Hi there, I hope y´all are doing fine. It´s been a while, I know. Hopefully, we are getting closer to the end.

29- Introduction

"That bitch!" The gray-haired woman stormed into Dr. Ikeda´s new office. He had just finished setting it up after leaving his lab in Tokyo a few days prior. "She...

"Tsubaki, I warned you to be careful," The old man almost sniggered at her sight, one hand covering her right eye while the left one stared daggers into him. " We don´t even know how powerful that woman can be."

"Well, she crushed my barrier and injured my eye, that would give you an idea."

She uncovered her bleeding wound to let the doctor see it for himself. She had to focus her whole power to try and heal herself. She closed her good eye and calmed her heart that was racing in her chest. Inhaling deeply and focusing all her energy on the still painful side of her face, she let the air out. In and out, in and out until the pain subsided.

"It´ll probably leave a scar, damn bitch."

When she was finally able to see with both eyes, Tsubaki´s face paled all of a sudden, a look of horror transforming her features.

"I think the blow damaged my vision too, you are looking different. Do you have a mirror here?"

The doctor led her to a small toilet in the back of the office.

"There, go check your eye."

"Argh..." She exclaimed looking at the pink tissue around her eye. " My face... you should look at yourself too."

She gave a step back and let the man take her place in front of the mirror. He was silent as he looked at his reflection. His hair was becoming darker, and his face was less wrinkled. He lifted his hand in front of his face and it too looked younger."

"I think I used all my energy in curing my injuries, my concealment spell seems to be fading. You´ll have to stay in hiding while I recover my strength."

"No," the younger-looking doctor Ikeda stated firmly. "Dr. Onigumo has lived long enough. It´s time to set Naraku free."

Tsubaki swallowed a nervous lump, if Naraku was free, there was no way of controlling him.

"Once you get your strength back I´ll instruct Byakuya to get you back in there with the Miko."

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"Shippo-chan!"

Rin´s voice startled the kitsune as soon as he set foot in the office.

"Rin-chan, what are you doing here so early? Don´t you have school today?"

"I wanted to get here before Yash arrives," She spoke softly and looked a little nervous, in his opinion. "I need your help."

"Sure, is it something from school?" He hoped it wasn´t relationship advice. Honestly, he wasn´t too experienced in that field.

"It´s something delicate, is it safe to talk here? I don´t want Inuyasha to hear."

"He´s supposed to go to Kagome´s brother's university, check if he´s seen her, or has any news from her."

"We can talk here if you want. I´ll keep the door locked." He got up to do that so she could relax a bit.

Rin waited till he was seated and focused his attention on her before she spoke.

"I suspect my father is involved in Kagome´s disappearance."

"What?" Shippo´s eyes almost fell out of their sockets "What do you mean? That can´t possibly be true"

"I overheard a phone call in his office, he was talking to someone called Bankotsu, it was very weird. and he said he never asked for the woman to be hurt."

Her eyes were nervous one minute and pleading the next.

"Do you really think my father would be capable of ... I don´t even know what it is... but can you see him hurting Kagome?" Her shoulders seemed to slouch under the weight of her doubts, and her hands, on top of the table, were slightly shaking. "I have known for a while he´s having an affair with one of Onigumo´s assistants, but hiding a woman from me is completely different from hurting Kagome, isn´t it?"

Shippo sighed. He knew Sesshomaru had a reputation as a ruthless businessman, but he had never heard of him attacking someone.

"I couldn´t say Rin, I don´t know him that well." He was sitting on the other side of the table, so he reached and squeezed her hand in support. "What do you want to do?"

"Well, for starters I need to find out where my father´s sidekick might be hiding. Then we can use your abilities for the next step" She grabbed his hand on top of hers and enveloped it with both her hands.

"Will you help me Shippo?"

The kitsune saw she was on the verge of tears. He cared for Kagome too. And for Inuyasha. He wanted to help in any way he could.

"I will"

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"Inuyasha," he could hear the soft voice whispering to him in his dreams and felt a warmth surround him.

It was so comforting as if Kagome was next to him again. He had been unable to get a full night´s sleep after that dreadful night when she had disappeared, it wasn´t hard for him to let the feeling soothe the ache in his soul.

"Come for us Inuyasha. We are waiting for you, your child, and me."

He woke up after that, refreshed and with more energy than he had felt in a while. He would redouble his efforts and would not rest until Kagome was by his side safe and sound.

He grabbed his phone and dialed his best friend´s number. A groggy voice answered after the third time it ranged.

"Hello?"

"Miroku, has anyone looked for Kagome in Kyoto? I just remembered she found me there when I retired to my mother´s home for a couple of weeks."

He heard Miroku yawning on the line and only then did he check the time.

"I´m sorry, I didn´t realize it was so early."

"it´s ok. I had planned to get up earlier today, Sango wants to check some of the shrines that the Higurashis are associated with." The young man disentangled himself from the brunette still sleeping with his arms around him only managing to sit on the bed, " And to answer your question, I don´t think the police have searched Kyoto."

"Then, you and Sango go check the shrines and I´ll ask Shippo to come with me to Kyoto."

"Are you sure you are allowed to leave the city? Didn´t the police ask you to stay here?"

"Detective Morikawa didn´t mention it. I think it´s alright. And even if wasn´t I have to find Kagome."

Inuyasha´s voice betrayed the urgency he was trying to hide, Miroku could understand that. He couldn´t just leave him alone.

"Besides, Yorozoku Choro is taking care of my defense, Miroku," Inuyasha reminded his friend. "And even if I end up going to jail, I have to find out what happened to Kagome."

Kagome had come to him in his dreams, and she said she was waiting for him to go get her.

And that was precisely what he was going to do.

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"Excuse me, nurse, I would like to make an appointment with Dr. Kimura."

Rin smiled and approached the first nurse that she saw at the same hospital she and Kagome had visited together.

"I´m sorry miss, Dr. Kimura is not available, neither one of them."

"Oh, that´s too bad. I´m looking for an OB-Gyn, my friend recommended Dr. Kimura," She lowered her voice a little trying to sound complicit about the next part. "Since my boyfriend is a youkai, my friend said he specializes in hanyo deliveries."

It seemed to work cause the young woman got closer to Rin and lowered her own voice.

"Your friend is right, Dr. Renkotsu Kimura can help you if you plan on delivering a hanyo, or if you plan to end the pregnancy."

Even when abortion is legal in Japan, delivering a hanyo on the other hand was still frowned upon by both humans and yokai. Kagome was an extremely brave woman, Rin reminded herself.

"Dr. Kimura is not available though. He has been sent to the new hospital in Mt. Azusa, they are getting ready for a grand opening next Monday. Maybe you can get an appointment there if you can travel, or I can get you an appointment here with some other doctor?"

Rin pretended to ponder her choices before answering.

"I think I´d rather visit Mt. Azusa, in that case. Thank you very much."

The young girl was almost running when she got out of the building. She sprinted to the coffee shop where Shippo was waiting for her with an anxious look on his face.

"Did you get anything?" He asked as soon as she was within earshot.

"I did. We have to visit Mt. Azusa." She sat down in front of him and took a sip of his cold tea. " But first we need to get home. I need something from my father."

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"Why the hell didn´t you tell me sooner?"

The old ookami was screaming while his fist slammed the desk between himself and the younger wolf.

"I was trying to protect Ayame, old man." Kouga started pacing around the office. He had not intended to blurt out everything that has been going on since his fiancée had been taken, it just took one look into the older ookami´s eyes and he just spat it all out, as if he had been hypnotized into talking. "These people are no joke; our office has defended them from many accusations. Assault, murder, racketeering, and now kidnapping. That is why I can´t testify what actually happened with Kagome after the cameras went out."

"Even if that is the case, you can´t trust them to keep my granddaughter safe." The elder youkai seemed to recover his calm at that point. " For all we know, Miss Higurashi has had the same fate as Ayame," he said while sitting down again. " We need to tell Inuyasha, he´s losing his mind looking for that girl, not to mention the police are gathering proof that he might have murdered her."

"We might be risking Kagome´s and Ayame´s life, are you willing to take that chance?"

"Their lives are already at risk; we have to take a chance of saving them."

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"Kagura, do you have any information regarding this emergency board meeting?"

The daiyokai´s voice sounded strange through the phone, the female demon thought. She knew he had been on edge these last few days; however, she had never perceived a sliver of weakness in his presence in all the time she had known him.

"It´s all been too sudden, there are all kinds of rumors running rampant in the lab. They say that Kikyo is selling the company, that Onigumo is returning to the presidency, that Kikyo is marrying one of the Kimura brothers, I don´t even know what the real reason can be."

"I couldn´t find out anything either, this Byakuya guy didn´t anticipate what was the reason behind the meeting."

"Byakuya Kasumi is the head of the legal department, so it can be any of the rumors we have been hearing."

"I can´t handle more surprises, my life is already a mess as it is now," Sesshomaru looked out of the car´s window as the Jaken stopped in front of SNT´s building. "I have to go; we are heading to the meeting now. I´ll let you know as soon as I find out what´s going on."

He got in the elevator with Jaken following close behind him and Kikyo got in with the white-haired girl, one of Onigumo´s assistants, he remembered.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Kikyo greeted him. "I´m so glad we can arrive together, I´m so nervous about this announcement Byakuya-sama is about to make. I´m barely getting used to running my father´s business."

"There´s been hardly enough time for that. I´m sure you will do fine once you get familiarized with the company."

It was better this way, Sesshomaru thought. Kikyo had always been meek and obedient. It was better to have someone he could manipulate as Onigumo´s representative.

They sat next to each other, and he pretended to listen to Kikyo´s plans for the future of the company. The woman seemed to have spent time researching her options, he had to give her some credit.

The double doors of the conference room opened a few minutes later and Byakuya entered followed by a young man they had never met before. The whole room remained silent and expectant.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the board, allow me to introduce you to Dr. Ikeda´s heir, the next CEO of Ikeda labs, and all the companies affiliated to it and SNT, Naraku Ikeda."

A/N: Naraku is finally showing up to the party. I know is a short chapter, sorry about that. I really hope to get the story finished soon. I won´t promise a date because it´s hard to find the time to make it happen.

As usual, comments and reviews are very much appreciated.

Love,

ALP