Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inuyasha Basket ❯ Chapter Twenty-Four: Argument ( Chapter 24 )

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

Chapter Twenty-Four

Argument

“Won't the curse stop us from going against Akito?” Yuki asked the older Sohmas.

Shigure smiled warmly. “It's all a matter of perception. If you think about it, it's for the good of the family. Thus, it's Akito who is betraying us.”

“What're ya talkin' about?” Inuyasha demanded, having overheard their conversation.

Telling him didn't make much of a difference now. “The curse is more than just turning into animals,” Shigure explained. “It makes it impossible for us to go against the head of the family, Akito.”

“But that doesn't make any sense,” Kagome said.

“It's difficult to explain, but trust us.” Shigure's reassuring smile reappeared. “And we'll trust you to keep Naraku at bay.”

Hatori had who's memories he would erase first all planned out. Akito. Then Naraku, if possible. Followed by Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Rin, Jaken, Shippou, Kagome, Kikyou… He had already taken care of the villagers and Kaede, and everyone was out in the woods now.

His family he would save for last. He had to make sure they were at the Sohma estate. Akito would remain unconscious for up to an hour. He would have to drive a bit recklessly, but he was sure he could make it. Get Akito into bed. Then there would be more memories to erase, unless he could make up a lie about how they had been gone, how the others had been sick. He had to erase their memories as well. This would take a long time. Anyone who had known and worried about their absence had to have their memories erased. Maybe even Shigure's editor—Ah, but she was accustomed to him running off. Maybe Ayame's assistant, Mine. Kagome's family. The list just went on.

More than that, days had passed there, and he had to erase everything. It wasn't like a normal erasing, where he could leave details of days and thoughts. He had to remove everything. The interesting thing about the human mind, though, was that it fills in gaps by itself.

Then there was the worry of what the people in this world would do when they awoke. He supposed he could just them lying here, but that was a horrible idea. Naraku would wake up first.

Hatori decided that it might be best to point this out. “Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru. It might be best if I erase your memories first. Before Naraku.”

“Why?” Sesshoumaru wondered, before Inuyasha could start yelling.

“After I erase a person's memory, they remain unconscious for one hour. Naraku would wake up first.”

The brothers glanced at each other. One of them needed to be there to get Naraku close enough to Hatori. Besides, if one was unconscious, the other would be in danger. Sesshoumaru wasn't particularly fond of being killed in his sleep by a hanyou, and Inuyasha didn't like the idea of Sesshoumaru slitting his throat and wandering off with Tessaiga. He gripped the handle of his sword possessively. There was also that whichever woke up first would also get to be the one to kill Naraku while he was unconscious.

“I will,” Sesshoumaru volunteered.

“No! Don't let that bastard do it—“
“If Naraku should happen to awake before you kill him, then your unconscious friends will be in danger,” the older pointed out.

Inuyasha didn't know what to be more offended by; that his brother had just insulted his ability to kill someone in their sleep, or an implied inability to kill Naraku by himself. “And you can do better than me!?”

“Of course.”

While it was annoying that they were arguing, at least swords hadn't been drawn yet. Nearby, Yuki looked like he was going to kill a totally oblivious Ayame. Rin, Momiji, and Shippou were sitting down watching everyone, eating suckers. Kyou and Haru were in a heated argument. Kagome was feeling a bit of anxiety, knowing that everything would return to normal and Inuyasha would keep pining after Kikyou. Sango slapped Miroku. That was about the moment all hell broke lose.

Inuyasha drew Tessaiga. Sesshoumaru drew Tokijin. (Why does this sound like they're doodling on paper?) Yuki pulled back his fist. Kyou and Black Haru shifted in to fighting stances.

Hatori sighed deeply. Kikyou rolled her eyes. Kagome decided to release all of her anxiety. “Sit!”

Inuyasha hit the ground, dropping Tessaiga.

“Sit! Sit! SIT!”

Sesshoumaru smirked. Everyone froze, staring at the source of the commotion.

“All of you! Stop it!” Kagome yelled. She was greeted by silence. “In a few hours, you're not even going to remember these arguments! So why waste your time!” She pointed up at the sky. “We only have a few more hours left! So can we please decide this peacefully?”

The others averted eye contact. She had a valid point. There was no use arguing. Ayame wandered away from Yuki, standing beside Sesshoumaru. They looked at each other. Sango went over to Yuki and smiled for him, knowing that he needed the encouragement. Kyou and Inuyasha looked at each other, but didn't move. Haru and Kagome's eyes met. Momiji slowly took Rin's hand. She smiled. Shigure's gaze met Miroku's. Akitoki, who was generally ignored, glanced to Tohru, who was standing beside him. She looked at him. A blush colored her cheeks and then she looked away.

“Someone needs to be awake who can at least keep Naraku at bay until the others wake up,” Kagome said. Everyone looked to the most obvious two choices.

Which led them straight back to their argument. After Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru jumped back into their previous argument, Kagome “sat” Inuyasha again, exasperated.

“I can hold Naraku at bay,” Kikyou, who had remained silent for most of the time, finally decided to point out.

They hadn't even considered her before. But, yes, she was one of the most likely candidates. There was the bonus that she wasn't likely to kill anyone while they were asleep. She also wasn't the type to leave them for dead either. And so, the two brothers stopped their quarrelling. It was unanimous. Kikyou would be the first one who's memory would be erased. The pain in Hatori's eyes and heart was plain.

He couldn't bear to think of doing something like this again. But there was no choice. It had to be Kikyou first, and there was no way around it.

The time was drawing near.

Inuyasha glanced back toward Sesshoumaru. He and Ayame were wandering away. “Hey, you can't wander off! The snake has to go back to his own time!”
Ayame turned around. Sesshoumaru paused. “I will go back to my own time,” Ayame assured him. “And Sessh-kun will have his memory erased. Tonight.”

As the idea of what exactly they were planning on doing dawned on the rest of them, they abruptly turned back around. Rin and Shippou were confused. Tohru also didn't get it.

The silver-haired pair resumed their walking away.

“Just go far enough away so that no one hears or smells anything!” Inuyasha yelled. By “no one,” he primarily means himself.

Sesshoumaru sort of smirked, but other than that, said nor did anything to indicate that he even heard his little brother speaking.

This gave cause for anyone with sensitive hearing (the half demons and Jaken) to worry for their own sanity.

Shigure was probably the only one completely unfettered by it. In fact, it sounded like a wonderful idea.

“Just don't take too long, Aya-kun! We need your lover boy here!”

Sesshoumaru frowned. Ayame nodded and waved. “Don't worry, Gure-chan!”

Shigure glanced over at Miroku. The monk looked over at him curiously. Shigure jerked his head in the direction of the woods. Oh, why not let everyone know? It wasn't like it would matter past a few more hours anyway. And besides, he had the idea that everyone knew anyway. So, Miroku and Shigure ended up wandering into the woods together as well. Kyou twitched. Yuki covered his face. He just couldn't believe this…

“I don't understand,” Shippou said. “What's going on?”

Luckily, Miroku and Shigure (the only two who would actually tell the truth) had already left. The others sort of pretended that they didn't hear the question.

Shippou looked at Momiji. “What's going on, Momiji?”

Momiji's eyes widened a little. He knew perfectly well. “Uh… Have some candy!” Momiji pulled out the last of his candy reserve (half of a bag) and popped a caramel into Shippou's mouth.

“I don't understand either,” Tohru admitted. “Yuki, what's going on? Why'd they leave?”
Yuki wished that she hadn't pinpointed him exactly. He looked to Sango for rescue. She stepped forward. “Well, this is the last time they'll get to see each other, so they're just… saying goodbye.”

Tohru, ever the innocent one with a pure, uncorrupted mind, thanked her for explaining and accepted this very roundabout, half-true answer.

Haru and Kagome were sitting down nearby each other, talking and enjoying the other's company while they still could. Yuki and Sango were doing the same. Hatori and Kikyou left together, but it was fairly obvious that it was more of a walk than what the other two pairs left for. Luckily, Kikyou would be able to tell if they were getting too close to one of the couples, so they weren't worried about seeing anything that they could live without seeing. Hatori knew that Ayame and Shigure were… like that, and Ayame had tried to seduce Hatori more than once, but walking in on either of them would be enough to prescribe himself medication.

It pretty much left Kyou and Inuyasha. They looked at each other, then silently left into the forest. They, too, just wanted to go on a walk though.

Tohru and Akitoki decided to leave the others to their own devices and sat down beside each other, talking politely about anything that came to mind.