InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Til Death Do Us Part ❯ The Blunder ( Chapter 22 )

Disclaimer: I don't own, so don't sue.

 

 

AN: Well here it is, finally. I know I promised to get this chapter up sooner but drama such as being kicked out of my house and having to find a job has taken up the majority of my time, and now that I'm back in college, I have to work twice as hard since I have twice as many classes. There are only a couple of more chapters left and I think I'll be able to get all out within the next month, so hold on to your britches for the grand finale. Many thanks to my wonderful beta Kimmie for doing my dirty work for me. And thanks to all of my readers and reviewers whom I love dearly. This is all for you guys. Enjoy.

 

FrameofMind: ::holds up hands:: Guilty as charged. I think you're the only person who saw through how I kind of rushed Sango and Miroku into the relationship without any tact at all. I actually have to go back and redo that chapter in its entirety since my main focus was on the Inu/Kag interaction. I guess you have also noticed I'm big in the melodrama department. I went back and read the last chapter and did see how you would think I was overdoing it, especially with Kouga's scene, but I was taking into consideration that he is a youkai and that he still thinks of Kagome as his property, so his emotions would naturally be more…intense then that of an ordinary human male. Thank you for your tips and strategies that I will definitely put to heart. If I actually had a coach like you, I can only see myself becoming better as a writer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Blunder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anxiety and dread built within the chambers of everyone's hearts as they awaited news of Kagome's condition, emotions on high rise from both lack of patience and the doctor's inability to report back to them if she was going to live or not. Mouths set in thin lines of some; unshed tears in the eyes of others, the general frame of mind of the occupants of the waiting room all geared toward the same grounds. With apprehension teeming so gravely, so thickly, nobody made any moves to comfort one another in this time of darkness, each person wrapped up in their in own thoughts and fears of what lay in store for the girl clinging on to life by a thread in the emergency room.

 

It had been two hours since she had been picked up and transported to the hospital, two hours since the lives of everyone close to her had been brought to a standstill, nothing else being of any relevance apart from any new information the hospital personnel had to offer, although no word had been received other than the customary report of her current physical shape when they had first arrived.

 

Dragging his fingers through his hair, Miroku blew air from his mouth in pent up frustration with how much time it was taking for the doctor to inform them of how the surgery was progressing. His eyes drifted around the congregation of humans and youkai alike, each one coping in a different way. Sango sat to his right, hands clasped together in her lap, eyes closed as if deep in meditation, her expression unreadable. Beside her sat Kouga, whose gaze was fixated intently on the emergency doors, his body jerking upright in anticipation every time someone walked out, none of whom ever made it over to where they waited.

 

On the couch opposing them sat both sets of parents, both mothers sporting identical, puffy, red eyes and swollen, tear-streaked faces as they waited with fists clenched. Inutaisho's arms were folded across his chest, his brows furrowed in deep concentration as he stared absorbedly at the ticking clock that hung from the wall adjacent to the coffee and snack machine. Ryo sat bent over his knees with his face in his hands, hair draping past his shoulders in a tousled mess. Ayame paced the floor back and forth, having not stopped since they had been escorted to the waiting room, her face taut with tightness, her lips pulling back into a dour grimace accompanying every glimpse she took of the clock.

 

Miroku slanted a glance to over where the hanyou sat in the corner on the floor, a sleeping kit in his lap, who had cried himself to sleep an hour ago after beating himself repeatedly over the head when he was told what had happened after he had lost consciousness. A slight frown came to the monk's face, his concern now redirecting itself to his long time friend, who had yet to say anything from the time when Kagome was brought in. Inuyasha's expression had remained neutral, neither his body nor his face revealing what exactly was going through his mind at the devastating point in his life as his fingers absently toyed with the child's hair. He sat cross legged with his head settled back against the wall, a disconcerting, empty void occupying his typically spirited amber eyes as they stared unseeingly straight ahead.

 

Chest heaving, the monk set his sights back to the hands that lie fisting his khakis in a restraining position. Miroku couldn't imagine what it must feel like to be in Inuyasha's shoes at present; to be in a position where someone he held so close to his heart was on the verge of death; to be situated under helpless circumstances in which one could do nothing but pray and hope that everything would turn out for the best.

 

He lifted his gaze just in time to see paramedics hurriedly wheel an insentient young woman into the ER, her blood soaking the white sheets that she lay under, the red liquid trailing down the arm that hung out from under the sheet. Grimacing at how much pain and death revolved around hospitals, he released his khakis from their imprisonment and brought his hands together in the traditional prayer pose. `Hopefully Kami-sama will be gracious and grant us more time with Kagome. But if not,' he speculated closing his eyes in preparation, his mouth pursed in disquietude, `I don't know what we will do without her in our lives, or more importantly, how Inuyasha will go on, if he chooses to do so at all.' Putting his faith in the will in both Kagome's desire to live and the mercy of higher beings, the monk began his prayer within the folds of his mind.

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“Her vitals are falling fast doctor.” The black-eyed nurse swiftly inserted and attached an IV into one of the veins in her arm, concealing the dread she felt mounting within her stomach in a mask of professionalism that she was still trying to perfect ever since she had been given the internship a year ago. Still relatively new to the ER scene, she couldn't get over how many things could go wrong, how much pandemonium thrived here, how many people died on the very table that the doctor was working to try and save the life of the girl who looked no older than nineteen.

 

“Blood pressure is falling under eighty! Heartbeat is starting to fibrillate! Nurse, wheel over the defibrillator, stat!”

 

“Yes doctor.” Moving hastily, the intern zigzagged through the throng of other rushing nurses to get to the machine. She wasted no time veering the apparatus back over to the operation table. She had learned early on that time was precious in an operating room. In the time that it could take to retrieve the machine, it may be too late for any type of resuscitation to the patient. She would try her hardest not to let down the person whose life was being put in their hands.

 

She charged the device and handed her doctor the paddles, watching as he expertly positioned the electrodes symmetrically across the patient's chest. “Make sure you apply direct pressure to the wound. Everybody ready? Clear.” A single black arched upward as the electrical jolts were applied to her heart.

 

“No good. Up the voltage to 280. Clear!” Another spasm caused her body to jerk upward, landing with a loud thump back onto the table.

 

“Doctor, she has started to hemorrhage again,” the nurse on the opposite side of the table said, hands busy with trying to stop the gush of blood that had begun to heavily leak from the wound in her side.

 

“Give me 320!” he shouted at her, paddles positioning over her chest once more.

 

Doing as she was instructed, the intern turned the dial to 320 and silently prayed that this would do the trick, that all of their efforts to save her life would not have been in vain.

 

“Clear!” She almost smiled in relief when the monitor conveyed that the steady, rhythmic beat of the girl's heart had returned to normal as ventricular fibrillation was restored.

 

“Good job people,” the doctor congratulated handing the intern the paddles and wiped the sweat from his face with his forearms, “now let's get the bleeding under control and then we can-“ He cut his sentence short as the heart monitor flatlined.

 

The doctor cursed and quickly rushed back to the dying girl on the table as he rolled up his sleeves. “Commencing with chest compressions.”

 

Her hand went to her throat as she watched the doctor placed his hands over top of her heart and began pumping repeatedly. Instinctively counting his repetitions, she felt her throat tighten as a minute went by, then another, and another, until his hands discontinued their motions, gray eyes grave as he shook his head to the rest of his team. “We've lost her.”

 

Her heart sank. She had had high hopes for the young woman. It was heartbreaking to see how quickly her life had been taken from her when she had just become of age. She would never fall in love, or have kids, or explore the world. It was incidents such as these that made it difficult for her to understand why people wanted to work in this profession, to have to endure situations where they would have to witness people die right before their eyes because they were unable to save them. But then there were those occasions when the doctors were able to bring people back from the threshold of death that made her want to stick with her line of work, like the young woman earlier who could have died without the quick thinking of the doctor and staff here.

 

A hand on her shoulder cut through her thoughts, causing her to come back to the present. “Yes doctor?”

 

“Could you make sure to tell the girl's family?” he requested rubbing his tired eyes. “They're in either waiting room C or D.”

 

“Of course, sir.” This was the part of the job she absolutely hated. Breaking news to a family that one of their daughter or son, brother or sister, husband or wife, had just departed to the afterlife was something that every physician hated doing. Schooling her face so that it wouldn't divulge how much she was affected by the distressing news, she walked down the hall toward waiting room C. With any luck, she wouldn't have to supply the family with a therapist to help them cope with their loss.

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Inuyasha struggled to keep his mind a blank slate, concentrating on everything from the regulation of his breathing to the soft snores of the kit in his lap, anything to keep him from plunging into the bottomless chasm of desolation that threatened to sever his heart into an irreparable compilation of shards. It was hard, stalling against impending darkness that would undoubtedly consume his soul and maintaining a continual string of reassurances that his mate would live, that soon, Kagome would be back in his arms and everything would be as it once was.

 

`Everything will be fine. And as soon as she gets out of surgery, I'll make sure to buy some flowers and bring her oden since she hates hospital food. Fuck. I hope I have money.' Ignoring a tightness in his chest he hadn't known existed, Inuyasha gently shifted his body so that he could get his hand inside of his pocket without waking Shippou, relieved to find a couple of spare bills he had placed there earlier today just in case of an emergency.

 

He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, grimacing when his intestines twisted and coiled within his gut. A small, bitter smile curled at his lips. `If I can't even convince my own body that she'll be ok, how the hell am I supposed to convince myself?”

 

With the passing of every second, every minute, every hour, he could feel his inner youkai growing increasingly more and more impatient, knowing full well that he should be by his mate's side in her time of need and it was taking a sufficient amount of self-control on Inuyasha's part from keeping his youkai side from emerging. The agglomeration of exasperation and agitation forming in the pit of his stomach churned with a slow-burning, inextinguishable fire. He gritted his teeth against the compelling inclination to rip this place to pieces until he found Kagome, the need to see her gradually take over his mind until he had to resort to digging his claws into the floor beside him to keep from his inner youkai from surfacing completely.

 

As if sensing his internal distress, Shippou whined in his sleep, his diminutive arms wrapping around the hanyou's thigh as much as he could and burrowing his head further into the warmth.

 

Some of Inuyasha's internal turmoil ebbed away at the kit's subconscious attempt to comfort him, bringing a small, fleeting smile to his lips before disappearing as soon as it had materialized as his thoughts turned to how the child would take it if Kagome didn't make it. Shippou had already suffered through losing one family and it would kill him if the woman he had just begun to think of as his mother was taken away from him.

 

Inuyasha closed his eyes to shut out the coldness that chilled him to the bone that her absence brought on. He had come close to losing her so many times. And it was sad that each time the outcome had been a result of his actions, the first time being when he deliberately pushed her out his life after she `supposedly' cheated on him after seeing him with Kikyo, the other when she had almost died of hypothermia because of his lack of regard towards her condition when she was ill. And now, she was probably lying on a surgical table dying and it was all his fault since he had sealed her fate when he made her wait in the basement for him, thinking that it was in her best interest.

 

`I should have never let you out of my sight. I'm so sorry Kagome. I promise that if you make it, I'll never put you in harm's way again. I'll take you far away from here; someplace nice where it'll be just the two of us, someplace where we can finally be alone and not have to worry about our idiot parents making decisions for us or dumb friends that can't solve their own fucking personal issues. I swear I'll make it all up to you, even if it takes the rest of my life.' Tears of guilt and pain struck the back of his eyes with a vengeance, his soul feeling as though it were being torn into two from the nerve wracking strain that coincided with the affliction of his guilt laden conscience.

 

His furry appendages twitched as he heard the doors to the emergency area open, his eyes immediately following the direction of his ears. And it was at that exact moment in time that he knew the answer to the recurring question and doubts that plagued his mind. Swallowing hard while trying futilely to smother the gut clenching terror that held him captive, Inuyasha slowly stood to his feet as the nurse walked with a certain air of ambiguity over to where they waited, mindless of the child that had been sleeping in his lap until he vaguely heard the kit's angry protests at being woken up so forcefully, his senses all attuned to the human female.

 

Before anybody had even took heed of the nurse's presence, Inuyasha was already in her face, his gut twisting in fear as he quickly unearthed the underlying dolor in her ebony pools that was cleverly cloaked behind an amateur pretense of refinement, one in which foretold of the fate of his beloved even before she opened her mouth. Icicles formed within his taut stomach, compressing his organs together so tightly that it was making him physically ill. “She's dead isn't she,” he choked out as best as he could through his constricted esophagus, his mind rejecting what his eyes clearly ascertained.

 

She hesitated with her answer and in that split second, subconscious reaction was all he needed to know for verification of his mate's condition. “We tried everything in our power…”

 

Inuyasha slowly backed away from her, his ears unhearing as he brought his hand to cover his mouth, the bile in the back of his throat threatening to spill forth. `It's not true. It couldn't be true. She wouldn't leave me. She can't leave me.' He crouched down to the carpeted floors as the world began to spin, mirroring both the maelstrom of turbulent emotions spinning out of control within his mind and heart. Inuyasha ran his fingers through his hair and squeezed his eyes closed to shut out the flashing images of Kagome lying dead on a gurney under a bloodied sheet, her lifeless blue eyes glazed over with the sheen of death. `They're lying. They just want to keep her away from me. She wouldn't leave me.'

 

A deep, overwhelming sense of loss struck him like a blow to the chest, and if it hadn't been for his remarkable sense of balance, he would have surely bowled over by the sheer magnitude of devastating emotions assaulting him to the very core of his existence. `Kagome,' he thought gritting his teeth, the pain in his heart almost too much to bear from the combination of fear of a life without his love and the anger with himself for not being able to protect her. Chaotic emotions convulsed in a dangerous amalgamation within his mind, body, and soul, pushing him so close to the edge that he could feel the thin line that separated him from his youkai side blurring.

 

He squeezed his eyes even tighter, his will against suppressing the emerging shift in his blood waning. Without her, he had nothing to live for, nothing to protect, nothing to look forward to; his life was meaningless, there was absolutely no point in going on. And anything, without a doubt, would be better than suffering through the unbearable, expanding void within in his chest that was gradually overtaking his soul at the loss of his mate, the guilt and anger at himself devouring him to the very core of his existence, an empty hollowness he knew would never be filled again being left in its wake. `Forgive me, Kagome.' Releasing the reigns of restraint that had always kept his dual side in check, he allowed his unruly, raging blood to consume him entirely and sank into the darkness that ate away at his heart.

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Inutaisho could feel the change in his son's youki as soon as the dawning of Kagome's fate was revealed through the nurse's shoddily veiled pity on her face. Having no time to mourn the loss of the young woman he had come to think of as his daughter, the taiyoukai shot up and made a mad dash for the hanyou before things got out of hand. Inuyasha threw back his head and let out a guttural howl, so raw and full of intangible emotions, that it broke the taiyoukai's heart. Eyes snapping open to reveal purple irises swimming in a sea of crimson blood, the hanyou snarled maliciously, his fangs bared and lips curling back with hatred, his claws poised to strike and would have succeeded in ripping out the poor nurse's throat hadn't Inutaisho leapt upon his son before he could lay a claw on her, knocking him to the floor to prevent him from hurting himself and anybody else for that matter.

 

“Inuyasha, damnit, snap out of it!” Inutaisho commanded in a loud, baritone voice, his own muscles bunching in exertion as he tried to restrain his son's wrist above his head as his legs flailed behind him.

 

If he heard his father's decree, the turned hanyou gave no outward sign of it and continued thrashing wildly beneath his father, the desire to unleash the wealth of potent and virulent emotions coursing through his heated blood on anybody or anything in his path clouding his mind of everything else, including the well-being of those around him.

 

The inuyoukai growled, inwardly wincing as one of the hanyou's fangs caught his flesh, creating a rather deep, jagged laceration on the older youkai's wrist, the blood seeping from the wound and down his arm only seeming to act as an incentive for rapid extraction from his father's hold, as the hanyou's attempts to become free became wilder and more desperate.

 

“Nurse! Bring me the strongest tranquilizers for youkai you've got!” Beads of sweat began to dot his silver hairline, a clear indicator of how much effort he was putting into confining his son to the floor as the medic rushed off back into the emergency room for the sedatives, the distraction being exactly what Inuyasha needed as he was able to break one of his wrists loose from taiyoukai's grasp. “Get a hold of yourself boy!” he barked, just narrowly missing the swipe of one of his claws that had been aimed for his face.

 

Suddenly, some of the albatross of subduing the buffeting hanyou was transferred to that of another individual. A perfectly arched brow raised in question as Kouga swiftly stooped down next to him and pinned Inuyasha's uninhibited limb to the ground with one hand and with the other forced down his chest so that it would help in impeding his unruly behavior.

 

Catching the wolf's eye, he sent a silent nod of approval and gratitude. His face devoid of any emotion or traces of what he was feeling at the moment, Kouga nodded back, his attention returning to the problem at hand, his mouth set in a grim line. Thankfully it wasn't long before the nurse came back with two other, burly medics at her side, a relatively large needle in her clutches. The medics hurriedly came to their aid, restraining the hanyou's head for whatever reason. Inutaisho gulped as the nurse approached with the inoculation, a hint of the translucent liquid trickling down the needle and had to turn his head as she prepared to stick it into Inuyasha's neck.

 

It wasn't until he felt his son's squirms lessen and discontinue completely that he knew the boy was down and out for the count. Sighing, he released Inuyasha's limp wrists and got up, his hand automatically reaching for his pocket. He retrieved his mobile phone and immediately punched in the numbers to the only person he knew could help in this state of affairs. “Toutousai, I need that prototype now,” he spoke before the other man could get out a hello. “I don't care if it hasn't been tested out yet. This is a dire emergency. Bring it to Tokyo General Hospital.”

 

Snapping the phone shut before the old man could respond, he looked down to where his mate was now cuddling their son's head in her lap, her head bowed as tears ran plentifully down her cheeks. His heart contracted painfully within the cage of his chest and shifted his gaze to the sofa where Hitomi had just fainted in Ryo's arms, a surprisingly composed expression blanketing his face as he laid his wife on the couch, but Inutaisho knew what really lay behind his calm façade. It was strange, how easily he read the utter shock in the man's brown eyes when not one year ago he would have easily missed the signs of his friend's shocked state. They had undergone a lot during the course of their three month alliance. They had had their share of ups and downs; he had seen his partner at his worst and vice versa. But he had never expected something of this enormity to occur, at least not while he was still taiyoukai of his domain.

 

His jaw tightened. How had this happened? How had he allowed his enemy to get this close to his family, this close to breaching his line of defense and kill one of his own? He had been stupid to assume that supplying a team of bodyguards would suffice the growing menace that threatened to harm the people close to him. He had been even more foolish and selfish to involve innocents like Inuyasha, Kagome, and their friends into a power struggle that would only suit his needs and wants. So caught up in the whirlwinds of business and dominance, he had neglected to look out for the welfare of anybody but himself. The thought disgusted him to the point of nausea.

 

“Sir, are you the father of the hanyou?” Inutaisho turned to stare coldly at the fidgeting human who didn't quite come to his full height of 6'5. “What do you think? Do you see any other silver haired, amber eyed inuyoukai around here?”

 

“Err, n-no s-sir,” the man stammered indecisively, tugging at the collar of his scrub shirt in obvious discomfort at being in the presence of the powerful taiyoukai. “It's just that we have an extra room down the hall if you want to keep your son there for the time being until his mood stabilizes and the tranquilizers wear off.”

 

Inutaisho waved him off. “See to it then. And make he's secured tightly to the bed. Kami knows what kind of temper he'll be in when he awakens.” Paying no further heed to the man, he flipped his cell face up and dialed another number, his golden eyes becoming encased in ice when he heard the voice on the other end of the line. “Koji, report to me immediately,” the taiyoukai commanded, a disdain that he rarely displayed twining with the authoritarian tone of his voice. It was time to get to the bottom of this and rectify mistakes that had gone too long unresolved.

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He knew the instant he had returned to the world of consciousness when the dreamless state he had been swimming in was lifted. In its wake, was a straining pressure that weighed heavily upon his chest, forcing air from his lungs as he struggled to fathom what the hell was going on with his body and why it felt as though somebody had cut out a piece of him; which in turn brought about a profound sense of lacking and despondency.

 

`Kagome.' Memories of the fight with the oni, finding his mate bleeding to death on the basement floor, and learning of her death barraged his psyche in such an unforgiving manner that it almost brought tears to his eyes. The knowledge that he had been the one that had led her to her downfall was tearing the remains his soul apart, piece by piece until he was sure nothing was left of it.

 

Adamantly holding the unspoken emotions that were beginning to gather in the form of liquid in his eyes, Inuyasha moved to bring his hands to his face only to find that something was constricting his movement. His mind went alert instantaneously, his ears snapping up and eyes flying open to survey his surroundings.

 

“What the fuck is going on?” he growled lifting up his head from the bed and glared at the unyielding straps that bound all four of his limbs to each corner of the hospital bed.

 

“Calm down boy. The restraints are for your own good. We didn't know how you would react when you awakened and didn't want a repeat of what happened in the waiting room.”

 

Inuyasha's eyes connected with his father's, who sat coolly beside the hospital bed to his right. The hanyou quickly blinked away the tears that had yet to fall and stared back at the older youkai expressionlessly. “You didn't answer my question.”

 

The taiyoukai stared at him, his passive gaze betraying no emotion. “After you learned of Kagome's fate, your youkai blood took over and you went into a blind rage.”

 

A fleeting flash of pain flitted across his features when his father spoke her name, but disappeared as fast as it had come. Closing his eyes, Inuyasha settled his head back down against the downiness of the pillow, fatigue replacing the blank expression he could no longer keep in the place. It took entirely too much effort and energy to force himself to care about his appearance in front of his father. There was no reason to. There was no point in doing anything now. “Did I hurt anybody?” he asked vacantly, opening his eyes to stare at the ceiling instead of meeting the probing gaze of the taiyoukai.

 

“No. With the assistance of Kouga, we were able to hold you down until they were able to inject you with the tranquilizer.” Inutaisho watched to no avail as his son's expression remained as it was at the mention of the wolf's name, a pang of sympathy and sadness hitting him hard at what the boy was suffering through. “I had Toutousai bring over the prototype which will aid in keeping your blood in check.” He pulled out the prototype and leaned over to place it on top of the bed beside him and wasn't surprised when the hanyou didn't even bother to look what he had placed beside his constrained body.

 

“It's a sword, the Tetsusaiga. Using one of my fangs and a bit of primitive technology, the old coot was able to come up with an object that is in direct correlation with your blood.” He pulled the rusted katana out of its sheath and held it up to the light in inspection. “It's a little old looking but with the right amount of application of energy and power, you could transform this dingy thing into a formidable weapon, though I doubt you'll need anything of this sort in this day and age. Just make sure that you're about fifty yards from it at all times and you should be fine.” Inutaisho sighed when the occupant of the bed continued to stare into space. “Aren't you even going to look at it?”

 

A brief silence ensued after the inuyoukai's last words, filling the room with stillness and implicit tension. Slowly, Inuyasha returned back to reality, his gaze sliding from the white ceiling to his father's face, the cold, lethal glint in the hardening burnt sienna colored irises of his eyes causing Inutaisho to become inwardly perturbed. “Where's Koji?”

 

“In the waiting room. Why?”

 

“I'm going to kill him, why else?” Inuyasha spat harshly with venom lacing his every word. “Untie me up now.”

 

“He didn't do it.”

 

“How the hell would you know? I know it was him. He set up the entire thing from the battle with the oni he lured out to that sorry ass excuse to go back into the house for more bullets. He had been planning to kill Kagome all along!” Inuyasha snarled and yanked roughly at the leather, white belts that bound his wrists, the hospital bed jumping inches off of the floor of the downright force behind his endeavors to extricate himself from the confinement of the bands. “How could I have been so stupid? This was a fucking inside job from the beginning.”

 

“It wasn't Koji,” Inutaisho sighed massaging his temples to alleviate some of the stress that had accumulated considerably over the past two hours. “The thought had crossed my mind but it couldn't have come from any of the bodyguard's guns. Those bullets were specially made to take down youkai. If Kagome had been shot with one of those bullets, the bullet would have damn near blown a hole in her stomach.”

 

He watched as his son's face pale and realized that his choice in words could have been better. “Listen,” he said softening his voice as he watched the fight drain from hanyou's face, “I have my men working now-”

 

“Can you get out?” Inuyasha requested wearily, his eyelashes fluttering down to shut out the disturbing images of his mate's bloodied body that looped consistently through his mind, taunting him over and over again for being unable to save her and making his heart break each and every time without fail.

 

Inutaisho opened his mouth to say something, but words evaded him. Sighing, he rose to his feet, wanting to say something to comfort his son in this time of darkness but nothing coming to mind. “I'll be outside the door if you need anything,” was all he was able to say, much to his disappointment. When the boy didn't say anything in response, the taiyoukai regretfully took his leave, silently closing the door behind him. There was nothing he could do to ease the pain of loss. It was something that only time itself could heal.

 

“How is he?”

 

Inutaisho looked up into the puffy, tear-stained emerald eyes of the wolf youkai. “Broken, devastated, crushed. How is everybody else?”

 

Ayame gave him a watery smile. “Pretty much the same. It just feels so…surreal. I can't believe she's dead. It just doesn't feel right, like this wasn't meant to be or something. And I can't help thinking that she's going to show up any moment and tell us why we're so sad.” Tears began leaking from her eyes.

 

The taiyoukai laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, ready to give her some words of comfort and hope that he had been incapable of articulating to his son when a sudden, loud crash from the room he had just exited caught both of their attention and that of the entire floor. Chest constricting tightly as thought of his enemy killing taking away yet another one of his clan creeping into his mind, he flung the door open and bolted inside to find Inuyasha gone from the bed, his straps decimated to tatters on the floor, the window on the opposite side of the room shattered to pieces where it looked like he had escaped. Inutaisho didn't know whether to be relieved or worried.

 

“Is everything alright sir?” Koji asked running into the room, his eyes roving around the damage that was done, mentally assessing the possibilities and likelihoods that were demanded of his profession. “I see that not even the youkai strength bonds could hold down that pup.”

 

“Grief is a great motivator for achieving any feat. Do we have any leads on her killer?”

 

“My men are working on it as we speak. But on a personal note, I did note some kind of expensive male cologne lingering in the air upon arrival.” He frowned. “It had to be a human. I don't think a youkai would have the tolerance to handle such a strong smelling scent.”

 

“So you are saying a human male breached that house which I had specially designed to be impenetrable?”

 

Koji raked his hand through his short locks in mild frustration. “It would seem to be that way. But he would've had to have some kind of knowledge on the interior of the house or at least in some point seen the inside.”

 

“Look up on that. In the mean time, I want you to assemble a team to tail my son to make sure he doesn't get into any kind of deep trouble. He has nothing to loose at this point and for that I fear for his life.”

 

The inuyoukai bodyguard nodded curtly and recovered his mobile device from his jacket pocket. “I'm on it.”

 

Inutaisho let out a sigh. “At least he took the damn sword,” he mumbled following Koji out of the room, completely unaware of the amber pair of eyes watching inconspicuously from his hiding perch under the bed, a dawning so explicably lucid that it made him have misgivings about his own intelligence. He knew who it was. He knew who killed his mate. A savage snarl that he tried his best to disguise for fear of getting caught ripped through his chest. Betrayal, anger and hurt intermingling to form a colossal ball of smoldering rage within him.

 

Rolling out from the under the bed with Tetsusaiga in hand to his feet, he bolted out of the previously fragmentized window which had been made solely as a distraction while he was supposed to sneak out the hospital through the back. But with his mind running amuck with unbridled violence and fury, that option had been ruled out on the spot. The wind whipped his silver tresses around him as he gracefully sailed from the eighth floor to the ground, and even before his foot touched the pavement, he was already tearing across the land, his vision blurring with red, his fangs bared with murderous intent and eager to tear the flesh of who had ripped his soul bare when his mate was taken from him.

 

It was his fault. If he had noticed sooner, if he hadn't been so caught up in his emotions and drama and had used his head instead, this wouldn't have happened. Why hadn't he paid closer attention to the man's quiet, probing stares and intuitive readings of his home? The guy hadn't been checking out how huge the place was, but his future point of entry. Ignoring the burn of his muscles as he pushed himself to his limits, Inuyasha increased his speed tenfold, the scenery going by so fast now that it all seemed like a haze of flickering lights and shadows.

 

He was going to kill him. `No, I'm not going to kill him,' he thought, his lips twisting into a twisted, sadistic grin, `I'm going to fucking rip his skin from his body, then slice off each of his limbs slowly so that he can have a taste of the pain that he has caused me.' Slowing as he entered the neighborhood of his intended victim, his eyes skimmed the numbers on the houses until one in particular jumped out at him. Inuyasha came to a complete halt in front of the two story residence that had the appearance of the perfect little family, with the two cars in the driveway, the grass cut neatly and the bushes trimmed to perfection.

 

His eyes narrowed to slits, his grip on the sword in his hand tightening, his knuckles turning white in response as he looked up at the white house. `This is for you Kagome. I swear on what's left of my soul I won't let your death be in vain.' Curbing the insistence on behalf of his youkai side to charge in there and kill anybody in his way, the hanyou slowly stalked up to the front door, amber eyes seething underneath of the stoic pretense. Once reaching the porch, he leaned over and pressed the doorbell, careful to conceal the underlying wrath and impatience coursing throughout his system.

 

Inuyasha knew who it was even before she opened the door, his nostrils filling with the sickening familiar scent that was unfortunately ingrained in his memory. The lock on the door disengaged and the door opened, revealing a rather annoyed female. “This isn't a good...” Her brown eyes widened in surprise, which quickly reverted to fear. “What are you doing here?”

 

Roughly pushing past her and stepping inside of the foyer, his ears swiveled like radars atop his head as he attempted to locate the position of his target. “Where is he?” he fired at her, his claws involuntarily flexing, eager to cleave the man to shreds.

 

Kikyo ran in front of him before he could take another step, her face inefficiently screening the panic that was beginning to show. “What the hell are you talking about? And who do you think you are coming into-” Her words were cut off as his hand, faster than she could blink, brutally clamped around her neck and lifted her a foot off of the ground, subtle hints of stark terror causing her body to tremble in his unforgiving grasp.

 

“I am only going to ask you one more time before I snap your neck and break you in two, bitch,” Inuyasha growled maliciously, venom dripping from each of his words, his gaze darkening so that his eyes took on an eerie, inky black manifestation. “Where is he?”

 

“Kikyo?” The hanyou's ears spun around as a masculine voice floated from the right side of the house. “Who was at the door?”

 

Dropping the woman on the floor, Inuyasha flew to the other side of the house, his youki flaring to staggering heights as he laid eyes on the piece of shit in the form of male human guzzling down a can of beer on a leather sofa. Without a second thought, the hanyou snatched the man up by his collar and threw him mercilessly into the big screen television set that was situated not too far from the couch. A deafening crash accompanied the sparks and bits and pieces of glass that flew ubiquitously all over the carpet along with the blood-spattered body of the man, who lay unmoving amidst the bedlam.

 

His face blank, Inuyasha walked amongst the rubble to where the unconscious man laid facedown, the crunch of glass shards beneath his shoes providing a reassuring ring in his ears. Stooping down, he seized a handful of the man's hair and yanked it up. He studied at the small streams of blood that seeped down his face from where the splinters of glass were embedded in his skin, and yet felt somewhat unfulfilled from his course of action. Maybe once he killed the man would the revenge bubbling in his gut be satiated. Elongating his claws, he brought the sharp incisors to the human's throat, primed to give him what he had brought upon Kagome. Scum like him didn't deserve to breathe, let alone live.

 

“Inuyasha stop!”

 

“Why should I?” he spat not taking his eyes off his target. “He stole my mate from me. Why shouldn't I take what he rightfully took from me?”

 

There was a hesitant pause on Kikyo's part before she spoke up again. “Because if you won't do it for me, then at least do it for Kagome. She wouldn't want you to kill in her name.”

 

“Shut up!” he barked angrily at her, knowing she was right but not wanting to admit it to himself, and tore his gaze from the human to the woman not two feet behind him, her arms now supporting the weight of their supposed child, whose eyes were closed as he slept contently in his mother's hold, a small, satisfied smile curved at his pink lips. Forcing his eyes off of the sleeping bundle to the mother's pleading eyes, he glared at her. “What the hell are you doing with him?”

 

“You can't kill in front of our son,” she said semi-confidently, her eyes falling to the cataleptic man on the floor.

 

“The hell I can't,” Inuyasha replied coldly. “Do me a favor and drop the act with the kid. It's getting old.” Keeping his gaze on her, he tightened his clutch on the man's brown hair until the pain in his scalp sluggishly brought the man to back consciousness, a low groan slipping past his lips. “And if you don't give me some answers now, your boy toy here will never see the light of day again.” He put just enough pressure on the skin of his neck that to allow blood to trickle down for emphasis.

 

Fear for his life impelling her to comply with the hanyou's wishes, Kikyo clenched her teeth as though divulging in this topic caused actual physical pain. “Fine, I'll tell you all that I know, just leave Shinju alone.”

 

“Good.” Letting go of his hair, Inuyasha let Shinju's head slam back onto the floor and rose to his full height, his bright jewels of sepia cut to slits. “Let's start from the beginning and if I even have the slightest suspicion that you're lying to me, next time I won't hesitate to slit your boyfriend's throat. Now where the hell did that brat come from and why are you trying to pass him off as mine?”

 

 

End.