InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Asclepius ❯ Miasma ( Chapter 4 )

Asclepius
.Chapter Four.
Miasma

They were off the space station the next morning, heading out to Station forty-seven in Jupiter’s orbit. The trip was a little longer than the one to Venus, around seven and a half hours in total, docking onto the huge station included. The group left the ship in the care of a three man maintenance team, who were very willing to help. One of the men had recognized Kagome’s face from a news report and seemed very anxious to help out, citing the way he had managed to escape from a destroyed colony unable to take his dying family. With a deep respectful bow, Kagome had given her condolences and the man brushed it off, arguing that she was doing a great thing.

Kagome had gone alone to the station’s small gym afterwards, waving off Miroku’s concern. They had a week to spend here and she was ready to stretch her legs a bit while the rest of the group went to one of the ten dormitories on the space station to get a few rooms.

It was during her gym session that the power started flickering wildly before it went out completely. She’d changed quickly and followed the blinking red lights and loud announcer to go to a commons area. Dazed, she caught up with Miroku, Sango and Inu-Yasha who, when asked, told her they knew nothing of the blackout.

“I have a really bad feeling.” Kagome voice was shaking as she pulled out her small LED light and turned it on. She made quick work of finding the correct hall and ushered her group to follow. When they’d gotten out of the commons area that was quickly filling with numerous bodies she spoke again. “This reeks of Naraku, and I don’t doubt he cut oxygen supplies. That’s the only reason I can think that emergency systems kicked in. I’m going down to the generators to check.”

Inu-Yasha inclined his head in agreement. “It’s extremely faint, but I can smell miasma.”

Sango looked troubled when Kagome turned to her. The younger girl tried to offer Sango a comforting smile. She noticed Miroku had stepped closer. “You two get back to the ship and start trying to evacuate people on ships before you’re absolutely positive that it’s clean air. Is that alright?”

Miroku nodded and took hold of Sango’s upper arm, giving her a gentle prodding to start moving.

Kagome turned back to Inu-Yasha and gave him a crisp nod before turning her light on the wall. “There should be a tight crawl space around here… Ah! Here we are.”

She pulled on a metal plate that didn’t budge. She gave it another once over with her light, not seeing any screws that held it in place. She found the correct handle and pulled harshly again. This time it came free and she had to plug her nose. It was most certainly Naraku. She choked up a bit and her eyes watered, but she fumbled for her mask that was hanging at her belt-loop and tied it on. When she turned around, she saw that Inu-Yasha had already followed suit with a small strip from his sleeve. She gave him another quiet nod and unclipped her radio and took off her jacket. She threw her jacket down and readied her radio before falling to her knees and pushing her way into the metal shaft. “Miroku, Sango, how are things looking?”

“Ships are intact,” came Miroku’s voice. “The airspace looks empty, almost too empty. Do you think this is a trap?”

Kagome grimaced and sped up her pace; starting to hear the noises of the machines they were heading towards. “Let’s pray that if it is, we’re able to stunt it before all of these people get hurt. I’ll be in contact once we reach the mechanics room.”

“Copy that. Be careful.”

“You too.” Finding that crawling in the cramped space was extremely difficult with one hand, she lowered her radio-carrying hand, a loud ‘clunk’ radiated over them every time her right hand hit the thin metal.

Inu-Yasha was rather uncomfortable. Not only could be barely move in the dimly lit, hot, and confining space, but Kagome’s ass moving the way it did a scant foot away from his face was not helping his concentration. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her swaying form and when she had turned back to make sure he was still following, he found it very difficult to respond without a deep red flush racing over his cheeks. The heat in the small shaft made his skin flushed and he wondered briefly is her body was as hot as his.

The machines were getting much louder, a good sign for both parties. They finally reached the room and Kagome had to shift awkwardly, putting her feet forward to kick open the metal grate. It fell with a loud crack against the thick sooty floor. The climbed out and surveyed the huge room for a moment. There were several huge tanks, almost three times as tall as Kagome in the room and about a dozen unconscious workers strewn over the floor. “Can you still smell the miasma?” She had to shout over the pumps that connected with giant tubes to the tanks, but Inu-Yasha had heard and was nodding.

He shouted back, “It’s faint still and mixed with whatever is in these tanks. It smells like the wind on Earth in here.”

“It should, they cycle the stuff through the whole station”, she called back, crouching to test the pulse on the closest victim. She was surprised to find he was bleeding, but rather unsurprised that he was dead. “What the Hell?!” Immediately she was on her feet, putting distance between the body and herself. “Kusari-gama again! Miasma is coming from the wounds! Naraku wasn’t here; these are the bodies of reaper slayers!”

Inu-Yasha looked nearly as shocked as she was. “He must have dug up the graves when the spell wore off.”

Kagome looked up to one of the top of the towering tanks. The slight hissing she heard was almost certainly coming from it. It was a quick decision, to take of her shoes and mount the tank, pulling her body to the top gracefully.

Inu-Yasha was impressed. For a human woman, she was incredibly agile. With a groan he realized his thoughts had spiraled downward again.

She clicked her radio back on and sounded a bit frantic when she spoke into it. Inu-Yasha struggled to hear what she was saying. “Where are you two?”

“We’re at the dock, getting people in ships. There are a few freighters and we should be able to find pilots among the crowd.”

“Get out now. You two need to leave as soon as you get everyone loaded.”

There was a small pause before she heard a mess of static and finally Miroku’s voice. “What the Hell is happening down there? I’m not leaving this place until you’re back up here.”

Kagome started when Inu-Yasha landed at her side, perched on the edge that she was clinging to. “Just do it!” She had her back to dirty railing that he supposed was used for repairs.

There wasn’t a reply from the other end, not a petulant or snide remark about her over-dramatics. This was very serious. She tightened her mask and turned to Inu-Yasha. “I don’t think we’re getting out of here.” Those were the only words she offered over the loud noises. His eyes searched hers for her meaning but found nothing. “Even if we got out of this shaft, there’s nothing we can do.”

Inu-Yasha was frozen in his spot. He had just escaped death over a week ago and here he was facing it again, staring it in the face. Distain registered in Kagome’s eyes finally.

She forced down a sob before she started speaking to him, leaning in so she wouldn’t have to shout. “Naraku’s put miasma in the tanks. He’s figured out a way to breach systems finally. This is… this is very bad.”

She levied herself, leaning forward to touch the area the tubes were separated from the tank. In order to repair them she would have to turn off the systems, but repairing them was of no use, anyways. The miasma was inside the tank, and the air was tainted before it even traveled the pipes. Briefly she wondered if it would be worse to die of suffocation or lung rot. Did that even matter now? She clenched her fists and her eyes shut tight.

“Listen, I am not fucking dying in this shit hole. If I die it’ll be at Naraku’s hands, damn it!” Inu-Yasha was infuriated, but Kagome hardly noticed.

That made him even more livid. He swore violently again, his head pivoting around the room, searching for some kind of escape, any kind of escape. “This is such bullshit!” His fist slammed down in the tank. “Complete bullshit! This is not fucking happening!”

Kagome couldn’t hold back the sob this time, but it was muffled by her mask. She noticed, mutely that the tank they were on had emptied and was making far less noise. Some of the pumping systems were already failing. She heard static over the radio and she unclipped it roughly, shoving it Inu-Yasha.

“What are you two doing?” Miroku was practically yelling into the thing, and Inu-Yasha winced when it hurt his ears. “Are you crazy, get the fuck out here!”

“We can’t get out. If we go the way we came we’ll die suffocating, and if we pass through the normal doors, miasma will overwhelm us just a little before we suffocate. If you’ve got a brilliant plan, I’d love to fucking have it!” He shouted back, his anger still a force.

There was a lot of static before there was silence from the other end. Another sob took hold of Kagome’s throat and Inu-Yasha chucked the radio down to the floor, effectively smashing it to bits. It was tears, now, coursing down her face. Inu-Yasha directed a growl her way, and she clinched her eyes tighter, willing her tears to stop falling.

“It’s not fair!” She sobbed, her fists tightening before she had her own fist slammed down on the metal tank harshly. “I’m sorry, I should have come down here alone. I’m so sorry!”

If there was one thing in this world that freaked Inu-Yasha out it was a crying girl and at this moment the woman who’d rescued his sorry life with small regard for her own life was hysterical. He watched as she choked on her own sobs, and vaguely noticed how quiet it was becoming. Two more tanks were empty; more pump systems with no air to pump had shut down. The emergency systems only worked when the tanks still had something in them.

“S-Stop that!” He reacted frantically, grabbing her shoulder. “Stop blubbering!”

It only served to make Kagome more frantic, her sobs coming out louder. “I-I’m sorry!”

It was a moment of total irrationality, he knew, but he couldn’t stop himself. He pulled her to his chest and held her there, trying to get the blasted tears to quit coming. She slowly had her arms entwined around his body. Her sobs were quieting and he looked back, seeing that the last four tanks were leaking a little slower than the first three. “Tell me about something, Kagome” He forced out, trying to get her mind elsewhere so she would stop that infernal crying.

“T-Tell you?”

“Yeah, anything, where are you from? Anything!”

She nodded against his chest before pulling away, pink staining her cheeks. “F-From Earth back before it was colonized like it is now. I was there when Tokyo was still a pretty big city.” She hiccupped, but her tears had stopped. Her mask had fallen from her face, but it didn’t seem like she cared. He pulled his own away from his face with a sigh.

He sighed and ran a hand through his messy bangs, the rest of his hair pulled into a tight tail. She continued her voice just loud enough for him to catch.

“I lived with mama and Souta. My Grandpa had died a little before, you know?” he felt like she was just talking now, therapeutically, almost. “At first mama didn’t believe that anything was really going to happen, but I convinced her to leave to the space station. It was close to the end of the school year, so I stayed behind to finish the semester. It was finals week, and I remember it really well.

“Miroku was staying with me at the shrine instead of at his flat because his parents had gone, too. We found that starship off in a dump lot after school one day and we drained our savings for it. We didn’t even know why.” She gave a little laugh, “But we saw it and could not leave until we had it. It was docked at a close docking station getting checked out, you know to make sure that it had all the parts and things. We were at school that day, it was raining. The sky was really dark and I knew something was happening. Reapers were everywhere. Oh, God… they were devouring the living along with the dead. I ran home, but Naraku had… had already been there, miasma and a trail of reapers in his wake. I tried to get away, but couldn’t. I was just laying there. It was still raining, but the reapers were leaving and the sky was getting brighter. I couldn’t move. I thought I was dead, but somehow Miroku found me under all of debris that once made up my well house. He and I left as soon as we could, but the space station where our parents were was worse off than Earth was. It was just space junk. I remember all of the limbs and bodies, frozen solid out there.”

Inu-Yasha’s eyes were half closed and he had a hand to his head. Just hearing her speak was telling enough. She was reliving this like it was happening again. She was scrunched up, her legs pulled to her chest and her forehead rested on her knees. Dinly he wondered when she had slid down to sit. He noticed the way her boots were shining against the dull white of the air tank. The fourth tank was empty and the pumps were quiet from that tank.

“My father died when I was pretty little, so I don’t remember that much, but,” his face scrunched together, “my mother died because of me. I feel like I should have thrown her into that elevator, but I wouldn’t have been able to protect her like she did with me. She had this weird spiritual shit. Barriers were easy to her, but she died after making mine. I don’t think she meant for me to know, but she was as good as dead when she passed me that jewel and stuck me behind those doors to seal me away.

“It was damn lucky that it was you who got me out, though. I didn’t know anyone else had that power outside of that planet. A lot of women there could use it.”

Kagome nodded solemnly. “I was taught the talent by a woman from Mars.”

It was uncanny how calm Kagome felt, and it was wrecking havoc on Inu-Yasha’s fragile emotional state. “Are you scared?” His question was quiet, almost like he was afraid to just ask the question.

The fifth tank was empty. They didn’t even need to shout anymore. Kagome had her pants held tight in her sweating fists. It was getting insanely hot.

“I’m terrified.” She closed her eyes tight again. ‘I’m still not ready to die.’

Inu-Yasha looked at the tank under his feet. “Good because I thought I was losing it for a minute there.” It was quieting down. The sixth tank was down and the last one was half full, the pumps still miraculously working through the extreme bit of stress. “We’re close Kagome.”

The tears came back, just prickling at her eyes. At least she wouldn’t be dying alone. No, no this wasn’t like before. This was really the end, and she knew. Suddenly, brashly, she jumped to her feet and threw her body at Inu-Yasha’s attaching on to him. Truth be told he was never more grateful for a woman’s touch. He gripped firmly to her body, saying her name a few times.

As if to prove that this was really happening a loud ringing started going off in the small cell they were trapped in and she pulled to Inu-Yasha more firmly, securing herself against him. “Inu-Yasha!” There was the signal, only a bit of precious little air was left.

“Hold your breath!” He commanded as the last tank failed and they only had a few seconds left. She did as she was told and a sudden loud crashing, the sound of metal piercing metal rang out and Kagome’s eyes flew open.

Asclepius was thoroughly piercing the metal sheets that made up the wall of the space station, and Miroku managed to have the top hatch open.

The suction was immediate, and Inu-Yasha had been ready. Already her nose was bleeding, but she held her breath, her cheeks puffed out, eyes closed as tight as they would close. Somehow, Miroku had the top hatch open ion their ship and managed to puncture just enough that when Inu-Yasha grabbed hold of the small door, it slammed closed, the suction and Inu-Yasha’s weight slamming it in place.

With a dull thud she hit the floor, still tightly entwined with Inu-Yasha’s body.

~*~

A/N- Come on, you knew I wasn’t ready to kill them off already. : )

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inu-Yasha or anything affiliated with it. I just like putting the characters into my sick little fantasies.