InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Angel Israfel ❯ The Successor of Witch ( Chapter 1 )
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all related characters belongs to Rumiko Takahashi
AN: Howdie! This is my first Inuyasha fanfic, please be nice! I need something to do on my six weeks holiday. I had actually planned the whole rough plots, this story was estimated to have 20 chapters, give or take a few more depending on my mood when I'm writing it. Hehe. Lastly, I apologize if some of my sentence sounded weird, that's because English is not my first language. I'm looking for a beta-reader right now, if any of you felt interested feel free to e-mail me. I hope you'll enjoy this fic, don't forget to REVIEW!
~*~
The Angel ISRAFEL
Chapter 1
"The Successor of Witch"
It seemed to be another normal night. It was cloudless, rather bright for it was a full moon making the stars looked dull, and soft fuzzy winds blew occasionally. Yup, the night was as normal as it could get, if you're not paying a little more attention to the little activity that was taking hold on one of the town's museums….
Police cars jumbled up just outside the newly-opened museum, sirens roared, and lights were out searching the dark sky. Half of the towns-people gathered just outside the yellow ribbon thingy that polices had set up for border-line. People talked to each other, speech clashing against speech making a horrible arrangement when they mixed with the ear-splitting police siren.
"Over there!" A man cried out. He pointed the museum's roof, just above the huge emblem that was crafted on the very top of the three stories building. "Israfel the Thief is over there!!"
All the lights instantly focused at that particular part of the museum. However, the one they were searching for had already moved. Israfel as the man had referred was falling down the building in a perfect flips, like the one you could only see in the international diving contest or a gymnasium competition, and then landed gracefully on the second floor's veranda.
"She's planning to jump off the building!" shouted a man that appeared to be on his late fifties from his position inside an opened ambulance. He was a small man and a bit bald on the head. He eyed the figure that was jumping from veranda to the roof of a huge resident beside it.
"Commander Moriyama, she's getting away!!" cried his subordinates.
Myoga Moriyama looked at his broken leg. If he had not gotten injured, he could be chasing the thief right now. Damn Israfel and her tricks! He ordered some of his units to continue chasing her, but he already knew that it was futile. This particular thief was not ordinary; he could have sworn that the girl could disappear.
Yes, yes, Israfel was a girl, possibly even a woman. It was sort of obvious from her clothes that showed her outlines. She always wears a dark color of what was seemed to be a crossover between a ninja outfit and a long coat. Her face covered with the same colored cloth.
She is also happened to be the most famous Thief around, ever since she had started her `rampage' not just a month ago.
Her movement was flexible, agile, and not to mention graceful. It's easy to assumed that she mastered gymnasium well.
But aside from the three facts given above, everything about her remained a mystery.
"I'm too old for this…," Myoga sighed. He did not like this situation. The ISRAFEL case was transferred to him two weeks ago. This was only his third time chasing the thief, and she always got away smoothly.
This time, however, he was too eager to end his little problem; this case was worsening his already threatened situation. In his youth, he was known for his ability to solve any case within a month. Two weeks wasted, fooling around chasing a thief, was too much for his taste. His unusual impatient had leaded him into one of her traps, and now he had a broken leg and injured pride.
Nope, he didn't like the situation at all. He obviously could not continue his chase and most likely would be replaced. His reputation was doomed.
"Commander who would you like to inform that you'll be taken to a hospital?" one of his subordinate asked.
Myoga sighed mentally while imagining his daughter-in-law and her two sons. Actually, they are not EXACTLY his in-laws. He was a second cousin from the brother-in-law of their grandfather-in-law or something like that. Sometimes he could get very lost if he thought about it seriously. He dared to say that if they're not happened to live in the same town, they'll hardly get this `close' … If that's the right word; he remembered his youngest grandson-in-law.
Out of the blue, an idea popped up into his head. Wait… may be he COULD do something to save his reputation. Practically, the wheel in his head was turning. There WAS a way to save his reputation! He looked at the policeman that was his subordinate in front of him.
"Sir?" the man asked.
Myoga decided he could just run his crazy plan ahead. He was consciously aware that it was a bit cowardly, but saving his reputation was in the front line right now. "Please inform Inuyasha I would like to talk to him tomorrow," he answered.
His subordinate nodded and rang the hanyou. Even from two meters away he could clearly hear the unpleasant yelling of his rather grumpy grandson-in-law. Oh well, the damage was done. Now, if he could just find someone to retrieve the forbidden files in his desk, the hanyou might be more willing to cooperate with his plan.
~*~
Again, she was jumping from the top of one house to another. Again, her heart was beating fast despite the fact that she had managed to get away from the last unit that was chasing her. Again, she was thanking years of gymnastic trainings and Kaede's intense lesson. And again, she had succeeded stealing another artifact.
It was a gold bangle this time. The Successor of Witch was its name. It has beautiful ornaments that looked like a hibiscus. Every petal of the flowers was layered with a crimson colored glass plate. The bangle looked innocent, like every other things she had stolen, but she knows better.
Her gaze unfocused as her legs automatically jumped from roof to roof, making her way home. Her body had known the way really well by now; her mother had made sure of that so she could find her way home even blindfolded.
`You have to purify them as soon as you touch them, Kagome,' Kaede, her grandma had said. `If you think the dark magic is too strong to touch, you have permission to put a sealing magic on it and bring them home quickly, then we will purify them together.'
It was said that the one who wear the bangle will get nightmares about dying in fire. Her mother had told her that it was once belong to a European princess that lived in the medieval era. Rumor said she was a witch, and the penalty for performing sorcery at that age was being burnt to death. She died miserably, and the irony is that she was never a witch; the rumor had been a complete lie.
The dark magic on the bangle is not strong, and she had been trained hundreds of time to deal with that sort of magic. Overall, the `job' was easy this time.
`We could not leave the things unprotected. Enchanted things tends to be weak of any sorts of negative energies and thoughts, it could easily be corrupted again. We have no choice but to take them, and hopefully they'll become steadily neutral someday,' her grandmother had told her in her lecture the night before her first `performance'.
She jumped her way up the shrine steps that was her home. Her father's side of the family had lived in shrines for generations, and had been doing thievery `business' since the warring states period, which was roughly 500 years ago. Kagome couldn't imagine how her family never got caught; then again, her family did have magic. Not just miko powers, it was a complicated combination of eastern and western (either black and white) magic. The variety of their magic reached about two hundreds incantation and prayers. Kagome haven't even learned half of them, and Kaede only mastered about one-hundred-and fifty, the rest was written in scrolls.
As she reached the top of the stairs she was greeted by her younger brother. "Grandpa's furious, nee-chan," he said.
She met his gaze and laughed dryly, "I messed up again, didn't I? What did I do this time?"
Souta Higurashi grinned widely, "Personally, I thought it was cool, but grandpa obviously was not pleased that you had caused the short man a broken leg."
Kagome slapped her forehead, "I thought I heard someone walked over that illusion floor…," she mumbled. She had meant to distract her opponents into another escape road. The only problem is; there was no other way. So she decided to `make' one, using illusions that only lasted a few minutes. She hadn't actually `thought' that somebody would walk on the non-existing glass-pavement. Wait… a short man… "Don't tell me it was the commander?"
Her brother's grin grew. "Bingo!"
Kagome sighed. She had done it again. She didn't know why she always managed to messed up every time she was doing the `job'. "I'm tired," she finally said, "I have class tomorrow, please tell grandpa that he can chew me out later." She got rid of the indigo cloth that was covering her face.
"Don't worry about him. Mother made it clear that if anyone was furious, it should be Kaede-baa-chan."
Kagome's eye grew wide, "Oh gosh! She's not mad, is she?"
Fortunately Souta shook his head, "Nah, she said that father still messed up for about five weeks since he started doing that `business'."
Kagome sighed in relief. "Good. I'm off to bed, why are you still up this late anyway?"
"Tomorrow's class-meeting, I'll just sleep through the hours if I don't have a game."
Kagome moaned, "I missed Junior-High!"
"G'night, sis!" he called as he watched her scrambled into the house
Kagome climbed the stairs rather heavily, with the exact opposite of the gracefulness she had shown not just an hour ago. Firstly, she put her newest `raid' inside the box under her bed. She would bring it to her family secret heirloom tomorrow, or ask Kaede to do it for her. She changed into her pajamas quickly, and then just sunk down her bed with an `Oof'.
She flipped to her back, and stared at the ceiling. `I hope Moriyama-san wasn't hurt too badly.' She thought. She never meant to hurt anybody, but she seemed to have the talent for making foolish plan that turned into a deadly trap. That was what she called a `messed up'.
`I have to submit my drawings tomorrow!' she suddenly realized. Oh crap. Then she remembered that Eri had her sketch book saying that she would like to draw some of them herself. Why did she give her the book anyway?
She rolled to her side and closed her eyes. `I'm too tired to think. Screw my drawings; if I got kicked out of the university I'll blame my father's lineage.' With that last thought she drifted off to sleep.
~*~
*BEB BEB BEB BEB - BEB BEB BEB BEB - BEB BEB BEB BEB -*
Kagome groaned. Eyes still closed, she got off her bed to her desk on the other side of her bed room, almost tripped on her chair. Ignoring the pain on her toe, she reached her alarm clock then turned the annoying tone off.
She was just about to go back to bed, but knew that the distance between her bed and the bathroom was roughly the same. She yawned hugely and stretched, finally opening her eyes. Maybe she should not be late today. Her professors had made it clear to her that she would be suspended if she kept her habit. She yawned again; this time was not as huge. Rubbing her eyes, she stumbled to her bathroom.
"Hmm… a bath or a shower?" thought Kagome. She really needs a bath; her last night activity involved a lot of adrenaline. But it was not a very good idea; she couldn't risk falling asleep while bathing.
She struggled with her pajamas buttons, her fingers still careless due to sleep. After undressing, she got in to the shower. She was still sleepy, so she purposely set the temperature low, too low for a morning shower….
"Eeeee!!!! COLD!" Her shriek could be heard all the way to the kitchen.
Half an hour later, a very refreshed Kagome sat down the dinning table, school bag over one shoulder. "Good morning!" she greeted cheerfully.
Her mom smiled to her. "Good morning, Kagome! I'm sorry I couldn't wait for you last night. How's the job? They didn't give you any trouble, did they?"
"I'm fine, mama!" She thought about the bangle that was now safely stored under her bed. "I have the item up in my room, could you please tell Kaede-baa-chan to take it later?"
"Of course, dear!"
She munched her breakfast happily while eying her brother that was playing with Buyo, their family cat, now that he had finished his meal. "Souta, won't you be late?"
Her fourteen-year-old brother just grinned that grin that suspiciously familiar to a certain someone. Someone who sometimes made her wanted to pull all her hair off. Someone her brother worshiped. Kagome resisted the urge to punch something.
The boy got off his chair, "I'll go now, bye everyone!" He received his lunchbox from his mother. Halfway to the door, he turned back to his sister, "Oh nee-chan, say hello to Inu-no-niichan for me!" then trailed away.
Kagome groaned.
Mrs. Higurashi kept her smile, "I take it you are going to be in the restaurant today?" she asked about her daughter's part-time job.
"Yea, just call me if you need anything. Sango won't mind."
Kagome looked out of the kitchen's window and spotted her grandpa marching his way to the house after his morning prayer in the shrine. She quickly stuffed the rest of her tuna sandwich into her mouth and drank her orange juice.
She got up then pecked her mother, "Grandpa's on his way, I better go now." She strolled out the kitchen, through a different door from her grandpa of course. She was not in the mood for his wrath right now.
On her way to the shrine steps she met Kaede. "Kaede-baa-chan!" she greeted.
"Good day, Kagome. I want to say that I was proud of you last night," the old woman said kindly.
Different from his grandpa who came from her mother's side of the family, Kaede-baa-chan came from her father's lineage. That meant she was obligated to be Israfel through him. Don't get her wrong, she didn't hate her father, she accept her duty to carry out the family's `business', but that didn't make her enjoy stealing things. She accepted, tolerated, and that's just it, but no one needs to know that.
Kagome hoped her smile looked genuine, "I'm sorry I messed up again. Was there any news of Moriyama-san's injury? I hope he's not hurt badly…."
"Don't worry about him, Kagome," Kaede replied.
Kagome raised her eyebrows. "That's it? She's not going to scold me? Not even telling me to be more careful next time?" she thought. Odd. She banished her musings, "I'm off to the campus; bye baa-chan!" She continued her path down the shrine steps.
Kaede nodded and resumed sweeping the pavement. "Farewell, child! Your mother will call if something came up!"
Kagome resisted a groan. "Can't wait!" she replied. God, she hoped it sounded cheerful. She sighed mentally, and then pointed her shoes towards her university.
~*~
Inuyasha busted into his not-exactly-grandpa-in-law's private hospital wing that afternoon. He was so ready to give the old man a piece of his mind about calling a person on two in the morning just to inform that he wanted a talk. But when he entered the room, The Mayor was inside. Shocked, he temporary forgot his anger.
"Ah, there you are, Inuyasha!" his grandfather-in-law greeted him happily. He was a bit too happy that the alarm in Inuyasha's head went off.
The Mayor looked at him strangely, if he didn't know better he'd said the man was studying him. "So this is you grandson, Moriyama-san?"
The old-man nodded eagerly, "Yes, this is my grandson, Takahashi Inuyasha."
The Mayor walked up to him and shook his hands. "Pleased too meet you, Inuyasha-kun. Your grandpa was about to tell you his idea, I trust that we'll meet again soon."
"Huh? Err… yeah, sure." Inuyasha answered intelligently.
The Mayor smiled at him then walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
The hanyou was in daze for a moment before he remembered why he came. He turned to the little old man (who gave a squeak) and was on his side instantly, claws extended in a threatening way. "You better started talking jiji, I'm not exactly in the happiest mood."
Myouga laugh nervously, "Haha- Inuyasha you know I've been working in the ISRAFEL case, don't you?"
Still not retrieving his claws, Inuyasha raised his eyebrows, "Everybody knows that. I say you're just playing around, I heard that you broke your leg because you ran straight into one of her trap."
Myouga was fingering something under his pillow, but Inuyasha was too distracted with his next sentence to actually realize that. "Yeah, I obviously cannot continue chasing her…." He draw a deep breath, this was so going to get his collar grabbed. "So I told the Mayor that you I'm passing the job to you."
Inuyasha had to process that bit of information for awhile before his brains finally clicked. "YOU DID WHAAATTT??!!" his hand grabbed the old-man's collar, not caring that his leg was tied off the bed with a cloth, and making his position very hilarious.
The hanyou continued to shout, "What makes you think that I WOULD do that for you?!"
"Because it would be just fair…." The old man replied calmly, a bit too calmly.
The Hanyou blinked and released his grandpa-in-law's collar.
Myoga pulled a VERY thick brown envelope from under his pillow. "I considered it a fair trade because I'm offering you all I have."
Inuyasha snatched the envelope, then started to laugh out loud. "What's this? You're paying ME? Have you forgotten that I happened to have a large amount of wealth that was inherited to me after Oyaji died? I could probably buy this entire town!"
Myouga puffed his cheeks. "You're not allowed that possessions until you're steadily married," he pointed.
Inuyasha's laugh died down, "Yeah, but I'm allowed to take its monthly interest! THAT's still enough for me to buy a new car every month!"
"I'm not offering money; you might want to look what's inside."
Inuyasha shrugged his shoulder and complied with the old-man's request, half believed when he said that he was not giving him money. "What's this?" He pulled a piece of photograph. His eyes narrowed; the picture looked familiar to him.
In the photo was a three year old boy, in the middle of getting into a pink bath tub. Completely nude. The boy had a long silvery-white hair and -
"WHAT THE HELL!!!" He slammed the photograph down Myoga's bed. "H-h-h-how did you get this?!" he sputtered the last.
"You forgot that your mother used to send me your photos when you're a pup…." Myoga grinned. Oh yeah, he was enjoying this despite the fact that he was about to have his collar grabbed again.
Inuyasha quickly scanned through the thick bundle of the photos, and found them to be very very disturbing. He thought he had gotten rid all of those! He wasted no time to start ripping them into tiny pieces.
Myoga's grin got bigger, "You know it's no use, I actually asked your mom to sent me the film rolls so I could printed them as much as I can-"
Inuyasha grabbed the bald-man's collar again, "Give - me - the - negatives!" he barked each word.
"I told you it'll be a fair trade…. Capture this girl for me, Inuyasha, then I'll give you the negatives."
Inuyasha looked at the man in horror. He was stuck, and they both knew it. With a strangled cry he release his annoying grandfather-in-law, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him so hard that you practically could hear it from three stories up.
Myouga adjusted his collar calmly, still grinning from ear to ear. "That went well…." he commented as he continued to read his forgotten newspaper.
<<<TBC>>>
~ Today's Artifact ~
I didn't find a phrase that suitable enough that could name an artifact AND fits the chapter's theme. So I used "The Successor of Witch" it was supposed to be a song title. Actually, if you played the RPG "Final Fantasy VIII" You'll know which song I was talking about. The original name I used for the artifact's name was "Maiden's Band" then I changed it to "The Successor of Onus" it sounded equally weird and finally I change it into "The Successor of Witch" and adjusted the background story. Personally, I think the name was a bit scary.
~Translations~
Miko : Shinto priestess
Nee-chan (short terms of `onee-chan') : sister
Nii-chan (short term of `onii-chan') : brother
Baa-chan (short terms of `obaa-chan') : grandmother
Jii-chan (short terms of `ojii-chan') : grandfather *Jiji was the ruder terms*
Hanyou : half-demon
Oyaji : a rude term to call father.
~ Ramblings ~
I decided to take my time to write this fanfic. So I'm focusing in one artifact every chapter, if there is more, they might be stolen at the same time, or I just didn't write the others in details. I'm sick on rushing my stories, so this time I'm going nice and slow, and probably will make some people bored. I want to actually take my time and write the story in depth, like one of my friends used to advise me. At that time I was too afraid to lose my ideas if I didn't write them ASAP. Maybe that's why I don't really bother to set the details of this story just yet, I figured it will be more fun to think about it as I write. ^_^. I made a commitment to myself to finish one chapter every week.
~Next Chapter's artifact is "The Pride of China" and it was a sculpture. ^_^PLZ REVIEW!