AN: NEW CHAPTER, NEW CHAPTER!! Read and review!

Disclaimer: don't own inuyasha, don't sue...short and sweet...

Chapter Five:

Naraku

Knock, knock, knock.

Naraku cracked one eye open and glared at the door, half hidden under his sheets. If that infernal knocking didn't stop, someone was going to die.

"Father?" Kagura called through the door and Naraku scowled. Now what did she want?

"Hurry up." he ordered, studying his daughter as she swept into his room. Luckily for her, they shared many of the same features, if she had looked like her mother he wouldn't have put up with her for so long. Similar long wavy black hair was contained tightly with a feather tie, her slender, lean body was covered with a modest business suit and the same red eyes stared back at him, scarlet tipped claws clutching a vanilla folder. The only thing that remained her mothers was that strong, stubborn chin.

"Good afternoon father." Kagura said respectfully, perching on the edge of a chair next to his bed, shadows under her eyes.

He grunted in response, still drowsy from the five Advil's he had taken last night to help him sleep.

"I've drafted a course of action to acquire the jewel, per your suggestion." she told him, smoothly opening the folder and laying it down for him to study.

Interested, Naraku sat up and took it from her. He honestly hadn't thought she would really take him up on his silent challenge.

Kagura laid her hands in her lap, looking perfectly composed while inside she was a nervous wreck. "As you can, it is completely detailed out, step by step. All it requires is your signature."

"You've even set up a time-line." Naraku noted, impressed. "You really think we can get it back in two weeks?"

Kagura nodded, allowing herself to cautiously hope he would approve of it. Approve of her.

He groped his side table for a pen and signed his name with a flourish. "Have fun." he told her and yanked the covers back over his head, so glad he wouldn't have to deal with another migraine.

When her father's head disappeared under the covers, a huge smile spread over Kagura's face.

Finally! She was getting the chance to prove herself to her father!

She held the folder to her chest, feeling like a giddy schoolgirl. This would finally earn his respect and love, she knew it.

She got up, eager to begin.

"And Kagura?" her father's voice stopped her, muffed by the covers. "Do I really need to say what will happen should your plan fail?"

"No father." Kagura knew if she couldn't get the jewel for her father, with one snap of his fingers he could easily order her death sentence.

But that didn't stop her, she would succeed, she would outlive her mother's legacy and carve a place for herself in her father's life.

And if she did lose? Then he could do what he wished with her.

Sesshomaru and Inuyasha

"You know-" Inuyasha paused to twirl a strand of Ramen around his fork, "I know I said the vault in the library is cliche, but this? This totally tops it." he said, using his fork to indicate the meeting room he and Sesshomaru were waiting for the others in. It was a large, narrow room with a screen covering the entire front wall. The long table stretched out so it could fit twenty people easily, the dark surface shone brightly under the light while Inuyasha sprawled comfortably in his elaborately carved chair. "Seriously, we should shake things up a bit and have our top secret, we-have-to-save-the-world meetings in the kitchen."

Sesshomaru looked at his brother from his seat at the head of the table. "You just want to be closer to the stove for when you want more ramen." he said dryly.

Inuyasha shrugged, holding his precious ramen jealously close. "That to."

A knock sounded at the door and Jaken poked his head in, his large eyes filled with adoration as he looked at Sesshomaru. "The others are here my lord."

"Show them in." Sesshomaru ordered, not bothering to look at his servant.

"Right away my lord!" Jaken squealed, eager to be of any help to his beloved lord.

Inuyasha glared at his brother, "Why couldn't you have followed stereotypes and gotten an ancient, British, snobby butler instead of that creepy toad?"

Sesshomaru was saved from answering when Kouga pushed past a squawking Jaken and took a seat, rolling his eyes at Inuyasha's ramen. Inuyasha snarled back.

Miroku Kato followed close behind Kouga, wondering if he would have to sit between the two 'men' again. Honestly, those two idiots acted worse then Shippo and they were more then five times his age. Speaking of which, had anyone remembered to pick up Shippo from school...?

"No need to thank me men." Hiten drawled as he walked through the door, Shippo tucked firmly under his arm, his cheeks bright red. "I have our favorite little runt."

Shippo looked innocently up at him, "Vai morire in un fuoco che brucia merda faccia." (Italian- Go die in a burning fire shit face)

Hiten scowled and set him down in a chair. "You're lucky I can't speak Spanish...yet."

Sesshomaru glanced up at him, "It is Italian." he informed him cooly. "Are we ready to begin?"

Kouga laced his hands together behind his head, fingers tangling in the jet black strands of hair he bound to the top of his head, "Hit it."

Sesshomaru ignored him, calmly laying his hands on the table and crossing his fingers together. "I do not believe I will have to go into any major details as I am sure you have all read your reports on this matter-"

Shippo cautiously raised a tiny paw, "Uh, excuse me Sesshomaru, I had a math test I needed to study for..."

Inuyasha huffed, "Feh. Figures you would be the only one to come unprepared runt."

"Like you're one to talk. You've been around for centuries but your still not smart enough to get into community college, much less Yale." Shippo shot back.

"Inuyasha, eat your ramen." Sesshomaru ordered before Inuyasha could open his mouth. The others moaned when they noticed Sesshomaru's back get even stiffer, knowing he was about to go into Serious Lecture mood.

"As you're aware Shippo, Inuyasha and I started the first Tashio Corporation for the main purpose of providing a cover up organization to use to search for magical and potentially dangerous objects."

Inuyasha frowned, drinking deeply from his Ramen cup. That was a bit of a understatement. Three centuries ago, Sesshomaru had chosen to legally cut off his ties to power in Western Japan, (not that Sesshomaru still didn't 'offer' a few suggestions to the new government every now and then) therefore making it harder to acquire the priceless treasures he and his brother had committed themselves to finding. Starting up their own 'little' business had actually proved to give them more power and wealth then when they had been kings, and made searching for objects much smoother then ever before. Items like the Holy Grail, the spear that pierced Christ, a bit of soil from a fairy mound, Hermes's sandals, Excalibur, the golden fleece and the like had been safely theirs for centuries, far away from those like Naraku who swore to missus them.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both knew the price of such treasures falling into the wrong hands.

Inuyasha closed his eyes briefly as faces flashed through his eyes. His father. His mother. Little Rin.

Kikyo.

Sesshomaru typed a few things into the keyboard imbedded into the table in front of him and a picture of an oil painting sprang up on the wall behind him. It was a tranquil scene with a beautiful goddess kneeling next to a koi pond, her hand under the water while it clutched a round, shining pink stone.

"That stone you see the woman holding is the reason Inuyasha and I started all this. It is also the only known drawing of the Sacred Jewel."

Shippo's brows furrowed. "I've never heard of such a thing." he admitted.

Kouga's mouth fell open mockingly, "The boy genius doesn't know something?" he asked in fake shock.

Sesshomaru looked at them until they quieted down. "Not much is known about the jewel, Kikyo never revealed its true purpose to us. The only thing our researchers have been sure about is that it is of great power, and is possibly one of the most dangerous objects we have tried to take. Because of certain circumstances, the jewel had disappeared five hundred years ago. It resurfaced sometime early yesterday but Naraku had gotten to it first. Inuyasha was able to secure it five hours later after Miroku had formed a plan for its capture-" Miroku nodded in acknowledgment, "But it seems Inuyasha was unable to hold onto it."

"Dumb mutt." Kouga muttered under his breath.

"Want to repeat that?" Inuyasha growled.

Hiten continued to study the painting, "How much power can a rock from a pond contain though?" he mused.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru shared a look, "Well enough." Sesshomaru answered for them as he taped away on his keyboard again and brought the security tapes up. "I received the tapes from Miroku's office a few hours ago. Perhaps the demons will be able to see something the humans missed."

Sesshomaru tapped a command into his keyboard and the tape began to play, while Inuyasha prayed a certain...activity wouldn't be caught on film.

They watched as the train appeared in view and slowly rolled to a stop. Inuyasha winced slightly and lost his appetite for a nanosecond as Sesshomaru closed up on him kissing the living daylights out of that woman.

Kouga's mouth fell open, "You lost the jewel and your busy cleaning some broad's tonsils??" he roared in disbelief.

"I didn't know the jewel was lost! And I was trying to hide my face from the goons naraku sent after me!" Inuyasha argued back, even though his first instinct was to explain she wasn't just 'some broad'.

'Course, that didn't sound so great when he didn't even know her name.

Shippo made a disgusted face, "Ewww Inuyasha, what are you doing?"

Miroku didn't know if he wanted to be offended that Inuyasha was busy swapping spit with a random woman on the subway when he should be guarding the jewel with his life, or cheering his best friend on. Finally Inuyasha was showing some interest in sex! To be honest he had been getting worried. He frowned and looked closer at the girl. Should she look so familiar?

Hiten groaned and rubbed his eyes, "Ow. Did not need to see that."

Sesshomaru glared at Inuyasha. "You imbecile."

"I can't believe you! That was not the time to be proving you're not gay!" Kouga yelled.

"I've always been straight you mangy wolf!"

Miroku squinted at the woman. Was she the woman who worked behind the Starbucks counter?

"Could have fooled me mutt."

"Like that's all that hard."

Maybe she was the one who did his dry cleaning? Wait, no, the last cute woman moved away last month...

"I should have been the one to get the jewel, I never would have let myself get distracted like that."

"You get distracted trying to solve a three piece puzzle. Naraku would have killed you and used your hide as a welcome mat." Inuyasha sneered.

...oh crap. He really, really hoped she wasn't that woman he spent the weekend with up in Vermont that one time.

"Enough!" Sesshomaru ordered, the table falling silent. "Naraku will not be the only one you have to worry about if you do not pull yourselves together." Sesshomaru warned.

He waited a few moments to make sure he had everyone's attention. "Shippo, I am emailing a copy of these tapes to you. Find something."

Shippo nodded, though he wasn't entirely happy about having to watch Inuyasha make out, "I'll do my best."

"The rest of you, use whatever tools you have at your disposal to find the jewel quietly. We don't need to let on to Naraku we do not have the jewel either. Spilt the city up and spread out. I have a meeting in half an hour with a company in Hawaii. Do not contact me unless you have the jewel."

Sesshomaru ordered, pushing back from the table. The others took that as a sign that the meeting was over.

Sesshomaru paused to look at his brother, "We will talk about this later." he told him, getting an annoyed eye roll in response.

Jaken stuck his green head through the conference door, "My lord! The helicopter is ready!"

Sesshomaru nodded, "I will be back by tomorrow evening." he looked at everyone, "Do not get distracted."

"'Do not get distracted.'" Inuyasha mocked after his brother left the room, tipping the rest of his ramen into his mouth. "Sometimes that guy really pisses me off..."

Especially since the warning had only lodged the woman even further into his mind.

Kagome

Sango ducked her head and tried to hide her yawn from Kagome, only to receive a smirk in response. "Aww look at that, Sango the Feared Demon Slayer, wiped out by a few kittens."

Sango glared back, absently toying with one of the silver bells around the kitten's neck. "I would have you know, these kittens would strike fear into the hearts of the most evil demons I've faced down. One look in their little eyes and it makes you want to melt and say the most disgusting baby talk." she explained, covering her mouth when another yawn hit her.

Kagome gently took the kitten from Sango's grasp and placed it in the pen with the others. "You were out pretty late last night. Why don't you go take a nap? I'll be home late from work and the temple, so I'll throw something together you can just heat when you wake up." Kag suggested, concerned for her best friend.

"Thanks. I didn't even realize how tired I was." She got up, blinking rapidly. "What time are you done at the temple? I'll come walk you home."

Kagome frowned, "Probably around nine or ten. Sango." Kagome paused, searching for the right words. "Is there something you want to talk about? You've been so overprotective lately. It's unusual, even for you. Is something wrong?"

Sango looked at her for a long moment, before turning away to stare at the floor. Her eyes studied the stain next to Kagome's foot like it was the most memorizing thing in the world. "...the nightmares have come back." she finally said quietly.

Kagome's heart hit her stomach and her mouth went dry. She swallowed, trying to force some moisture down her tight throat. "You mean..."

"I know we've talked about this Kag. But it seems like every time I get these particular nightmares something bad happens. And these dreams I've been having...they're exactly like how he described."

"Goddamn it Sango, that is not true!" Kagome suddenly shouted, "There is no curse. I've poured hours and hours into research for it, it's not there. You. Are. Fine. You've been overly stressed from the job and the mortgage, that's all this is."

Sango didn't look up from the stain as Kagome's ragged breathing and the delicate chiming from the kitten's bells filled the silence between them.

"I really want to believe that Kagome. And I would if the nightmares were the typical baggage from the job type. But these dreams..." Sango licked her lips nervously. "These dreams are about our birth mothers Kag."

Kagome stormed into work, sweaty from taking the long walk over to the library. She felt bad about going out of her way to avoid Sennin, but she really couldn't deal with any his prophesy crap today. If she heard anyone talking about curses and fate seriously again, she was going to break down.

She strode into her office and shut the door, not in the mood to be friendly with her staff right now. She sat down heavily in her chair and sat back to study the degree that hovered above her desk, proclaiming to everyone who stepped inside Kagome Higurashi had graduated cuma sum laude in library science.

Higurashi damn it. She had been one for so long she couldn't even recall what her previous name had been and didn't care enough to look it up. And it didn't matter what some curse or predication said, it was going to stay that way.

Kagome shook her head, enough with this. A dream was a dream. It was not real. She had other things to worry about.

Sighing, Kagome logged onto her computer and checked the call number for a few books on kittens. She had read the majority of them when she had been younger, but the library had acquired a few new items she hadn't had time to read until now.She looked up the number of a local animal hospital and made a mental note to talk to a vet who often came in. The more information she had on rasing those kittens, the better.

The same could be said of that damn curse to unfortunately.

Gritting her teeth, she brought up her email and typed a quick note off to a friend in a nearby college. She really hadn't wanted to do this, but she needed to see that book. She had read thesis's written about it, talked to librarians and professors who had seen it, but maybe it was finally time to study the damn thing for herself.

She sent the letter off before she had time to regret her decision and turned her attention to a email Ayame had sent her, the subject line screaming READ ME NOW!! when her cell phone rang.

She picked it up and grinned, her mood lightening when she saw her mother on the caller I.D.

"Mom!" Kagome said happily. "Hey, how about I pick up Chinese food before I come by to the temple so you don't have to cook tonight?"

"Kagome." Her mother said tensely, her voice strained. "Something's happened."

Sango!! "What's wrong mom?"

"The well...it's been completely destroyed."

Ooh...what does this mean for our young heroine?...I have no idea! Ain't life grand? Seriously, my partner left me a world of opportuneties with this chap and I have no idea what i'm gonna pick, so there is NO predictable next chap. Kinda keeps you on your toes don't it?

So if you want a fast update, review! Reviews make me wanna write!

Laters for now
CPH
-8/23/08