Disclaimer: I do not own Rumiko Takahashi's InuYasha.
Chapter 7 – Worry
"Wait, I know that face! It's asking me if I plan on following you indefinitely!" A certain happy spirit chirped as she sat on the leather seat of a car that a certain stoic but Adonis-like man owned. Said man did not reply, as she expected.
"Well, the answer is yes, if you were wondering. See, this Kagome has nothing better to do with the infinite amount of time at her disposal so she has no choice but to follow the only person that is able to see her around." She said in a breath. Sesshoumaru still ignored her.
"This Sesshoumaru cares not for your inane chatter." Kagome imitated as best as possible Sesshoumaru's voice to make it seem like she wasn't talking to herself.
"This Sesshoumaru's voice is far smoother than your weak imitation, spirit." Sesshoumaru said stoically. Kagome choked in surprise.
"SMOOTHER? Well I'm sorry for making it seem less angelic than what it is to you." Kagome said sarcastically. Her retort was answered with silence, as she expected.
"Ne Sesshoumaru, where are we going now?" She asked randomly while looking out the window.
"It was agreed upon that this Sesshoumaru lends his superior intellect to a certain stupid han-, half-brother of mine." He replied monotonously.
"Ne Sesshoumaru, can you speak in any tone other than monotone?" She asked, completely oblivious to him correcting his sentence halfway.
"This Sesshoumaru speaks in many tones." He said, sounding slightly offended.
"Wow, monotone and offended tone. What a joy it must be to talk to you." Kagome answered drily. Sesshoumaru chose to ignore that, as usual. He drove on in silence.
"Spirit, why have you ceased your inane chatter?" Sesshoumaru asked a few minutes into the silence that reigned in the car. He spared a look at the soul sitting on the seat beside him. His eyes widened slightly in surprise as he realized that the outline of her soul is becoming blurrier than usual.
He took his right hand off the steering wheel and waved it through the soul sitting beside him. He spared another glance at her and realized that she was becoming translucent.
"Spirit." He said in a commanding tone. She turned her gaze from the window to the man beside her.
"Yes, driver?" She said in a wispy voice.
"You are... disappearing." He stated, completely ignoring the insult to his person. She didn't have time to reply as she felt a sharp tug in her gut before feeling a strong force pushing her out of the car.
"Sesshou..." Was all he heard before she disappeared completely from his view.
"Kagome?" He said cautiously into the car that he occupied. However, he heard no reply. Something in him urged him to find her immediately, but his rational side reasoned that the matter can wait until after the network issue has been dealt with. After all, where can she possibly disappear to when he has access to the most technologically advanced GPS system in the world?
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He closed his eyes in concentration as he held the vial necklace over her body, waiting for her soul to be absorbed into the vial. He opened his eyes after a while, noticing that it didn't glow red as it had previously. It didn't change at all.
Today isn't my day... He thought as he tried again, this time fusing some of his youki into the necklace, strengthening the force needed to pull the soul out of the body.
"...maru!" he suddenly heard. He opened his eyes in surprise, just in time to see a girl fall through the window and into the room. She stood up from her position on the floor before looking at the man standing in front of her.
"Where am I? Who are you?" She asked shakily. The strong force seemed to have pushed her to a hospital room...
"Wait is this where..." She asked to no one in particular as she took in the sight of her lying on the bed.
"Ah, I'll never get used to seeing that." She said, shaking her head in disappointment.
"Who did you say you were?" Kagome asked the man who was staring at her with a shocked expression on his face.
"I... didn't say anything." He said, trying to regain his composure.
"Well, I'm going to ask again then. Who are you? And what are you doing in my hospital room over my comatose body?" She asked in a suspicious tone.
"Uh... The name's Kouga." He said lamely after coming up with nothing else to say.
"So Kouga, what were you doing over my comatose body?" Kagome asked, already tiring of the conversation.
"Uh... Excuse me for a second." He said before dashing out of the room. It didn't occur to Kagome until a minute after he left.
"Wait a minute... how can he see or hear me?" She asked to thin air before deciding to find him for answers.
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"You better not get this one hacked again, or this Sesshoumaru will cease to bail you out next time." Sesshoumaru said in a threatening tone to his half-brother, who happened to be sitting in front of him.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Tell Kagura I need another cup of coffee when you leave, will ya?" Inuyasha said carelessly, downing the rest that was in his mug.
"This Sesshoumaru takes orders from no one." Was his reply before stalking out of Inuyasha's office gracefully.
Inuyasha sighed. He paged Kagura via his phone and told her to bring in the coffee.
But he was going that way anyways... He thought miserably before turning back to his work. Thanks to Sesshoumaru, the network was back in place. Though he hated to credit his half-brother for anything, he had to admit that Sesshoumaru was a genius when it came to technology. How else could he solve the problem that plagued his scientists for the past few days in a short hour?
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"Out of my way." He said in an authoritative tone as he pushed the scientist sitting in front of the large screen off his chair.
"H-h-hai, Taishou-sama." He stuttered on the floor before standing up and watching his boss type furiously on the keyboard.
Kagome... where are you? He unconsciously thought as he accessed the GPS that tracked auras and spirit signatures. Seconds later, he got his answer. He hastily left the lab, leaving a surprised scientist in his wake.
He's never been in such a rush before... Why did he need to find this particular spirit signature? He thought curiously, before taking a look carefully at the screen. The blinking light was at the hospital...He was suddenly hit with a sense of déjà vu.
Of course... could it be... the same one? He thought, before his cell phone rang.
"Moshi moshi?" He said into the phone.
"...Kouga? What do you want?" He whispered hastily, looking around him to make sure that no one heard. He walked hurriedly to the bathroom, locking himself in.
"...I don't know, ask Bank! He's the one who developed the thing... I wish I could take the credit but he was the genius behind the invention... Why don't you give him a call...So much for 'I don't need your f-ing phone number', huh?... Do you have paper and pen handy? It's ... "
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"... Thanks Souta, I owe you." Kouga turned off his cell phone and looked at the number scribbled on his hand. He turned to give the nurse back her pen before turning towards his phone to call. He stopped short when he saw a certain girl give him the evil eye.
"Did you just say Souta?" She asked suspiciously.
"Uh..." Kouga said, again at a loss for words.
"Look Kouga, it's really important that I know." Kagome pleaded. Kouga looked at her for a full minute, before giving her a cautious nod. A tear escaped her eye. Kouga looked on in surprise.
"What... what did I do now?" He asked, trying to see why he made her cry.
Kagome shook her head. "Souta..." She mumbled under her breath, tears now running freely down her face.
"Who is Souta to you? And... can you please stop crying? Here, have a tissue." Kouga hastily took a tissue from the box on top of the reception desk and handed it to her, the tissue passing through her. He stopped in surprise.
"What the hell..." He started to say before he felt the collar of his jacket being pulled and his body hitting the wall hard.
"What the..." He began to say again as he saw his aggressor.
"Se...sshoumaru Taishou!" He gasped in surprise.
"Hn. What are you doing here, Kouga?" He cut to the chase. Kouga didn't reply, but instead opted to look at the woman crying, who was now sitting on the floor.
"What have you done?" He asked, the acid evident in his voice.
"I don't know man, she just spontaneously started crying! It wasn't my fault!" Kouga said desperately.
"No violence in the hospital please." The nurse said softly, before pretending that she didn't witness the entire escapade with a delirious man who wears sunglasses in the evening talking to thin air.
Sesshoumaru reluctantly let go of Kouga before turning his attention to Kagome.
"Kagome..." He whispered softly. Kagome looked at him with her doe-like eyes now rimmed with tears. Kouga attempted to approach her with the tissue in his hand, but Sesshoumaru flared his youki in warning. He took one last glance at the woman on the floor before taking off.
"What are you doing here?" Kagome asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the amount of power that Sesshoumaru exuded from his aura. Sesshoumaru just stared at her.
"Were you... worried about me?" Kagome asked with a small smile on her face. He looked away, choosing not to answer. He duly noted that the nurse conveniently left for a coffee break, perhaps to convince herself that all she had witnessed was a dream.
"Thanks for caring Sesshoumaru." Kagome said, capturing his attention again. He nodded at the figure in front of him, who was shining with happiness, before using a finger to wipe the tear that was threatening to fall from her eye. She leaned forward and hugged him in reply.
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A/N: Well I got this chapter finished a lot faster than I thought, so here it is. I couldn't resist posting it, there being no appearance of Sesshoumaru or Kagome at all last chapter, so here they are. Hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will be longer than usual, and will be posted next week.