InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Beauty Meets Beast ❯ Teamwork ( Chapter 14 )

Beauty Meets Beast

 

Chapter 14: Teamwork

 

“I never thought I would say this, but plotting to spy on Lord Sesshoumaru is kind of thrilling.”

 

Aerin laughed, looking around once again to ensure their privacy. “I know, but we still need to figure out how the hell we can watch him without him knowing. We can't just follow him around; he'd sense us before we could even get close enough to hear him.”

 

“Well,” Kaliegha replied, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “The only time I see him is when I take him his meals.”

 

“Wait, you take him his meals?”

 

“Huh, on yeah, he's started taking his meals in his study, something about not wanting to deal with Jaken. He rarely leaves anymore.”

 

“Well isn't that odd.” Aerin sighed, playing with one of the blades of grass at her feet. That sounded a little off to her. If he wanted Jaken gone he would just tell him so…or beat it into the little toad. It seemed more likely to her that he was avoiding interaction with everyone…probably because he missed Kagome and was too big an idiot to admit it. “That doesn't leave us with many options for spying.”

 

“Hey look! There he is.”

 

Aerin turned and frowned. Their youkai lord was hastily making his way to the front gates. “Something's wrong.”

 

“What makes you say that?”

 

“I don't know, just a feeling I have.”

 

“Hey wait a second, isn't that one of the guards who went with Drake?”

 

They both watched as Sesshoumaru approached a rather worried looking guard. Aerin's eyes widened as she realized Kaliegha was right. “Kagome!”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“I overheard Lord Sesshoumaru telling Drake that if anything happened to Kagome they were to send word back to him.”

“What?” Kaliegha looked at her for a moment in confusion before the both took off towards Sesshoumaru to find out the truth.

 

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Someone was calling her name, she could hear them. But for the life of her she wished they would leave her alone. All she wanted to do was sleep. And since she could tell it wasn't her captor or his demented minion, she wasn't too inclined to listen to them. Gah! But they were relentless! Why wouldn't they just let her sleep? Realizing they weren't going to leave until she awoke, Sango wearily opened her eyes, gasping when she saw just who it was in front of her. “Kagome?” she rasped, her voice weak from dehydration. “How did he find you?”

 

“What do you mean?” Kagome said softly, inclining her head to the side as she continued to stroke Sango's hair. “It doesn't matter. We were so worried. Are you ok?”

 

“Are you injured in any way?”

 

Sango turned at the sound of another voice in the room. She hadn't noticed her other friend was even in the room. “Miroku you're here too?”

 

“Yes and we must get out of here, fast.”

 

“You can't, there's no way to open the door from this side and there are no windows.”

 

“That's probably because we're underground.”

 

“Oh,” Sango said softly, laughing briefly at the absurdity of it all. She sat up slowly, leaning on Miroku for support. “That would explain it. How did they get you? I haven't said a word.”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“They think I'm you, Kagome.”

 

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It had taken forever, but they had finally gotten Jaken to tell them what happened. Sesshoumaru had already left the castle with the guard and it infuriated Aerin that she could not go with them. Her friend was in danger and she could do nothing about it. But time was of the essence here, so she resigned herself to praying that the kamis would keep the young miko and her friends safe until Sesshoumaru got there. To keep from being overcome with worry, she and Kaliegha tried to understand how a scent could disappear, hoping that it was just too faint to pick up and that Sesshoumaru would be able to discern its location.

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“We're wasting time! Scents don't just disappear!” Inuyasha yelled as he followed Drake through the dense foliage. “I say we go back and study the campsite some more. Kagome and Miroku wouldn't have left willingly. So, there lair has to be near there, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered taking them. You're just too coward to admit you can't tell new scents from old ones!”

 

“I assure you that my capabilities are far more developed than one such as you could ever hope to attain.”

 

“Hell, I don't care how `developed' there are. My nose says of the scents we are following, one is at least a week old, with newer ones on top. Which means, oh developed one that these are the scents of PATROLMEN!”

 

“You can't know that! We searched the campsite and this is the way the scents went! I am right in this!”

 

“Screw you! I'm tired of listening to your crap. I'm going back to the clearing. Have fun following a scout.” And with that, the hanyou turned and took off towards the now abandoned camp.

 

“He truly is the son of Inutaisho,” Drake sighed as he watched him disappear into the woods. `I wouldn't even be able to sprint that fast! How could a mere hanyou have so much power?'

 

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Inuyasha was to say the lease, surprised when he saw his brother. They'd arrived at the clearing at about the same time, and unless he was seriously mistaken…the bastard actually wanted to help.

 

“Where is Drake?” Sesshoumaru said as he took in the various scents in the clearing.

 

“Feh! Those idiots are walking around in circles chasing a fake trail. They refuse to admit it's a patrolman they're following.”

 

“They cannot tell how old a scent is or if it is repeated.”

 

“Yeah, that pretty much covers it. We were searching around here, thinking that since this is where Kagome and Miroku disappeared, it had to be important. But then he apparently forgot the whole thing and ran off after a scent that way.”

 

“So, the scents split up and you left Kagome here with Miroku while you searched. And when you came back they were gone.” Sesshoumaru pinched his nose, trying to fend off the headache that was trying to make its home in his brain.

 

“Yeah, their lair's gotta be nearby. Kagome and Miroku wouldn't have left the clearing, so unless they saw where the enemy was hiding, the wolves wouldn't have had a reason to take them.”

 

“This Sesshoumaru is impressed little brother. I had not thought you capable of such thought.”

 

“Feh! Who cares what you thought. Right now all that matters is finding them! After that we'll settle what's between us once and for all.”

 

“Very well,”

 

Their truce in place, Inuyasha showed Sesshoumaru where the scents stopped and the brothers began combing the area.

 

“Hey Sesshoumaru, look at this.”

 

“What,”

 

“Look,” Inuyasha said, kneeling to inspect the area further. “Miroku and Kagome's scents are more concentrated here, like they paused for some reason. And the ground around those funny rocks looks like it's been disturbed recently.”

 

“Of course,” the elegant taiyoukai sighed. “There are a series of caves and underground tunnels that run through this section of the territory. This Sesshoumaru did not know anyone else knew of them. It is a secret that is passed down from one taiyoukai to the next.”

 

“Well, apparently those bastards know about them. How do we get in?”

 

“They must have covered the entrance.”

 

“They can't have covered it that well.” Determined to find the entrance, Inuyasha began stomping around the clearing. “Hey, there's a scent here I didn't notice before.”

 

“This Sesshoumaru smells it too. It is well hidden though.” They followed the scent, which appeared to be fairly new, to a log. The scent then backtracked to their original location, and disappeared. “This must be it.”

 

Inuyasha nodded his agreement as they began carefully searching the ground for any signs of disturbance. “This is taking too long.” Inuyasha said, kicking a rock out of the way. When said rock suddenly disappeared, he smirked. “Now we're getting somewhere.”

 

A.N. Sorry it has taken me so long. This chapter has actually been ready to post for a little over a week, but my computer crashed and so I had no way of posting it. I finally got some time this weekend to type it on my roommate's computer. I have another chapter ready to go too, but unfortunately I do not have time to type it now as my roommate needs her computer back. I am taking my computer to Best Buy tomorrow to see what they can do about it. I'm hoping to have my computer back before the end of the week, but I am not sure. I don't know if they are going to fix my computer (it apparently needs a new motherboard) or just give me a new one (I'm hoping I still have a warrenty and will not have to pay too much for it. I know I had an extended warrenty, but I do not know exactly how long of a warrenty it was…so keep your fingers crossed that I can get this fixed quickly.)