Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inuyasha Basket ❯ Chapter Twenty-Three: Defiance ( Chapter 23 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter Twenty-Three

Defiance

Nobody really seemed all that eager to move on with the day's plans, so it seemed to be up to Hatori and Kikyou to get everyone else moving. Not even Inuyasha was in the mood to do this. Ayame was still half-asleep, leaning against Sesshoumaru, who seemed totally unbothered by it. Yuki, for once in his life was wide awake in the morning, and looking like he wished that it were otherwise. Kyou was nowhere to be found, so he was probably off moping somewhere in a tree or a rooftop.

Shigure spent a lot of time sighing and making comments about how wonderful it would be to remember all of this. Tohru was helping Kagome and Kaede with breakfast. Akitoki was attempting to help, but mostly got in the way. Rin, Momiji, and Shippou had already run off to play.

Basically, it was like the world had gone utterly mad, and the silence (aside from Shigure's complaining) was deafening. Hatori pretended that he didn't care for a while, then tried to ignore them. But they were all staring at him, in one way or another—because, after all, all of their hopes rested on him deciding to leave their memories alone.

But he knew that he just couldn't do that.

Breakfast was even more silently deafening. Shigure stopped grumbling to eat, praising Tohru quite a lot, as usual, making the girl blush furiously. The children came back to eat, and it almost livened the mood, except that they picked up on the adult's gloomy attitudes and fell in to silence themselves.

Even Kirara seemed gloomy with everyone else so depressed. When Ayame finally woke up, his cheerful attitude was gone. He's so adorable when he's depressed, Sesshoumaru thought, his other thoughts straying to dragging the snake off into the woods again.

Kyou wandered over to them, and deliberately sat down by Inuyasha. The dog glanced at him, then looked back at his bowl. Tohru handed Kyou a bowl. He took it, but mostly just picked at it. To say that the silence was uncomfortable would be an understatement.

“Would someone just say something!” Kyou roared.

“Kyou-kun, control your temper,” Shigure reprimanded. “It's most unbecoming.”
“Shut up!”

“Kyou-kun, your voice is so loud. Do you mind being quiet for a bit. You're only going to make everything worse,” Ayame added.

“You shut up too!”

“How rude! Kyou-kun, you really must learn some manners, you uncouth kitten.”

Kyou's ears flattened against his head angrily. “Shut up, ya damn snake!”

“Kyou. Take your own advice,” Yuki muttered.

“You have no room to talk, rat! You're all just gonna sit here and do nothing! And Hatori is gonna erase our memories—and you're all just okay with that!?”

“Shut up.”

“You all make me sick!”
Kyou suddenly found himself lying face-down in the ground. Black Haru's eyes narrowed. “Shut up, you kitty. We're all sick of hearing your voice.”
Kyou almost retaliated and punched Haru back, but Inuyasha grabbed a hold of his arm. Kyou looked at him. Inuyasha shook his head. Slowly, Kyou sat back down and the silence reigned once more. Slowly, Black Haru faded away to White and he sat back down too. That never happened. Haru didn't simply just fade back to White. It always took something bigger to make him revert to White Haru.

Tohru bit her lower lip nervously. Kyou didn't even feel like fighting—things had to be bad when it came to that. Not that fighting was good, but it meant, for Kyou, that everything was normal—that it was good. She knew that everyone was upset about going to lose their memories, and everyone was frightened about the ordeal with Akito, but, she hadn't realized, until now, how upset everyone was.

No one seemed to be their usual selves today. Ayame was always so cheerful, and now, he was melancholy. Yuki was normally so collected and calm—he looked like, pun intended, a mouse in a trap. Kyou was normally confident, but he seemed just the opposite today. Shigure was usually so talkative, but now, he just made the occasional comment or some such thing. Momiji wasn't even as happy today. Hatori was really the only one who didn't, at first, appear to be upset. But to Ayame and Shigure, who had known him the longest, knew better.

The one thing that made matters worse was that they knew that, in their time, Kisa, Hiro, Kureno, Rin, and Kagura had to be terribly ill—possibly even dying without Akito there. They had to do this soon. It was selfish, but they really had no choice. Akito, the head of the Sohma family, just couldn't stay here.

They left most of the Sohmas the village. Hatori, Shigure, and Yuki, however, left with them, hunting down Naraku. With all of their abilities, they soon enough pinpointed him. Now was when it took all of their strength and skill, however. It was decided that only Hatori, Shigure, Yuki, and Kikyou would go any farther. Kikyou was there to deal with Naraku, and the other three would have to deal with Akito. Naraku met them outside, expecting a fight.

He looked around for the others, but he didn't see them. “Did you come alone?”

“We wish to see Akito,” Hatori said calmly.

Naraku looked suspicious. “Why?”

“He is the head of our family,” Shigure said smoothly. “He is important to us, and we need to speak with him. Tell him that if he meets us alone this evening at the old well where he passed through to this world, then `his' Yuki will return to him. Tell him that it will only be Hatori, Shigure, and Yuki at the well.”

Naraku considered. He didn't quite believe that they wouldn't put up a fight here. Hatori turned. The hanyou considered attacking them. Kikyou notched an arrow to her bow. “We did not come for a fight,” Kikyou said.

He was still considering, then turned and went back inside his false castle. The others left back to the others. “It worked,” Shigure informed them. “Akito is going to meet us at the well.”

“How can you be certain?” Kikyou wondered.

“I know Akito,” he said with a shrug of his shoulder.

“What if he suspects something?” Miroku questioned.

Shigure snorted a laugh. “Akito would never suspect this. He is prideful. He thinks that we would never defy him—that we cannot.”

“It might be a trap,” Naraku cautioned.

Akito shook his head. “They wouldn't dare.” He smirked. “I am the head of my family. They will not defy me.”

Little did he know that they had already devised a plan to do so.