InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Til Death Do Us Part ❯ The Lies ( Chapter 23 )

Disclaimer: I only own the plotline.

 

 

 

AN: It didn't take too long coming out with this one now did it? For those who are confused as to who the mysterious murder, try rereading chapters 19-20. He didn't play a major role, but of course, that was the point. And for those who have theories about what's to come…read on. Thanks as always to my wonderful beta Kimmie. And many thanks to all my reviewers. I really do appreciate your feedback. Enjoy.

 

 

Clorox: Ooh. Aren't you the perceptive one. I forgot to add in the fact that Inuyasha suppressed his youki so that his presence would go unnoticed. Many props to you for pointing out that little detail. ::hands reviewer rose::

 

Corner Girl: I live about forty minutes away from Baltimore but I have a couple of friends who live up there so I'm always in the city. Nice to know that there are some Marylanders in the crowd. Lol.

 

 

 

 

The Lies

 

 

 

 

 

“I'm waiting,” his words sliced through the eerily silent air like a blade, his deceptively calm demeanor doing nothing to conceal the virulence in his voice, the only thing staving off the powerful need to sever the man's head from his body being that he wouldn't be able to get answers with her in hysterics.

 

Kikyo shifted uncomfortably on her feet, her eyes drifting down to the slumbering infant in her arms, a tug-a-war of emotions struggled for dominance within her conflicted brown eyes. The consequences of betrayal were permanently branded in her mind, thanks to him. He had made it all too clear to her that should she violate their contract, the repercussions would be terminal. Her mind contended that she hold her ground for the sake of face and the guarantee of her survival against his wrath.

 

Torn, she glanced to the fallen form of the semi-conscious man on the floor. He had been there for both her and her child when everyone else shunned her. He had embraced her with open arms when her own family turned their backs on her. He had given her his love when she had all but dismissed the seemingly useless emotion from her life. Her heart swelled with the foreign sentiment Shinju had brought upon in her meaningless life, the tightening of her throat and blind fear just thinking about him dying confirming the muddle of uncertainty. Clarity prevailed above the tempestuous storm of doubt and clashing wills that reigned in her mind. Her gaze revisited that of the unmoved hanyou. “It's a long story.”

 

“Then I suppose you'd better get start because I'm not going anywhere until you tell me everything, including who the hell ordered this filthy human to kill my mate,” he deadpanned with arms crossed, his facial features frozen in a somber mask of obscured acrimony as he awaited her testimony.

 

Releasing a sigh of long suffering, Kikyo sat down on the couch her love had been occupying not five minutes ago. “I don't know where to start.”

 

“How about telling me where the hell that kid came from for starters,” he supplied bluntly, an edge of impatience creeping into his voice.

 

She smoothed the downy, white hair atop of the baby's head as he murmured a string of incoherent gibberish in his sleep, causing his mother's lips to turn upward into a tender smile. “He's really adorable you know. I can't believe I actually planned to abort him at first. That would've been the worst mistake of my life, more so than having my own family turn against me. In the end, I'm glad I made the right choice, the only one I've made in a long time actually.”

 

“This tête-à-tête is going nowhere fast.” He unfurled his crossed arms and held up his right hand to let her see the augmentation of his claws as they lengthened in width and height, his eyes slanting a purposeful look to the figure sprawled out on the floor.

 

“That night at your party,” she began evenly, quelling the sudden bout of panic from arising at the sight of his growing claws and what harm they could inflict, “I wanted to get back at you for throwing away what we had and humiliating me in public, and what better way than to break you and Kagome up. You were already drunk out of your ass when I got there, so needless to say that it didn't take much to convince you to come upstairs with me. After I got you settled on the bed and locked the door, I tried to seduce you into having sex. We made out for a while, but the moment things were about to get really heated up, you suddenly pushed me off of you and ordered me to get out.” Her lips turned up into a tart smile. “To think, even in a drunken stupor you still managed to remain loyal to her.”

 

“What happened next?” he deadpanned unfazed.

 

Kikyo shrugged. “Since I was feeling angry and embarrassed, I got drunk and slept with some random guy that I still to this day have no idea who he is. A couple of weeks later I found out that I was pregnant. My parents made me choose to go through the abortion since having a child out of wedlock would only tarnish their image or have the baby and support it on my own.” She let out a cynical bark of laughter. “I haven't talked to the bastards since.”

 

“That doesn't explain why the kid looks like me and carries my scent,” Inuyasha said callously, refusing to pity the woman who played a key role to all of the drama in his life in the first place.

 

She cast him an irritated look. “I was getting to that. Well after my parents practically disowned me when I chose to keep the baby, I moved in with a friend and decided not to go to college after graduation in favor of getting a job to sustain my unborn child and myself. The first few months of my pregnancy were the toughest. Nobody would hire somebody without any experience and fresh out of high school. I was forced to get a job at a fast food restaurant, one in which I hated to the point where I contemplated having the abortion just so that I could get back in my family's good graces and get my old life back. And you know what? It's all your fault.”

 

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything in response.

 

“Or at least I thought so at the time.” Her eyes wandered to the ceiling as memories past flooded her psyche. “I hated you for the longest. I hated how you had everything, and how I had nothing. I blamed you for all of the things that went wrong in my life. I even began plotting how I would exact my revenge on you during what spare time I did have.”

 

“Is this when you decided to give the child the appearance of a Takeda and pass him off as mine?” he asked, his words saturated in sarcasm and boredom.

 

“Can I finish my story?” she snapped, the irritation at having him infiltrate her home, hold her boyfriend at claw point, and having to recount the painful memories of her forgotten past taking its toll on her already high strung state. “About a month before I was due to have the baby, I get a call from some guy, telling me that he has a job opening at his company and would I be interested in being his secretary; that I would get a six figure salary with benefits for both me and my unborn child. Something told me to decline and hang up the phone. Hell, it isn't everyday that you get a random phone call from some businessman offering that much pay for a secretarial job. But I was desperate for money and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

 

“What was the catch?” Inuyasha fired relentlessly, his mind slowly piecing together the information she was providing him with what he already knew.

 

“I was getting to that part,” Kikyo ground her teeth together, her tolerance for his lack of tact beginning to wane. “I met him in person the next day and gave me the terms of my contract.” Her expression lost some of its annoyance as her gaze dropped to the baby on her lap. “He said that I have to subjugate my baby to some kind of experimental trial product that he would be putting on the market soon.”

 

“What kind of product?”

 

She shrugged, toying with a strand of the baby's fine hair. “I don't know all the details. After he assured me that it wouldn't harm my child, I agreed to the terms and signed the contract.”

 

“And so you made a deal with the devil,” Inuyasha stated with a wry twist of the lips.

 

The muscle in her jaw hardened as she clenched her teeth. “I suppose you could say that, but what other choice did I have? The next day he bought me this house, a new car, and an unlimited credit card that's linked directly to his personal account. The other condition to my contract was that Shinju stay by my side to act as a bodyguard, but somewhere along the line he became more than that.” She dared to sneak another glance in the man's direction. “A week after my delivery, I didn't have the heart to subject my child to whatever experimental project he was working on and tried to back out on our deal.”

 

“And am I correct in assuming that didn't work out as planned?” he inquired objectively.

 

“I was dead set on getting him to terminate the contract…until he brought up your name.”

 

White ears snapped up. “What did I have to do with any of this?” he asked suspiciously.

 

“Hell if I know. All he told me was that he would do something that would bring you to your downfall; that this would be the ultimate revenge against you. Somehow I wound up agreeing to go through with it and gave my baby to him. An hour later, I received a baby hanyou back. I was supposed to play the part of the distraught mistress who's stuck with your bastard offspring. ”

 

“Wait, what happened to your kid?”

 

“This is my kid, Inuyasha.” Kikyo bent down and nuzzled the child's cheeks. “They did something to change his appearance, that's all.”

 

“What the hell did they do to him?” He stared at the baby hanyou, lines of perplexity creasing his forehead into layers.

 

She didn't answer.

 

Anger coiled and churned at the lengthy silence that enveloped the room, his eyes hardening back into cold, auburn-colored stones. “If you want your boy toy to keep his insignificant life, I suggest you give me some answers.” He crouched down beside Shinju and pressed his sharp incisors into the side of his neck, a groan forcing its way through the man's mouth as the claws began their decent into his flesh.

 

A wet sheen of tears glazed over her eyes. Shutting her eyes as an onslaught of scenarios that volleyed through her mind in a conflict of interests, the repercussions of telling the secret he had made her swear not to reveal as one contender and the life of the man she loved as another. She was cornered and there was a damn thing she could do about it. A sardonic smile touched her lips. “I guess that there's no harm in telling since I'm already a dead woman for telling you this much anyway.”

 

Inuyasha retracted his claws in favor of watching her movements as her fingers nimbly unraveled the blanket from the baby's body without waking him up. Discarding the terrycloth blanket onto the sofa, Kikyo gently sat the baby up on her lap and pulled down the blue collar of his pajamas so the nape of his neck was visible. “Look.”

 

The hanyou came to his feet and in three long strides stood at her side. “What am I looking for?” he scowled as his eyes scanned the back of the child's neck.

 

Exasperation flitting across her face, she brushed a tender finger across the baby's neck. Amber eyes widened in surprise when a diminutive microchip that carried the manifestation of a glass shard appeared but for a second before blending back in with the kid's skin. “What the fuck is that?”

 

“All I know is that it emits a preprogrammed illusionary image,” she murmured, and with one hand reached to touch the child's dog like ears.

 

Inuyasha's scowl deepened as her hand passed straight through the nonexistent ear. “Have you tried to remove the device?”

 

“Don't you think I've tried that by now?” she retorted tightly glaring at the hanyou, “You have no idea what's it's like to see the face of someone you hate on your baby's face. At first it made me physically ill to look at him because he looks so similar to you.”

 

Inuyasha kept his features closely guarded so as not to expose the arrant disarray of emotions that had his insides knotting and twisting savagely around in his abdomen, the rudiment of all the complications that surrounded the merger and the company gradually coming to light. “Who is the guy that's behind all of this shit?” he asked quietly, every muscle in his body tense as he waited to hear if her words would confirm his theory.

 

Kikyo stared at him, ridicule written all over her face. “You, of all people, should know who's behind all of this. Hell, he's been in competition with your parents for years. I'm surprised they haven't told you about him yet.”

 

“Who the hell is he?” he barked clenching his fists, trying and failing to keep his flaring youki under control. The sword by his side sent a warm, pulsing wave through his body, purging some of the disruptiveness of his blood and in effect, calming the anxiety and free running anger to an extent.

 

She winced at his loudness, unconsciously bringing the baby closer to her body to shield him from the rage radiating in powerful waves off of the hanyou. “Yamamoto Naraku is owner and CEO of the third leading industrial company that supplies innovative technology in the world. He's never quite been a match for Higurashi or Takeda Corporations, at least until now.”

 

“What do you mean until now?” he growled, his vice grip on katana inducing splotches of white on the crowns of his knuckles.

 

“Do you know nothing of your parent's business?” Kikyo shook her head in bemusement. “The only reason your parents merged with the Higurashis is because both of their companies were steadily going bankrupt. They both were plummeting in both revenue and stock. The merger was a last attempt to regain their former status of being number one and to avoid being bought out by corporations.”

 

“What are you talking about? There's been nothing in the news about all of this,” he defended, his mind refusing to believe what he was hearing.

 

“Well I am Naraku's personal secretary,” she smiled with a hint of slyness, “I see every piece of information that goes into his office, personal and business. All I know is that Takeda-Higurashi Corporations is declining and soon Naraku will be able to buy their company out, leaving the owners penniless and stripped of their title as the best in the industry.”

 

Inuyasha felt a strange tightening in his chest as her words slipped past the barrier of denial in his brain. And suddenly, everything made sense. Why the wedding/merger had been sprung on both him and Kagome so quickly. Why they had targets for random acts of violence ever since they were married. Why their parents had hired the bodyguards for protection, or perhaps, for the security of their company. Why Kagome had been murdered in cold blood.

 

`All of this is their fault,' he mused bitterly in revulsion, `they only cared for their fucking investments. That's all they ever cared about. And now because of the misdeeds and idiocy, Kagome is dead.' A lone shiver snaked down his spine as his thoughts turned to his lost love, the familiar pang of emptiness hitting him in the gut like a punch. He closed his eyes to push back the impending accumulation of tears that stung the backs of his eyeballs. He would avenge her death, even if it cost him his life.

 

Kikyo watched the play of emotions that skittered across his features, her heart silently going out to him. She didn't know what she would do if Shinju were taken away from her, the notion of him being cut out of her life causing her throat to close up in fear. She had been so stupid when she was younger, the things she did, the pain she caused. `If there was only a way to turn back time, I'd do it in a heartbeat.' “I can't even fathom what you might be feeling right now. If there's anything I can do, just let me know,” she offered softly, “It's the least I can do after all the drama I've caused you over the years.”

 

His eyelids snapped upwards, revealing a set of smoldering amber eyes, a primitive kind of hunger gleaming brightly in conjunction with an all-consuming fire that effectively swathed the emptiness and hurt that bound his soul in a stifling hold. “I think you've done enough,” he viciously spat, his lips curling into a twisted snarl. “Where is he now?”

 

“In his office finishing up some paperwork,” she provided, not even attempting to cover for her boss. “It's located about three miles to the west of here. Just keep going straight and eventually you'll see it. It's a dark, stone building with electric fencing surrounding the premises. You can't miss it.”

 

A deep, growl rumbled in his chest, his eyes flashing with murderous intent. “Naraku.” He would pay dearly. Inuyasha shot an awakening Shinju a murderous glare. This man was responsible for Kagome dying. He had pulled the trigger that had set off the chain of events that had led up to this point. His claws ached to tear the flesh from his bone, to cause him the pain and suffering that he rightly deserved. Inuyasha raised his youki to deflect the calming pulses from the Tetsusaiga, yearning to feel the hunger for the kill or vengeance for killing off the only love he would have in this lifetime.

 

“Please Inuyasha,” Kikyo pleaded desperately sensing his intention and rose from the sofa to stand in front of the fallen man, water beginning swim in her brown eyes. “Leave him be. He's only a pawn in Naraku's twisted game. Shinju was only doing as he was told. I'm sorry for your loss, really I am, but hasn't there been enough blood shed? Please, let it stop here. I know neither of us deserves your mercy for what we've done, but just this once, walk away and I swear that you'll never hear from the likes of us ever again.”

 

A mental picture of serene, blue eyes popped up accompanied by a forgiving smile in Inuyasha's mind. Heart lurching in response to the image of Kagome, Inuyasha shut his eyes to make her go away. Inwardly, he knew that she wouldn't him to exact revenge in the form of mindless slaughter in her name. It went against everything that she stood for. Snarling in rage, he wretched himself away from the murdering bastard before he did something he would later regret and flew toward the front door.

 

“Good luck…and thank you, Inuyasha,” her words reached his ears as he ran past the threshold of the house en route for Naraku, his mind on one thing and one thing only: revenge, at any cost.

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Wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, the gray haired doctor washed the blood from his hands and forearms in the sink of the operation room. “Wheel her to her room, room 853,” he instructed one of his fellow colleagues.

 

“You did a great job Dr. Shitake. I only hope that one day I could be half the doctor you are,” a slender framed woman in blue scrubs commended.

 

The old doctor grinned at the residence student and puffed his chest out to display his pride at her praise. “Well little lady, retain a clear, focused head and keep striving to be the best, and perhaps you will, maybe even more,” he winked, drying off his hands with a nearby towel. “Do you have her chart?”

 

“Right here.” She handed him the board with the necessary documents attached. “Everything is in there and in order.”

 

“Thanks darling.” He nodded his head in approval after flipping through the sheets. “I'll be back. Make sure those interns clean up. You know how I hate blood splattered floors.”

 

She laughed. “Will do sir.”

 

Slipping the chart under one arm, Dr. Shitake whistled cheerfully as he exited the OR. It was nights such as these that made him grateful to whatever deity bestowed him with the skills he possessed. Helping people were his main priority in life, which was why his wife left him fifteen years earlier and why he hadn't still hadn't had time to furnish the house he had moved into six years ago. But to aid someone in narrowly escaping the clutches of death and saving their family from the heartache was more than enough compensation for what his job entailed.

 

He took the board from under his arm and glanced down at the information. Higurashi-Takeda Kagome. She was a fighter and stubborn as all hell. There hadn't been one complication involved in the surgery, something he couldn't say for all of his patients. Even though he hadn't talked to her, he already liked her and looked forward to meeting with the spirited young woman after she came to.

 

Pushing open the doors of the emergency room, his eyes landed on waiting room C. A frown marred his scruffy features as he saw the utter despair of the people occupying the room. Crying women, bawling children…what was the meaning of this? Did he have the wrong chart? He cleared his throat to get their attention. “Excuse me, are you all the relatives and friends of Takeda-Higurashi Kagome?”

 

Ten pairs of eyes immediately put him on the spot. He shifted uncomfortably under the heavy gazes of the humans and youkai in the room, confused as to why they were acting as though the girl had died.

 

“Are you the doctor that was supposed to help my little girl?” a petit woman with ebony hair spoke up, separating from the rest as the spokesperson of the group, her eyes puffy and swollen from shedding so many tears.

 

“If you're referring to Kagome, then yes ma'am, I am. My name is Dr. Shitake and I was the head surgeon in charge of-“ His words choked in his throat as the woman came at him with fists flailing wildly, screaming incoherently at him in a shrill voice. He raised his arms to safeguard himself from the mad woman's thrashings, which was proving to be quite a feat as the brunt of her frontal attacks caused him to stumble backwards until she had him trapped up against a wall. “Would someone get her off of me?” the doctor shouted using his board as a shield, disinclined to believe that these people were too wrapped up in their own worlds to notice the predicament that was currently pummeling him with her tiny fists.

 

“Calm down Hitomi,” a man with short, wavy hair came to the doctor's rescue. Enfolding his arms around her waist, he lifted his hysterical wife with some degree of effort away from the poor physician.

 

“I'm sorry about that,” another woman spoke up, dabbing her eyes with a napkin. “This has been hard on all of us, especially Hitomi.”

 

Dr. Shitake stood from his hunkered position, salvaging every ounce of dignity that was left after almost being beaten down by the little woman and adjusted his ruffled scrubs. “Well, in all of the years I've been working here, I've never heard of the surgeon that has just saved a beloved family member's life being assaulted for doing a job well done,” he grumbled assembling the papers on the board back to their former arrangement.

 

“How dare you say that what you've done is a job well done!” the woman known as Hitomi snapped, still constrained in her husband's tight grasp.

 

The surgeon scratched his head in bewilderment. “This is the Takeda-Higurashi clan, right?”

 

“Yes, is there a problem?” the husband asked tiredly, fatigue discernible in his stance and his expression, “because if this is in regards to the funeral arrangements, we at least would like a twenty-four hours to mourn the loss of our daughter before dealing with the memorial service.”

 

Gray brows furrowed together. “You must have been misinformed because I've just finished operating on Kagome. The bullet was lodged an inch away from her spinal cord, so there was a bit of an impediment getting it out without touching the cord, which was why the surgery took so long. She's still sleeping off the rest of anesthesia in room 853 and is due to wake up any time within the next half hour.”

 

“Is this some kind of sick joke?” inquired an inuyoukai, his piercing golden eyes boring holes into the doctor. “Because if it is, rest assured that-“

 

“I never joke around when it comes to the health and welfare of my patients,” Dr. Shitake interjected seriously.

 

“We were told from another doctor or nurse that she had died in the emergency room,” Hitomi exclaimed regaining her composure.

 

“I assure you that your daughter is sleeping safe and sound down the hall. The surgery was a huge success. If the bullet had been any closer to her spinal cord, she could have suffered from paralysis or even death. She was one of our lucky cases. As for the mix up,” the aged doctor sighed and rubbed his eyes, “it has been very hectic around the hospital today. One of the new interns might have been wrongly informed or confused. I promise you that this sort of thing doesn't happen very often.”

 

“So Kagome's alive?” Sango asked cautiously, hope materializing within her heart and driving away the despair that had prevailed over all else for the past two hours.

 

“Most definitely,” Dr. Shitake smiled. “And you can all see her albeit only one at a time and for only a short period. She's most likely to be out of it for a couple of days, but due to the unproblematic nature of her condition, Kagome will almost certainly be out of here in a couple of weeks.”

 

A collective sigh of relief from everybody was followed by an instantaneous round of cheers and applause and tears of joy as hugs and kisses were distributed amongst the diverse throng of people. Laughter relieved the room of the overpowering oppressive atmosphere as Hitomi flung her arms around the stiff form of the doctor, who after seeing that she was in a sane state of mind allowed to her to embrace him fully.

 

“What room is Inuyasha occupying so we may inform him of the good news?” Miroku asked the taiyoukai with a goofy grin. “I'm sure he will be very much relieved by his mate's survival.”

 

Inutaisho's smile fell from his lips as he deliberated over the whereabouts of a certain hanyou. “I don't know. He somehow managed to escape from his restraints and jumped out of the window to Kami-knows-where.”

 

Megumi felt her stomach tie into knots. “He's under the impression that she's dead. Inuyasha's is liable to something rash and get himself killed. Has anyone been able to get a hold of him?”

 

“His phone is off,” Miroku frowned snapping his mobile device shut.

 

“My men have still not been able to locate his position,” Inutaisho confessed reluctantly, his jaw tensing in annoyance and impending doom. “With all that has happened, the boy is probably at the brink of insanity. When an inuyoukai mates, it's for life and usually when one of the pair dies, the other's death is not too far behind. And I'm afraid if we don't find him soon, I don't think we're ever going to see him alive again.”

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He took in a deep, lungful of air to cool his temper. It'd do him no good if he just went charging into an unknown enemy territory with a hot head. If he was going to do this, he was going to do this right. Exhaling, he tilted his head up to gaze at the full moon, the white sphere extending fluorescent light over the sleeping land hanging idly amongst a sea of blackness. There was no need for the companionship of stars tonight. Tonight, the moon would stand alone, complete in both the strength and sovereignty of its own existence.

 

A wan smile appeared on his lips but for moment before ebbing away into nothingness as his eyes landed on the immense building before him, his senses picking up an almost impenetrable barrier protecting the electric fence that surrounded the estate. It was time. He pulled the Tetsusaiga from its sheath and waited as the pulsations enveloping the sword grew stronger and wilder as the rusted katana transformed into a giant, gleaming fang.

 

`Kagome, wait for me. I'll be by your side soon.'

 

End.

 

AN: Hope you like. The last couple of chapters will be up soon.