InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Angel Israfel ❯ The Pride of China ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Asha912

~The restaurant was named The Sengoku Jidai~
�HENTAI!!!!"
�Sango, I think you�d hit him enough this time. Just let the man do his job.�
---
�Why are you late?�
�Don�t you read the paper, wench... Stupid old-geezer broke his leg.�
---
�Myoga send you to chase the thief?�
�I�ll catch this damn thief tonight; she hadn�t known who Myoga�s substitute is yet. It�ll be a nice surprise.�
---
�Damn thief! You�re not getting away!�
�Well Inuyasha, I guess this means war,�
---
�We�re thieves, Kagome; and there�re always someone chasing us ... but we�re better, because..."
---
�Alright Hobo; I needed you to check every subjects that had lost their belongings to Israfel from the last three weeks, could you do that for me?�

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Romance / Fantasy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.22.2005 | Pages: 10 | Words: 10.5K | Visits: 433 | Status: Completed

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all related characters belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

AN: Well I'm back with chapter two. Sorry for the late update, my school has been keeping me. At first, I was confused on how to start this chapter, I didn't originally planned that this chapter will be on the day after the first chap, but I figured that some things had to be explained further. Hehe. And I apologize for any grammatical and structure errors. ^_^ Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to REVIEW!

~*~

The Angel Israfel

Chapter 2

“The Pride of China”

~*~

Dear police fellows,

Sorry for your commander's leg.

At midnight I'm taking The Pride of China from The Cryheart Mansion.

Sincerely,

ISRAFEL

~*~

Kagome put her hand in front of her mouth and stifled a yawn; staring dazedly to the whiteboard. She was really trying hard not to fall asleep in the middle of her Literature lecture, but when you got a professor that seemed oblivious to other living creatures when he began his rant, you would find your attention strayed more than you're planning to do.

“And then Kaguya-hime asked each of them to find her impossibly-rare-artifacts as a wedding gift. One of them is the fire-rat coat that….” Her professor continued to rant and rant and rant…. Kagome had given up paying attention ten minutes ago and now concentrating on keeping her eyes open. She already had a bad reputation for her late habit.

She never like studying Myth, and sometimes she wondered why she went into an art college if she had already known that she would have Literature. She was fed up by her grandfather's rant about kappa-mummies at home, and now she had them in school too.

Her cell-phone vibrated in her jeans pocket. Briefly, she glanced to her professor, just making sure that he was still lost in his own private imagination, before pulling it out.

A text-message from Sango, *We r shrt of minced beef. Could u picked up some frm the supermarket bf u come?*

Sango was the owner of the small restaurant in which she worked as a part-timer. It's not that she needed the money, more like she really needed to get out of her house in the afternoon. It's either find a part-time job, or hunting information for her next `target'.

She checked her wallet to see whether she had enough cash. She did. Quickly, she typed her answer and sent her reply. She couldn't help but sighed in relief; the later she got to the restaurant, the later she had to meet Inuyasha.

Inuyasha was the co-owner of Sango's restaurant. When Kagome met Sango when they had a culture festival a while ago (long story), she encountered Inuyasha when she had just started her part-time job. They had been on each other's throat ever since then.

He worked in the restaurant just like Sango, though Kagome wondered why. It couldn't be for the money, he owned the restaurant, not to mention that he was awfully rich. She didn't understand why Sango let him, either. Inuyasha could not cook, could not clean, and he could not take orders because he would upset half the customers to the point of no return in no time. But he could make a good coffee; a very good coffee; that Kagome and Sango actually willing to bribe him to make one for them. The other thing is, though she hated to admit it, the restaurant was extremely crowded whenever he was there, especially with girls.

*BRIIIIINNNNNGGGG!!!!!!*

Kagome cheered silently. She watched impatiently as the old professor gathered his things in an unbelievable amount of slowness, then he made his exit in the same speed. In her old school, it was considered impolite to walk out of class if your teacher was still inside, after twelve years she had taken a habit out of it.

When he was gone, Kagome happily shouldered her bag and ran out of the door. She was heading to her locker when she heard her name called.

“KAGOME!”

Kagome turned and smiled to the energetic girl, “Eri! How's your perspective test?”

Eri smiled back, “Not as bad as I thought! Your drawings really helped! Oh, that reminds me,” she trailed off for a bit, and struggled with the contents of her large paper bag. She pulled out an A3-sized sketch book, “Here's your book, I realized you had some drawings that Prof. Watanabe asked; I hope you don't mind that submitted them for you.”

Kagome beamed at the girl, “Thank you! I was about to ask your favor on that, because I really had to run now!”

Eri raised her eyebrow, “Did Inuyasha complain that they were short of instant ramen again?”

“No, but Sango asked me to buy some minced beef.”

Eri cringed at that; she was a vegetarian after all. “Well, I gotta go too. My boyfriend is taking me for a dinner tonight.”

“That's wonderful! You still have to introduce him to me, though!” Kagome teased.

Eri blushed prettily, before hugging her friend. “Bye, Kagome! See you on Monday!”

Kagome watched her energetic friend go with a smile. She turned back her attention to her locker, did the combination, and started filling her bag. She never kept much in her locker and determined to empty it every weekend, so her bag was always extra heavy in Friday afternoon and Monday morning.

After finishing her task, she left the university and headed to the nearest supermarket.

~*~

The restaurant was named The Sengoku Jidai. Despite the name, it was rather modernly decorated, and even sold western foods, but their ramen and udon was the best.

Kagome slid the glass door open and was greeted with a shout. “HENTAI!!!!” She winced as she dodged a flying sandal.

“But, Sango: I'm innocent! I swear my hand had a mind of its own!” said a man's voice, though it sounded more like he was pleading at the moment.

Kagome stifled her giggle as she witnessed Sango beating a man wearing a purple houshi outfit with a mop.

“You *thwack* sick *thwack* perverted *thwack* Houshi! Go back to the kitchen, stay there, and DO your job!” the pony tailed girl screamed while kept bruising her chef.

The said chef acknowledged Kagome's presence and now turned his pleas to her, “Kagome-sama! Ouch! Please tell Sango I intended no harm! Ouch!” he dodged Sango's next attack, but that only p*ssed the raging girl further.

Kagome shook her head helplessly, “Sango, I think you'd hit him enough this time. Just let the man do his job.”

Sango looked up to her friend and suddenly she released the poor man, sending him to the floor. “Kagome! Thank god you're here!” her attitude changed 180 degrees as she saw her best friend.

Kagome smiled back then gave the poor man her grocery bag, “Here, Miroku-sama; so you can continue cooking!”

Miroku grinned, showing a perfect line of white teeth. “Thank you, Kagome-sama! Now before I returned to my tasks, will you do the honor of bea…”

Sango's expression darkened, “Houshi-sama - kitchen - now!”

Kagome giggled as she could swear she had heard the houshi squeaked as he rushed to the kitchen. She turned to Sango, “Me still says that you're too hard to him.”

Her friend massaged her nose bridge as she replied, “And me still thinks that that the man needs to learn his lesson.”

Kagome giggled again as she went to the changing room. Those who worked in their restaurant were wearing a warring era outfit, it was sort of a cosplay, and the customers seemed to like it. That's why Sango was wearing a pink yukata, and Miroku was wearing a monk's outfit. Her uniform was a short yukata with blue and silver color, forming wavy patterns.

After changing her clothes, she went behind the bar and picked the restaurant's menu and notes. She saw Sango already resumed her task in cleaning the last table. From her spot she could hear the stove hissing, that meant Miroku was actually doing his task at the moment.

The door bell rang, indicating that someone is entering the restaurant. Kagome put on her smile and made her way to the door, expecting a customer. Who she saw, though, turned her smile into a frown. “Why are you late?” she asked the man.

“Keh, none of your business, wench!” he replied rudely. He then entered the changing room.

“Figures,” she muttered. The nerve of that man!! She knew Inuyasha disliked her, mind you, the feelings was mutual. But she was willing to repair their relationship. Who wanted to work with someone you hate, anyways?

“Myoga wanted to talk to him,” Sango filled in the blanks, “I believe Inuyasha went to the hospital this afternoon.”

Kagome resisted a wince, “What happened?” she felt guilty for injuring the old-man.

“Don't you read the paper, wench?” a voice behind her said. “Stupid old-geezer broke his leg.”

Kagome twirled to find the object of her hatred, already in his uniform. He was wearing a red haori and matching billowy pants, white kimono shirt underneath, no shoes. His puppy ears free on top of his head, twitching every now and then. She decided she would save the innocent hanyou ears from vicious yelling; she hated her weakness for cute things. “Was it bad?” asked instead.

The hanyou stared at her, “No, just a crack. But he won't be walking anytime soon.”

“Please tell Myoga that I hope he'll get better soon.”

“Why don't you just visit him?”

“I wanted too, but I felt uncomfortable if I just visit him like that. He doesn't really know me that well….”

The hanyou raised his eyebrow, clearly showing that he didn't understand her logic, “I could take you if you want,” he offered.

She almost fell at that, literally. Take her?! Weren't he just insulting her five minutes ago?! She studied his features as if to find whether he was planning something, but his expression was perfectly masked. “You would do that?” she asked carefully, half expecting him to say that he was only joking.

Inuyasha shrugged, “Sure, why not. Just tell me when, I'll see if I had the time,” he trailed as he made his way behind the bar. He threw her his trademark smirk over his shoulder, “You're just making a reason to go on a date with hot guy like me,” he teased cockily at the last minute.

Kagome huffed in annoyance. She should have known that he would ruin his good impression at the last minute. He had cornered her into admitting, no, lying that he was hot a couple of days ago, and he wouldn't stop teasing her ever since. Inuyasha confused her sometimes, one minute he was rude and insensitive, the next he was sweet and concerning; and he still managed to be arrogant and cocky during all that.

She was just about to retort when the restaurant's phone rang. Inuyasha, being the closest, picked it up. “Hello, Sengoku Jidai Restaurant.”

There was a silence as the person from the other side of the phone spoke. Kagome started taking orders from the customer that had arrived while she and Inuyasha had their conversation.

“Hey, wench! It's for you!” The hanyou called.

Veins popped onto Kagome's head, and she resisted the urge to throw her sandal to the irritating hanyou. Wooden sandal mark upon his `extraordinary' face might driven the customers away. Besides, it would be futile. Being a hanyou meant that Inuyasha still had an incredible amount of strength and reflexes. Instead she smiled apologetically to her customers, and let Sango take over her duty.

She went to the phone, purposely getting inside the bar and stepped on Inuyasha's bare foot with her heavy sandal. She grinned wickedly as the hanyou jumped in one foot, holding his abused body part. He sent her a death glare which she stuck her tongue out in return. “Moshi-moshi?” she spoke to the receiver.

“Kagome?” her stomach turned, it was her mother.

“Mama? What is it?” She turned her back to Inuyasha because the hanyou was giving her odd looks.

“I'm sorry honey, but we needed you at home this evening.”

She gulped, “Did Buyo eat a sock again?” it was the code set by her mother if she wanted to know that she had a `job' to do. The code was rather funny, if her stomach was not doing flip-flops.

“Yes,” her mom answered.

“I'll come home sooner. Bye, mom,” she said and rung off. She turned away, and took another menu and notes, ignoring the hanyou's curious stare. She had gotten used to Inuyasha's extreme smelling ability; he probably could smell that she was upset. She then looked at him in the eye, as if challenging him to ask her what's wrong, hoping he would drop it instead.

But Inuyasha never backed away from a challenge, “What's that about?”

“None of your business,” she returned his earlier statement. She did not bother lying; knowing he could smell her lies.

“Keh, fine.”

They ignored each other for the rest of her shift. When the short hand of time pointed six, Kagome said her good byes and went home. Inuyasha still sulking behind the bar, but she had better things to worry than him at the moment.

It's time for ISRAFEL to fly.

~*~

Inuyasha watched her back as Kagome left the restaurant. He knew she was hiding something; her scent bugged him to no end.

Kagome looked like a normal girl, but despite her happy-go-lucky attitude, recently she had emitted unhappy aura. She hid that well though, if he didn't have his nose he doubted he would even notice.

He brushed that thought aside when Miroku tapped his shoulder. He turned to the houshi and found him grinning from ear to ear. Inuyasha raised his eyebrow in question.

“So, are you going to take a break, or sulk here all night long?” his friend asked.

“Keh,” was his only answer. He didn't care if he was being rude, Miroku had gotten used to it.

He turned to the coffee maker. He needed some caffeine, so he retrieved a bag of coffee from the upper shelf.

The phone rang again; Miroku went to pick it up. “Moshi-moshi, Sengoku Jidai Restaurant.”

Inuyasha had to snort at that. The first time Miroku answered a phone, he added `we give 70% discount for pretty girls who was willing to bear my child.' Sango was so furious she knocked him out for at least two hours. Ever since then she had made it clear that he could only answer the phone with a greeting and the restaurant's name, or suffered the consequences.

“Just wait a sec,” Miroku turned to him, “For you, Inuyasha.”

He left his coffee and received the phone, “Speak.”

“Commander Takahashi, a letter had just arrived for Commander Moriyama. And because he said to direct his every letter to you from now on….” said a man on the other side of the phone line.

Inuyasha cursed Myoga inside his head for the hundredth time since that afternoon. He cut the other man's speech, “Don't call me commander, just get to the point,” he ordered.

“Do you want me to read it or do you want me to fax it for you?”

“Just tell me what the letter is about!” he barked. What kind of subordinates work for the damn old-man?! He knew right then that he was doomed to have a migraine every evening. That reminded him, he still needed that caffeine.

“Yes, sir! It's from Israfel, sir!”

“What's her next target?” he sighed in boredom, might as well dictate the boy word by word. Had he ever heard of initiative?!

“It was a sculpture named `The Pride of China'. Mrs. Leone Cryheart owns the artifact.”

“The widow in The Cryheart Mansion?”

“Yes, sir!”

He did some quick thinking before ordered, “I want you to go to the mansion right now, bring three units with you. Send someone to fax me the mansion's map.”

“Right away, sir!”

He ended the phone call. When he turned to Miroku, his friend was giving him curious looks. “Myoga send you to chase the thief?”

Inuyasha grunted in reply. “Damn old-man, what's so difficult in catching some thief anyway?”

Miroku shrugged, “Beats me, but I heard that this `Israfel' is pretty good. Some people said that she could disappear, leaving no trace behind her.”

Inuyasha went back waiting for his coffee, “No humans or youkais could disappear, and the only way to `leave no trace' is to fly. Bird youkais could do that, but they had became extinct two hundred years ago.”

Miroku nodded, “You're right. Knowing your grandfather-in-law, he cowered at the last minute and sent some of his subordinates to do the chase.”

“Exactly,” Inuyasha retrieved three mugs from the lower shelf, and continued, “I'll catch this damn thief tonight; she hadn't known who Myoga's substitute is yet. It'll be a nice surprise.”

The conversation ended when the fax machine gave a shriek.

~*~

From her position on the roof top, she climbed her ways down to on of the Mansion's higher window sill. The window was large, thus giving her free access to observe the building's interior.

She saw police every where, every possible exits was guarded. She frowned at the sudden change, usually Myoga failed to discover one or two of the exit-route, thus making her run rather easy. Whoever his substitute is, he/she was good. However, Kaede did teach her one thing; if you couldn't find a way in or a way out; you make one yourself, though she didn't like the idea of using her magic. The pain from her last training was still fresh in her mind. Yes, some of her family's magic was quite painful for the caster.

First thing first, she jumped back to the roof. Her mother informed her that the widow would mostly have the artifact. She said that `The Pride of China' would make its owner unbelievably possessive, and think everyone as an enemy. She only had to find where the poor woman was. Randomly, she looked inside one of the room that faced east. Nope, not here.

The same with the next window, there wasn't any sign of the `Pride of China'. In the next room, though, she heard voices. The upper window was opened, so she could hear the words.

“I absolutely refuse to have this kid protects my belongings! I want him out right now! I don't trust anyone! Out! OUT!”

“Look, I don't give a damn what you thought of me. I could not protect your life if you kept hugging the thing!”

Kagome felt her throat tightened. The second voice sounded familiar, extremely familiar. She turned her body upside down and spied into the room. There she saw the widow, hugging `The Pride of China', wailing and shouting, sending everyone a warring glare. She turned her attention to the other, and her hand slipped.

The next thing she registered was pain, but it was enough to pull her out of her shock. `Sh*t', she cursed mentally.

She had fallen down to the room's veranda. Everybody in the room, including her, froze. That's when she met his gaze. His amber eyes pierced her. Though it was filled with shock, it still managed to look as intimidating as ever. She resisted a shudder.

Right then she decided that it's time to take some drastic actions.

In a matter of seconds, she rushed to through the window, unlocking it with lighting speed, then jumped, doing flips, and then landed with her hands on top of the widow's head.

Before anyone recovered fully from her sudden actions, she had taken the `Pride of China' between her ankles, and swung the artifact flying to the air, at the same time performing an air flip, and back to her previous position on the veranda. But the artifact went much way further; she wasted no time to jump off the veranda, following the falling object. Her mother would kill her if she found out that she had thrown the sculpture out of the window.

Well it was not her fault that INUYASHA was there!

“F*ck!” he cursed loudly and she didn't blame him.

The good thing from a three stories building is, that if you throw something out of the window, it took time before it hits the earth, especially if you threw them up the air first, thus giving it extra few heights.

She was well aware that Inuyasha had followed her jumping down the veranda, being heavier, however; he rushed to the earth faster than she was. Kagome was not willing to give the artifact to him. She turned her body, now facing him. Their eyes met each other for a brief second before she curled her legs to her body… then kicked him on the face.

The action gave her the needed momentum to reach the sculpture, just a few seconds before she made contact with the earth. She barely managed to curl her body again to roll on the ground, preventing direct damage to her head. Her whole body hurt like hell, her mind rushed, and her heart was thundering against her ribcage. After the impact, she straightened quickly, and jumped again to the trees.

On her way, she put a quick sealing spell on the artifact. She could purify it later. She couldn't afford to do it anyway, since the act required a good amount of concentration. Nobody could have focus if you had a raging hanyou tailing behind you.

“Damn thief! You're not getting away!” she heard him snarled behind her, and risked glancing over her shoulder at the middle of her jump.

Not good, Inuyasha was a hanyou, at this rate he would catch up with her soon. He was hot on her trails, jumping from trees to trees, and did not even break a sweat, he just looked p*ssed off.

She knew what she had to do; Kaede didn't train her for nothing. She put one of her hand to her chest, because the other hand was busy holding the sculpture. She did not dare to close her eyes, but she began praying anyway. Despite the racing wind in her ears, almost could hear Kaede's last lecture.

“We're thieves, Kagome; and there're always someone chasing us, either human or youkai. But we're not just any thieves. No matter how good and how strong the humans or youkais were, we are better….”

Kagome could felt the magic tingling from within her, rushing, and gathering to the middle of her back. It was ready to be released whenever she was ready. Her back started to grow hot and itches.

They had reached the end of the small forest, and stumbled upon a clearing. At the last tree, she braced herself and jumped high, turning middle way and saw Inuyasha had followed her example. Their eyes met again, and everything seemed to go into slow motions. She saw confusion in his face; he might be wondering why she didn't have any scent.

She smiled secretly behind the cloth covering her face. `Well Inuyasha, I guess this means war,' she thought bitterly.

She finally closed her eyes, and released the magic stored in her back. She grinded her teeth at the expected pain, and the back of her clothes was torn.

The end of Kaede's sentence reached her ear;

“We're better, Kagome… because we have the ability to fly.”

~*~

Inuyasha was still frozen in shock after his landing on the grassy clearings; the object of his chase had already gone from sights.

“Wings…” his mind reeled, making him dizzy, “She f*cking had wings! How in the seven hells has she grown wings?!”

He felt lost, cheated, and worse, he felt betrayed. He didn't quite understand the last part, but those were his feelings at that moment.

He didn't know how long he had stood there, watching the sky. He was not surprised when the police units began to pour out the small forest, finally catching up with him.

One of the policemen called from behind, “Commander Takahashi!”

He turned to him and snarled, “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me `commander'!”

“Y-yes, sir!” the policemen stammered.

“Keh,” he turned away again and continued glaring to night sky, as if urging it to spit out someone; preferably a female thief who wore deep indigo ninja-like clothes, had no scents, and had wings. Damn wings.

“Israfel?” the policemen asked when the rest of the clearing were filled with other units.

“She flew away,” he replied, still not turning.

The policemen didn't seemed to caught the deeper meaning of his answer and simply registered that Inuyasha had lost her somewhere in the forest. Inuyasha mad no actions to correct his mistakes. Who would believe that someone could actually fly, anyway? Let them see the flying b*tch themselves.

“What did Mrs. Cryheart say?” Inuyasha asked.

“She said that she had no memories for the past three days, ever since she received `The Pride of China' from a man.”

The hanyou finally turned to his subordinate, “Did you ask any description of this man?”

“She said he was very tall, about two meters, nicely built, long wavy black hair, and was well mannered.”

Inuyasha frowned, this man sounded harmless. “Fine, did she press any charges against us?”

“No, she said she didn't even remember having it, so she let it go. Um… sir?”

“What?”

“She sounded very different from the woman earlier.”

The hanyou raised his eyebrow, “Define `different'.”

“Um… well, she was less uh… noisy, and seemed calm and kind. She didn't think of anyone as her enemy like before. Some people were confused by her sudden change of personality.”

His eyebrow drew together as he think. None of this rang the bell. Maybe he should go through his grandfather-in-law's files. He turned to his subordinate, “You, what's your name?”

“H-Hojo. Akitoki Hojo.”

“Alright Hobo; I needed you to check every subjects that had lost their belongings to Israfel from the last three weeks, could you do that for me?”

“Yes, sir! Do you need anything specific in the report, sir?”

“Yes, I need you to find out from who they got the artifact, how their attitude was before and after their possessions was stolen. Have the report ready by tomorrow evening, or I'll make sure you had a punishment,” said Inuyasha.

Hojo nodded hastily, and bolted out of sight. Probably because he had a report due in short time.

Inuyasha returned his gaze to the sky, though he was not glaring at it anymore. Instead, he held a frown. This Israfel was definitely not an ordinary thief, and her targets were not just normal valuable artifacts. He had feelings that she was involved in something big, he just didn't know what …yet; but he was determined to find what it was.

He sighed and rubbed the area between his eyes; now he got that migraine. He headed back to the mansion, where he parked his car. Screw Israfel, he needed to sleep.

<<TBC>>

~ Today's Artifact ~

Now THIS is something I can be proud of [at least to me]. I found “Pride of China” when I'm browsing about The Language of The Flowers, so it was supposed to be some kind of flower… or a plant. But I twisted it into a sculpture [sweat dropped] … me and my crazy imagination… I could never live it down if my lil brother knew [laugh nervously]. No, I haven't seen the flower. If any of you have, I'm more than happy if you could tell me, or better, send me the photo! Anyway, “Pride of China” represents dissension, quarrel, or war. [Hah! Thank you, Thesaurus!]

~Translations~

Yukata : a summer kimono

Houshi : monk

Hentai : pervert

-sama : used to registered someone with higher status, usually a royalty or a priest.

-chan : added after a name to register someone younger, close, or dear to you.

Cosplay: wearing unusual outfits usually came out of a story or animes.

Haori : Japanese robe/coat

Hanyou : half-demon

Youkai : Demon.

Moshi-moshi : Japanese greetings, used when picking up a phone call.

~ Ramblings ~

Hiya! I had MAJOR difficulties when deciding whether I should make the whole gang hi-schoolers or I made them work together somewhere. I still had this feeling in the pit of my stomach like I didn't decide the right thing. But probably that's because I don't have one of those hi-school fics in my works. Well, I guess there're always next time, right? I just hope I can write this story right, after all, I'm still learning. Hehe. ^_^

~Next Chapter's artifact is “The Goat's Rue” and to be honest that's all I know about it. Hahaha ^_^

REVIEW!