InuYasha walks into the room without so much of a knock or an announcement. Kagome sets her phone down and scowls. She was looking at pictures and videos of her and Satoru.
"The hell is your problem?" InuYasha pulls out a chair and plops down next to her at the small table. "We're find him, if that's what you're up stressing about." It's weird seeing InuYasha in modern clothes.
She wonders if they are human made or demon made clothes like his fire rat robe.
"I'm not stressing about finding Satoru. I know we will find him. I'm annoyed that you didn't knock before walking in here. What if I was indecent?" She's lying through her teeth. Sleep did not come easily last night. Even after being exhausted from using the subjugation beads on Sukuna, she still woke up off and on throughout the night searching for Satoru, but, of course, her hands could not find him next to her.
InuYasha's lip curls and settles into a frown. "S'orry. Wasn't thinking. Never had to knock before." He makes a sweeping gesture as if that should cover everything.
"It's fine. I know this is hard for you," she says, getting up. Her mood sours. "Where are the kids?" Kagome scoops her phone up and glances at the picture of Satoru she took when he was sleeping. One of the rare occasions when she managed to sneak a picture without him noticing.
"They just got back in. Brought some of the kid with them."
"Tsumiki?"
"No... Yuta?"
Kagome deflates. "I'll find Megumi then. Tsumiki is his sister." Awful does not even begin to describe how she feels. She was too caught up in her grief last night to think about anyone but herself. Satoru will be devastated if anything happens to Tsumiki.
"Wait," InuYasha calls. "I know things are weird between us, but you can lean on me."
Kagome blinks. Is she not leaning on him? Is she not here with him and Sesshomaru instead of at home? "I need to talk to Megumi." She walks out of the room, not wanting to stay in the bedroom with InuYasha any longer. He keeps doing this half push and pull shit and she does not have the capacity to deal with his feelings right now.
Finding Megumi turns out to be easy. She follows the sound of Shippo's laughter and bolstering. Kagome rounds the corner, ignoring how InuYasha trails behind her as if he is afraid she'll make a break for it.
"And then," Shippo says with a laugh, "And then InuYasha asked why he couldn't have Kagome and Kikyo. Swear, Inari-sama was listening, because InuYasha immediately face planted into the ground. Ya should have seen the crater." Shippo stretches his arms out. "It was like this deep."
Kagome massages her forehead. "First of all, that was me. I heard InuYasha's great idea," she says, rolling her eyes.
Yuji stares at Shippo as if his story is truly that fascinating, while Nobara rounds on Kagome with disgust written all over her face.
"Tell me that's when you dumped him? Gojo-sensei may be an idiot, but he's not dumb enough to cheat on you."
"Oi! Shippo? What the fuck? That shit was centuries ago." InuYasha grumbles.
All eyes turn to Kagome, and she wants to sit InuYasha so badly. He could have just said that it was a long time ago, not centuries ago.
"An exaggeration," she says. "It wasn't really that long ago." She fixes him with a stare. The last thing she needs to get into right now is how she used to time travel. And the less information Sukuna has on her, the better.
"Keh, whatever. I'm old." InuYasha plays it off and crosses his arms. "Time doesn't pass the same for demons."
"Anyway," Shippo chimes, entirely too delighted this morning. "When Dad found out that InuYasha was back in town, he was pissed. InuYasha, did you really show up with flowers?"
"Shippo, why are you starting shit?" InuYasha asks. His ears are pulled back as a fang peeks through his mouth.
"So, you admit it?" Shippo nods to himself, preening under the undivided attention. "You showed up expecting Mom to ditch Dad for you."
Nobara doesn't even try to hold in her laughter. The other three are more discreet.
She needs to cut whatever shenanigans this is off at the root. Kagome claps her hands and smiles when everyone turns to look at her. "We can share stories later," she stresses. "Megumi, have you gotten in touch with Tsumiki? I'd like to bring her here until things settle down."
Megumi's expression darkens and the joyful mood evaporates faster than a low level demon caught up in a wind scar.
"What happened?" She grits her teeth, preparing herself for news that will surely ruin her morning further.
"We went to look for her last night," he starts, glancing at Shippo. "Shippo-san, went with us. That's how we met up with Yuta-senpai." He jerks a thumb at Yuta, who gives a small wave to Kagome in greeting. "But when we got to the apartment. The one we stayed at. She wasn't there." He frowns. There was a note on the fridge," Megumi adds.
"A note? Someone kidnapped her?"
He nods. "We'll have more information later, but right now we need to prepare for some games."
Kagome pinches the bridge of her nose. Games? What sick fuck thinks this is some jigsaw movie? "Do we have any more information about this game or who took her?"
"Smelled like a zombie," Shippo interjects, his tail swishing behind him. "Sess said the train station smelled like a zombie too, so my guess is whoever took Tsumiki also had something to do with Dad getting sealed."
"Zombie? You mean that thing using Geto's body?" Megumi questions.
Kagome sucks her teeth. Geto? Yakeru's words come back to her like a body of water breaking through a dam. He never said anything about a dead smell, though. Kagome frowns, ignoring Shippo and InuYasha going back and forth. No, Yakeru couldn't have smelled anything with how strong her perfume was.
"Speaking of smell, glad you aren't wearing all that shit," InuYasha says.
Kagome rolls her eyes. Is he seriously getting smart with her because she told him to knock before entering her room? Whatever. "I only wore that much to cover up the scent of the kids. Doesn't make much of a difference now." She is no idiot. Going outside of the safety of Sesshomaru's estate is trouble waiting to happen.
No one has come out and said it, but she is sure there is some kind of bounty on her head now. Even if there isn't, she is sure the higher ups would come up with some excuse to get rid of her.
"Shippo, walk with me." Kagome crooks her fingers and turns on her heel. She pauses and looks over at InuYasha. "Don't antagonize them, please."
"Yeah, Inu, stop being a dick." Shippo sticks his tongue out and giggles as he dodges a near hit from the Tessaiga. "Bad dog, no swords in the house." Shippo wags a finger at InuYasha.
Kagome sighs and grabs Shippo by the ear. "Excuse us for a moment. Yuta, please make yourself comfortable. Megumi, we'll get Tsumiki back." She drags Shippo out by the ear and all the way back to her room. There is no other place in this estate that will give them the privacy they need.
"Ow," Shippo complains, rubbing his ear. "Was just teasing is all. Trying to cheer everyone up. They act like it's the first time anyone has ever been kidnapped."
Kagome shuts the door and walks over to the bed. She plops down. Her shoulders droop and her energy is zapped from her in an instant. "I know. I know. But it is the first time for them. No one would have dared to kidnap Tsumiki if Satoru were here."
He hums as he pulls up a seat at the table. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out some paper and markers. "Still, stressing about it isn't gonna do them any good. They need to keep a level head." Shippo pokes his tongue out to the side as he draws something on the paper. "Are you keeping a level head?"
"Trying to," she admits. "If you asked me last night, I would have demanded you to take me to this shrine."
Shippo stops and looks at her. His green eyes turn to slits. "What shrine?"
"I met Geto a while back when I was helping Yakeru out at the shop. Honestly...it slipped my mind to bring it up to Satoru. When he showed up, he purchased some charms and left a card. Yakeru made a comment that he thought Satoru had killed Geto, but he guessed that was a lie." The words sound so stupid now that she is saying it out loud. Why didn't she immediately bring it up to Toru?
"Mama," Shippo whines, dragging his claws down his cheeks. "Tell me you were not planning on showing up at this shrine by yourself."
"... It did say to come alone."
"Because it's a fucking trap. That's like Trap 101. You know this." Pricks of blood trickle down from where his claws are punctured into his skin. "I'm not saying you can't help, but we gotta be smart about this. And you are not going alone."
"If I show up with someone, then my chances of getting Satoru back could be blown."
"Pretty sure, based on your timeline, they had hoped you would have shown up earlier so you could have been used to help seal Dad." Shippo looks at his claws and wipes the blood off on his shirt. "I have an idea, but we'll need time to work through it."
Kagome perks up. He's going to help her? "I still go to the shrine and find out what he wants?"
Shippo lets out an exaggerated sigh. "Inari-sama, I'm going to regret this, but yes. It's the only clue we have besides the smell of death. Which he could have figured out a way around that. Not sure if he knows Yakeru is a demon or not." His brows furrow together. "There were demons there. Some were working with the curses and some were doing their own thing, so it's possible he knows."
"Okay, so going off him knowing about demons, the scent thing isn't a huge issue unless whatever that thing is switches bodies. Satoru never talked about Geto, so I can't help much there."
"Curse manipulation. Any curses he defeated and... ate for a lack of a better word, he was able to control them and their abilities."
"Like a summoner class?" Kagome asks, completely serious.
"You play games?"
She shrugs. "Sometimes. Toru and I play MMO's together here and there. I mainly played with Yuji when he was working on controlling his cursed energy."
"Okay, well, yeah, it's like a summoner class. Pretty OP, depending on what you can summon." Shippo picks up a marker and goes back to drawing. "Point is, I don't see that thing jumping ship anytime soon unless the body breaks down. The possibilities are endless."
"So, once I show up at the shrine, then what? If there is a veil, it might not let you follow me. Or see anything that is going on."
"Nah, I'm going with. We should get Yakeru, too. I'm thinking we go in disguised. Ya know, I once went to a higher up meeting with Dad."
"No, I didn't know that. Did you pretend to be a student?"
"Better, I was his sunglasses."
Kagome blinks. Her mind struggles to process Shippo's words. He was Satoru's sunglasses? "You want to be something small, like a necklace?"
"That's it."
"But if the veil does not let you through, I don't see how shape-shifting is going to do much good."
"And that's where the work comes into place." He sets the marker down and nods at his handiwork. "Tengen gets praised because of their barrier technique, but that's only because you weren't in this world yet."
Kagome squints. Does he want her to break the barrier? Because she could do that, no problem.
"Think outside the box like Dad does," he sings songs. "Also, what do you think of these blueprints?" He gets up and hands the paper to her.
"Is this a room?"
"Yeah, see, that's the room I want at the estate. I told Dad you guys needed to get to rebuilding the property and my room needs to be at least this big."
"This room is as big as a house," Kagome complains. But, still, she needs to think outside the box. Breaking the barrier is straightforward. Anyone would think to do that. Geto would also know something was up and might attack outright. What can she do with a barrier?
"Mimic what infinity does? A barrier like Naraku used to make when he had the... Shikon."
Shippo gives her a fang filled smile. "Inu complained about how the Shikon keeps reacting to your emotions about Dad."
"You aren't concerned?"
"Are you?"
She purses her lips together. "No, I don't believe this Shikon wants to harm me like the other one did. I believe it is selfish. Whether it is fixated on Satoru because I love him or it is fixated on him for other reasons, I'm not sure."
"The difference this time is that there is no separating the jewel from you." Shippo shrugs and returns to the table. "Wouldn't stress about it. If it wants Satoru back, then that works out for all of us. And since it is pretty much you, harming you would ultimately harm it."
"Guess we'll cross that bridge when it comes," she mutters.
Satoru yawns, stretching his arms out amongst the mountain of skeletons. The sight is awful. Dreadful. Would it kill this box to have some light?
"Could always be worse," he says to himself as he picks up a couple of bones and works on making a makeshift bed. "If time does not pass in here, where did everyone's clothes go?" he complains. Only skeleton remains and more bones surround him. This is going to be the world's worst bed.
Ugh.
He lies back and huffs at how uncomfortable it is. Better to just keep himself afloat instead. Staring up at nothing, he clucks his tongue. Hope Gome-chan is safe. She must be worried sick, wondering why he isn't home. He knows his students are fine. They're all strong after all. And Sesshomaru should have made it to Shibuya by now.
Satoru reaches for the locket and pulls it out from under his shirt. Even with his blindfold on, the light coming from the locket is blinding in a sea of darkness. His makeshift bed breaks down and the bones turn to dust. The locket is warm in his palms. He holds it up in front of him.
His skeleton neighbors shrink back as if frightened.
"Just what kind of locket did she make for me?" he wonders, lips quirked up in a smirk.
A/N: PLEASE READ. FFN has been wonky lately, so if for some reason you can't read any of the stories, do not fret. All of my InuxJJK fanfics are on Ao3.
Now then, thank you so so much for your support! You guys really be hyping me up in the reviews/comments and it helps me more than you know. Also, I have seen the air sex requests and it will happen in the main story. Gonna work on some more side stories and a Thousand Days With You next. Take care of yourselves!
