher, however, Sesshoumaru took the reply as though the sword were goading him, taunting him for being unable to save Inuyasha himself. It was an elder brother's duty, after all, to protect the younger. His claws elongated marring the surface of his mahogany desk, his eye flashed red as his fangs grew in size and before he could chide himself getting worked up over resonating notes that he could not understand a sound snapped him from his fit.
Eyes still tinged red snapped toward the entrance of his office, he could smell Kagura before he had set his sight upon her and was put off by the scent of sorrow tinged with slight fear. He could not get his voice to work passed the growl in his throat, the one he had been aiming at Inuyasha's sword. He did not have to speak as Kagura did so for him. "Sesshoumaru," the wind-youkai murmured softly, and closing her eyes, she walked into his office just stopping in front of his desk. Suddenly she had her hand upon his, her eyes staring angrily in to his, "stop this nonsense right now, what good is wallowing in self pity going to do for Inuyasha? Do you think he'd a appreciate you beating yourself up over not being able to save him, of not being able to spare him ever knowing death?" The woman shook her head roughly, her hair falling from her bun with the action, she grabbed his face in her hands not caring for her hair and how it was a thick fall cascading down her back. Her eyes stared at him hard, and she knew that the only reason he had not struck her down for a familiar touch was for the friendship and his trust in her. "Tch, he'd throw it back in your face and laugh, that's what he'd do and you know it. So don't waist these feeling on the ungrateful little whelp, instead work on getting revenge, call Miroku or have some else get a hold of him and… and…." Her voice softened greatly, "stop looking so sad, I can't stand it when the ice prince becomes sad because then I feel my strength slip away and my sadness overcomes me and doubles knowing that your aching to such a degree that your visibly showing it."
The all-powerful immovable taiyoukai was thrown into speechlessness, collecting himself he managed a strained reply. "Your lucky that you are Kagura and not another."
Smiling coyly she playfully asked, "and why is that?"
Despite his situation Sesshoumaru felt his lip quark upwards ever so slightly, "were you anyone else I would have punished you for speaking and touching me so familiarly when I was dealing with a such a situation no matter how true the words may have been."
For some reason or another Kagura felt elated with the reply, tempering it down behind a carefully constructed mask she inquired, "does that mean that you will take my advice."
Sesshoumaru hid a grin as he slowly but surely reconstructed the stolid covering to lie over his countenance once more, not a first time happenstance in Kagura's presence. She had been witness to many of the moments when his protective covering cracked. "Yes and no, I will try to feel less like it is my fault, however I will use this ache in my chest and turn it into an inu-youkai's fury and direct that flame towards my enemy. As for Miroku, I have already sent Sango to bring the stubborn swine to my office, I told him to mourn and not to drown." Looking the wind youkai over with a critical eye, he suddenly remember the unease he had been feeling whenever he thought of her and the strange behavior she had been showing since this last week had begun worsening into following week.
"I am aware of what you told me Sesshoumaru-sama, however I wouldn't constitute my behavior as 'drowning', more like obeying an order I would have taken either way." Miroku spoke as he fully entered the office, taking in both Kagura and Sesshoumaru, and then with a slight inclination of the head, he spoke again. "I apologize for ignoring your calls, I lost my head like most do in through of sorrow, but that does not matter now. Tell me, what is it that you've called me here for?" He knew, though he asked the question anyway, forcing the youkai to tell him his want.
"You know why you're here," the Taiyoukai leveled the monk with a hard glare, "the question is whether or not you are ready to accept such a position."
"Do I have a choice?" Miroku responded dryly, grabbing a chair for Sango to sit in, they had walked the entire way to the societies compound the trek lasting well over four hours. He could tell that the assassin was tired by the way, her stance slumped ever so slightly, Sango rarely ever slouched. She accepted the seat with a grateful nod of the head, and though she felt odd being the only one seated, she pushed the feeling aside grateful to be off her feet.
"No." He answered simply, eyes watching the visage of the ex-agent almost cautiously.
"Either way I would have taken this position, I want revenge with every fiber of my being. If filling in for Inuyasha is what it takes then I am willing to take the greater responsibility. I will make him pay for ever thinking that destroying my family was a good idea." For a moment he felt like a different man, the giddy feeling he always bore all but dispersed from his body leaving nothing behind but a cold rage that infected every part of his soul. "Now that this had been settled I think I shall pay the spider a visit and see if he had found anything useful, by your leave however?" He paused; waiting for a response for his declaration made in bone chilling tone that was a stark contrast to his normal voice.
Sesshoumaru inclined his head once granting his permission, "Now that you do not have Inuyasha to come along take second gun, the men of the spiders bar are a foolhardy bunch and I don't want it in their minds that they can harass you now that my half-brother is gone."
"I understand." Miroku turned on a heel and made as if to leave but stopped once he sensed Sango's feat following him. "Though I said that you could along, this is a place were I rather you would not follow me to. Stay Sango." He ordered in a way that rankled her insides with rage, she was not a dog that could be ordered to sit at his command! She balled her fists as she watched him leave.
"Taijya," Sesshoumaru called as she still sat in her angry daze, "follow him. Something is not right with him, I think grief has changed him." He could smell quite clearly the extra fire power that adorned his person along with the steel that lined his body hidden, at the moment Miroku was too unstable to be on his own especially armed as he was.
She jumped slightly at hearing her boss's stoic voice interrupt her irate thoughts, but once she registered the meaning of the words, she could only nod her head in agreement. There was something different about the man whom was her savior, something almost resembling the inu- taiyoukai, only colder, darker and so much more distant. Now that the leader of society had given voice to it she felt her heart clench in worry afraid that her beloved savior would do something stupid in this changed state of mind. "Hai, I will follow him, but if I am caught you are my excuse for it."
"That is fine," he replied, "however I have great confidence in your abilities to remain hidden, one you return I have another mission for you." She made a noncommittal response as she turned to leave; it was true, she could hide from a youkai and descends for the kill without ever being known. She was the Assassin, the Shikaku brother's best-hired killer.
One whole hour passed after Sango had left himself alone with Kagura, a long time to pass in silence, yet he did not feel the need to break it and it did not seem the wind youkai intended to speak either. Soon, however, Kagura stood and glided across the room, "there is something that I need to attend to," she spoke to quell any questions he might have at her abrupt departure. If he was not going to speak to her then she was going to leave him in the silence that he seemed to so love, there were issues that needed to be handled at the agency with the bombing of Inuyasha's apartment building. Kagura was almost certain of it; the man that claimed to be her boss was more then likely 'him'. Until she was able to prove it, until she could find indisputable proof, she would wait to tell her suspicions to her childhood friend.
That conversation they had after he requested a meeting with her to discuss the reports she had written of the explosion was still weighing heavily upon her mind.
"What is it that you wish to know, I thought that I had written everything quite clearly, but apparently I was wrong." She snapped the irritation she felt at not being able to be beside Sesshoumaru right after he had come to devastational blow of his brother's death was unbelievable. She could not muster up enough of a shield to hide her feelings to have a pleasant conversation with this man.
Akahito Houjo raised a brow in question, and then shrugged the words off with the upraising of his shoulder's as he replied to the brusque words. "A temper is better left at home then a job such as the one you are aiming for," Kagura heated at the castigating words but said nothing. "Petulant silence, keep that way for now, but once you've entered the secret chamber of coming under one mine after proving yourself such an attitude would be better left away from the office."
"Sir," she quarried, "when you speak of secret people under you what sector are you speaking of? I thought that you only commanded the division of the CIA that dealt with internal problems."
Houjo bestowed upon her a truly wicked smile. "True, but there are secrets with in every division that aren't always made public, for reasons of national security. My division being the securest of all, you will not find any information on it at all, even those who think themselves on top are in the dark of my operations. Operations that I would like you to be a part of."
Her reminiscing was interrupted when a firm hand grasped her arm causing her to pause, her ruby eyes gazing up into golden ones when called for her attention. "Kagura, do not leave." He ordered softly.
The tone in which that command was given was enough to cause her pause, she had not heard him speak like that since their childhood years. She swallowed hard, "I have to go to work, I have an assignment that I need to complete before the day is out." She murmured nervously, she did not understand why she felt so all of sudden, but the way he looked at her the way he refused relinquish his grip pulled at her in an odd way.
"No, your ties the society are more important then fabrication, and your safety is more important then either." Suddenly he had her in his arms eliciting a gasp from her throat; "there is some thing the matter with you Kagura, something that you refuse to say."
"There is nothing wrong." She denied weakly as her thoughts raced, what in the world is he thinking?
The inu-youkai snorted, "there is something wrong, I always know when something is not right with you. You can not fool this Sesshoumaru." Suddenly, in a very uncharacteristic move, he began to smooth down her hair speaking fondly. "Do you recall how we meet when we were children?" Unable to make a voiced answer, she merely nodded and he was content with that going on to say, "I remember. Mother had just died and I was angry. You were upset because your disguise had falter and the friends you were playing with rejected you based upon appearances calling you a monster." His grasp tightened upon her when she flinched, "Then I saw you standing at the edge of a bridge over looking the water with your arms in the air and then without further ado you plunged downward to the earth. I had thought you trying to kill yourself and so despite myself being in a demonic rage, I caught you in mid air and was surprised receiving a blow to the head rather then kind words of thanks. I did not know until you told me that you were a wind youkai.
"It is said then demons of the wind find comfort from its cool embrace during emotional times, that you could fly in its currents. You were angry with me while I couldn't be happier; you had saved me that day from youkai rage. In return I had offered you my full protection, why won't you let me help you now, you've never had a problem with it before?"
"I told you that there is nothing wrong with me, besides you have repaid that night back in full a thousand times over." She argued and ignored his pointed glare. During a youkai rage, the youkai in question spread violence terrorizing, killing, maiming anyone and anything that stood in its way until the madness gave way to death. As he saw it, she had earned his eternal protection for her inadvertent interference for had he not seen the wind youkai ready to throw herself off of a bridge into the frigid waters below he might of allowed the intense anger to completely control his actions.
"Foolish!" Sesshoumaru cursed her.
"What?" Kagura glanced up confused.
"You, little wind witch, are a fool," he proclaimed harshly, "you are immensely troubled and though you say I have repaid you I say otherwise. You know what it means of a youkai to lose his mind, though I reluctantly admit a foolish mistake on my part, I would have been not only devastated but damaged mentally in my innocent years were I to haven lived through the youkai rage." He held her a little more closely as he leaned down to ear level, "I pledged my protection to you that night always and forever, and I take my promises seriously."
"Is that all this is?" She questioned, suddenly feeling anger arise within her breast at his words, "am I nothing but an obligation that you must worry for because seeing me jump from a bridge stopped the anger from taking you whole?" Kagura pulled from him; "I release you of your-"
Before she could even finish the sentence a clawed hand slammed over her, lips as lived amber orbs stared down at her flashing between red and their natural color. Growling lowly deep within his chest Sesshoumaru spoke roughly, "you will not finish that sentence, ever. I have lost a brother today, do not make me lose my dearest treasure as well, do not make me give up on protecting that which I cherish over something so stupid as a misunderstanding in my words." Slowly he let his hand drop from her mouth, "I have taken down so many shields tonight just for you, please, Kagura, tell me what is wrong so that I may fix it."
The wind youkai's mouth worked silently at such entreaty, dare she tell him her suspicions and have her one chance at proving herself to him taken away or did she give into the feeling of his words like her heart was screaming for her to do. Swallowing hard to push down the lump taking shape in her throat, Kagura adverted her ruby orbs from his own hesitant to give a reply. Dare she lie to him now with his heart held out to her bare of it's many shields, as she opened her mouth to spew out deceit the truth came tumbling fourth instead. "I think that my boss may the 'him' were looking for, but if you mean this entire week then I've been trying to prove myself to you so that I can stand on my own two feet without you holding me." Sesshoumaru growled low in his chest eyes bleeding red as he crushed the wind youkai in his embrace, unsure of what angered him more of what cause his eyes to change color and limbs to tingle with weariness he had not felt in years.
A/N:
Inuyasha did something to save Kagome that'll likely entice Miroku Kill him, Miroku lost now that his hope has been snatched away and Sesshoumaru finally knows what's wrong with Kagura! How will it all turn out? Check in next time, it won't be a long wait I promise!
And REVIEW, I always feel like writing a bunch when I check my email and see that review, kind of like an adrenaline rush!