Chapter 21:The Mystery of the Full Moon...
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Inuyasha had picked up on the quick steps as they exited the elevator, his ears had registered their quick back and forth, catching the bickering that was occurring just outside his office. He heard the argument reach its peak, then without fail, his doors swung open.
He didn't bother to look up, already knowing who it was, and why they came.
"Damn it, Yura! If you don't take your greasy strands off me, I'll burn that rat's nest you call hair!"
Shippo struggled to enter, seeming to be in the middle of tug of war game, neither in nor out. Finally, the young man lifted a fist encased in blue flames "I mean it, Yura. To a crisp!"
When Shippo straightened out, strutting into his office while fixing his black suit jacket, Inuyasha knew who had won that game. Yura followed, a nasty scowl on her face as she regarded the man coldly.
"Lord Inuyasha made it very clear; he does not wish to be bothered, especially not from vermin like you."
"The only vermin I see is you, I came to speak with the mutt, you have nothing on this."
"The Lord instructed me to deal with all pests, and so I shall."
"Give it your best try hairball, Inuyasha needs a new assistance, I'm only happy to help take out the trash!"
It aggravated him to hear people talk as if he wasn't there.
Inuyasha rose from his seat, as he stood, he released a wave of pure power outward. The two intruders snapped to attention, but his head had begun to hurt again, and their clear submission of his power did not ease the ache.
"Enough! Yura, get the hell out of here. As for you Shippo, you must have some kind'a death wish for barging in here like that."
Yura licked her lips, salacious smile in place as she purred out, "Would my Lord like for me to show this overgrown racoon some manners?"
His dark gaze fell on her, and though he radiated a barely masked rage, she reached up to cup her own cheek. Looking every bit infatuated female, as if she hadn't heard a thing he had said, she was succeeding in pissing him off.
"Out. Now" His words ended with a growl, one that was all rumbling rocks.
Her smile darkened in invitation, but she left nonetheless, leaving him with only one infuriating nuisance.
"Gee, why on earth would you put up with that every day?"
"Believe me, I'm beginning to ask myself that very same question. What do you want, Shippo?"
"What do I want? You've got to be kidding me, just where in the hell Is Sesshomaru?!"
Inuyasha bared his fangs, his agitation was now full-on anger, and he was just about done hearing everyone complain about the 'great almighty' Lord.
"Fuck should I know!" He lied smoothly, although Shippo had crinkled his nose, as if he hadn't taken him at word value. Before the kit could poke and prod, Inuyasha ended the conversation before it started. Looming over Shippo, his snarl spoke for him, as good as any spoken command.
"Fine!" The kit snapped, stomping out towards the door, but not before sneering over his shoulder, "You'd think next time you and Sesshomaru could better schedule your meltdowns, or have one of you could keep track of the moon. Maybe then, we wouldn't have a month's worth of negotiations splatter on the fiftieth-floor meeting room."
Inuyasha was there, stopping him before he had fully exited his office "What the hell are you talking about?"
Shippo narrowed his gaze, for once, saving the growl in his chest for a less volatile time. "Ha. You really getting forgetful with age, huh?"
All Inuyasha had to do was reveal a fang, before Shippo finished off- "I'd check your calendar next time, old dog. Would have saved ourselves one dead Ambassador."
Not giving him anything else, the kit had stormed out, throwing the door behind him so that it slammed dramatically with his exit. The kid would have to answer for his petulance and bad attitude, but his parting words had succeeded in distracting Inuyasha from the kid's insolence.
Bothered, and more than a little restless, Inuyasha had optioned for pacing around his office. Attempting to bring meaning to the young man's words, he went over his day, and the surrounding tasks of it. He had already checked his emails and events for the day, what else could he be missing?
Then as he stared absently out his office window, the orange sky revealed the truth to him; staring disbelievingly, Inuyasha felt the pull from the full moon, as if all he needed to do was see the large outline in the darkening sky to have it hit fully.
The rage, the paranoia, the hunger and lust for blood. It was his demon's night alright and waiting back in his fortress was a much too easy kill. No one would look twice at such a death... no one would care.
'No... No, no, no, no, NO!' The magnitute of the situation was finally hitting him, he was aware that time was slipping, helpless as he realized there was no easy way to go about this.
Even if his demon decided not to seek her out, there would be no place to put her, he'd be damned if he took her elsewhere. Naraku hadn't been confirmed dead or alive, until Inuyasha could kick the dirt onto his grave, there would be no excessive risk taking while he was still out there, somewhere.
But that left him with very little options, and less time to decide.
Twelve hours, all he needed was twelve hours.
By the time he reached the phone on his desk, it was impossible not to notice the longer talons on his hands, ten deadly points. He spoke on the phone, barking orders as he raced against the sun itself.
"Yura, get me Kisei, now.
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"It's hopeless!" Kagome threw the cluster of books before her, aside. Spreading them out further on the steel countertop, she used her arms to push the wretched things as far away from her form as she could.
It was already late in the evening, her attempts at studying having gone on for several hours now, still nothing she read seemed to engrain itself in her brain. Her head minus well be a convenient place to store her pretty hair.
The same strand of inky black hair fell forward with her jerky movements, she blew at the strand, watching it fall back to the same place, as if it were taunting her.
Tempting her to daze off again, to recreate the feel of his hand reaching up, tugging at her loose hair, before holding her attention steady.
The young girl resisted the urge to bang her head down on the expensive counter, instead, she simply shook her head as if by doing so she could shake the image clear. Going back to studying seemed impossible, no matter which way she tried to look at it, the equations on the page might as well have been hieroglyphics.
With less than a week until the first round of tests, Kagome was moments away from a full blow meltdown, when the distinctive sound of the elevator interrupted.
Jumping over the couch, she made it to the doors before they opened. A good thing too, seeing as how the doors were thrown open with a mighty force, they barely missed her as they swung open.
She might have given a cry of irritation, but when hard brown eyes greeted her, Kagome found herself swallowing her knee-jerk reaction.
Inuyasha strode in with quick heavy steps, not bothering to spare her a second glance, he stormed over to the Livingroom. Kagome tucked the loose strand back in place, his anger was palpable, but she had no idea what was feeding his rage.
It left her uncertain as to what to do, finally with a shaky breath, she tried approaching the enraged man.
"Well, hello to you too?"
"Not now..."
"All I said was-"
"NOT. NOW."
He didn't give her time to react to the boom in his voice, Inuyasha turned on his heel to storm off, no forthcoming explanation. The bang from his door as it slammed shut echoed throughout the house, confusing her further as she stood stuck in the same spot, he left her in.
Against her better judgement, she slowly crept up to his door, even in the halls she could hear his angry shouts.
"Did I fucking ask how difficult it was going to be, or did I ask you to get it done?!... Then why the Fuck are you still jabbering on!"
No obstruction came from the wall that separated them, even if she were down the hall as she was, his words reached her clearly. It seemed Inuyasha had been pushed too far, and he gave no mind as to who may be able to hear his shouty rampage. With a curiosity that would've no doubt killed the cat; Kagome tip-toed to his room. She reached for the door ever so slowly, crouching low to keep him from seeing her, she inched the door ajar.
"I don't give a DAMN!"
He was angry, perhaps the angriest she had ever seen him, pacing in the confines of his study. Even from her place by the door, she could see there was something seriously wrong, as the man continued his single-minded march.
Yanking the navy-blue suit jacket off only to throw it on the ground in a fit, Inuyasha held the phone with white knuckles, growling down the line. Kagome couldn't make out a word that was coming from the other end, but judging by the scowl on Inuyasha's face, it couldn't have been anything good.
Inuyasha sneered at the phone in his hands, as if the person there could cower from his withering stare over the phone.
He yanked at his tie, pulling it half off with one hand, leaving behind the crumbled half-tucked white shirt, and blue dress pants as they were.
"If Sesshomary has a problem he can deal with it on his own, you have your orders, I want her gone NOW!"
Kagome chewed on her bottom lip, worried it was her he wanted gone, while also worrying it was someone else. Someone she may not have met yet, someone important, maybe?
He had paced to the other side of the room, and by doing so, she had lost sight of him. But his angry words were still very much audible, leaving her to wonder who had done, what, to get him so worked up.
Before she had a chance to pull back from her prone position, his door swung open, and with wide guilty eyes, she peered up at his angry-towering form.
Instead of the verbal thrashing she'd assumed awaited her, Inuyasha simply reached down for her arm, hauling her up on two feet with one pull.
"Inu-Yasha!"
Her cries were brushed off, Inuyasha seemed to be in a world of his own making, pulling her along as he led them back towards the main room with no cooperation on her part.
"Inuyasha!? What's going on"
His usual growl came, but the sound of it was all wrong. This was no growl of warning, or annoyance, this was a much darker tone that spoke of real anger. When they reached her room, rather than answering her, Inuyasha went straight into the closet that had been deemed hers.
She watched wide eyed as he dumped the contents of her bag out on the bed, overlooking her irate call, to stuff her scattered clothes into it.
"Stop! What are you doing?!"
When it looked as if he was going to keep ignoring her, Kagome reached for him, it should've come as no surprise when her hand never made it.
Inuyasha had snatched her hand mid-air, giving it a squeeze as he growled out another tight warning. Seeing as how his attention was finally on her, Kagome pulled on her hand in response, knowing that he chose to let her hand go.
"Inuyasha!? Just tell me what's going on?"
"You need to leave"
"Leave?" The word sounded odd coming out of her mouth, like she'd forgotten what it meant, then as his actions finally registered Kagome sprung to his side. "Inuyasha, what's happening?!"
"Nothing's happening, Woman. I need you gone-" when her scent spiked in panic he added on "Relax, it's just for the night, you're not getting off that easy..."
"For the night...?" Kagome bit her bottom lip, a weird feeling was beginning to develop at the pit of her stomach, an image of the man in front of her, awaiting a mysterious silhouetted woman came to her.
"You're not... I mean- what's going on tonight?"
He was a mess, the days had slipped through his fingers, and now in the mist of this holly fuckery; he had, accidentally, left her exposed to the worst creature yet.
Himself.
Inuyasha tried not to breathe in her scent, it was laced with her nerves as she stood motionless at the entrance of her room, looking rightfully helpless. He figured she'd be glad she was leaving, even if it was just for the night, but the longer he took to answer her question, the more upset she grew.
"Inuyasha!" Her snap was expected, when the girl had idiotically stepped in front of his path, her hands on his chest to stop him, that had not been. "Can you stop and talk to me!"
He hadn't meant to snarl, but the blood had rushed inside his body at such a high velocity, the traitorous reaction caused by the feel of her hands on him.
But he did, and her immediate fear had been a terrible reaction, before he could hold himself back; Inuyasha had snatched her by the arms.
Gripping her tighter than he should have, Inuyasha had snapped, "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up! You annoying girl, just shut your mouth and do what you're told, for once. For fuck's sake don't you see how difficult this all is?!"
She was sure that there was an explosion on her end coming along, but the shock from his snarled words and tight grip had stunned her. When Kagome felt the air coming back, a group of men came sauntering in like they owned the place.
Inuyasha ignored her open-mouthed, offended look, his attention on the team that awaited his command.
"Is it done?"
From the four-armed men, one petite woman stepped out; she wore the same-colored uniform as the men, but her outfit called for a pencil skirt that matched her jacket, and button up shirt.
"Everything has been taken care of, Lord Inuyasha."
Inuyasha gave the woman a tight nod before turning his gaze back to the girl in his hands, her angry glare met his head on, challenging him with their fire.
"Kagome" her name on his lips was a warning, one that was met with a hard glare, as she tightened her jaw in response. "You are to go with them-" at the sight of her defiant stare, Inuyasha added a growl to get her back on track "-you will go, and you will stay put, you are not to be back until morning."
Reaching out her hand, she grabbed hold of the hem of his shirt, tugging fruitlessly.
"Just tell me what's going on Inuyasha, I can help, if it's-"
His grip tightened, effectively shushing her, "I mean it, Kagome. Go."
Kagome attempted to understand, but he had done it again, he had gone ahead and shut himself off. Expecting her to just be dragged around to this place and that, no news as to what will be of her, no notice, no consideration on her part.
Perhaps it had been all this that made the idea of leaving, suddenly, very alluring.
"Fine." She spat, forcing herself away from his tight hold, head bowed as to avoid looking into those hard brown eyes. "You want me gone; I'll go."
Inuyasha thought of saying something else, maybe hinting at the real problem at hand, just so he could escape the responsibility for that bitter tang in her scent.
But then she had snatched her bag away from him, turned sharply on her heel, and stomped off ahead of the men. He fallowed speechless, watching his people surround her as they walked.
And to his great surprise, she left. Not once turning back around to glance at him.
"Damn it all..."