InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Blazing Hearts ❯ Chapter 28

Blazing Hearts

Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own Inuyasha or company; I merely toy with them for my own twisted amusement.

 

Chapter Twenty-Eight

 

A chill crept up Kagome's spine and she looked over to Botan, “Where's Rin?” she asked.

 

“I don't know, I thought you would. You guys still carpool, don't you?” she replied.

Kagome shook her head; Rin hadn't carpooled with her since she began seeing Sesshomaru… almost as though invisible stage directors gave cue, Rin walked in disheveled.

 

Kagura grinned a sly smirk and arched a single brow, “Now we know why you don't carpool anymore.”

 

“Bite me, Kagura,” Rin rolled her eyes.

 

“It seems someone already did,” Kagura quipped, eyeing the love-bit on the other woman's neck. “You may want to let your hair grow back, darling,” she mentioned as Rin's hand flew to her neck.

 

Kagome and the other women shared a laugh before everyone settled into their desks. Kagome bit her bottom lip. What did this feeling mean? What was it that gnawed at her soul? She mentally shook her head and blinked hard two times before going through her paperwork.

 

Smiling briefly, she picked up a card and looked at it; white with a picture of a violet. A thank you card, opening it she allowed the smile to creep across her face when she read, `Yura is amazing! She's the most incredible woman I ever met! And she loves Hiyoshimaru!' signed Amari Nobunaga. `Hopefully Yura is amazing enough to quell the lingering obsession with that Tsuyu', she thought in humor.

 

It wasn't the first thank you card she ever received. And in a year or so if she received a familiar invitation, it wouldn't be the first time for that either. But it was the first time in a long, long while that she was happy—truly happy without any bitter contempt—for a former client.

 

Amari's card seemed to calm whatever it was that had Kagome so tense. She didn't know what caused her previous tension, but she didn't think about it for the rest of the day; instead opting to chat with her co-workers about the anomaly that someone actually adored Yura.

“She's out of my hair!” exclaimed an ecstatic Rin, who had meant the comment both figuratively and literally.

 

The women laughed.

 

Unbeknownst to the happy matchmaker, Naraku chucked to himself over his newest plan to make her his. Ignoring the irritable glare from his partner, he reminisced over past glory and imagined fondly his future glory as Suikotsu now wandered the streets of Tokyo.

 

He imagined him. Alone, confused, and scared, the pediatrician wandered in search of the one person he believed would help him. All the while trying to repress the monster that dwelled within him, hiding and waiting to come out and wreak havoc once again.

 

Abi looked up from her paperwork with a disgusted frown. This man… this demon… she never thought that he was a good being. Not once in the time she knew him did she think there was any compassion within his black heart. The very thought that Kagome saw him as such a wonderful friend baffled Abi. If only the human knew what Naraku really was and what he was capable and willing to do.

 

Though as it was turning out, Abi herself was only just realizing what this creature was capable of… it seemed she had sorely underestimated the cruelty of this vile spider. He had opted not to inform her, himself, of what he'd done to the Higurashi woman years ago. But being a female demon of both immense curiosity and intelligence, it didn't stop her and she decided to find out for herself. She looked online for anything she could find on the matchmaker.

 

It was only being her first act, she expected it to be much harder and expected to have to search deeper to find anything of value on the woman. However, fate seemed to want Abi to pry and learn Naraku's horrid deeds, as it was surprisingly easy to find what she was looking for.

 

There were a few ads for the matchmaking company Blazing Hearts that mentioned Kagome Higurashi, but the search engine overflowed with articles, blogs, and essays on `The Slasher'. A mild-mannered and kind-hearted pediatrician who loved children more than anything turned schizophrenic serial killer who shredded his victims with metal claws.

 

No reasoning was given for the sudden and unexpected change in the doctor. No traumatic childhood and no family or personal history of mental illness. And from what they knew, nothing traumatic had happened to him before the change. It proved to be a mystery to friends and family how it happened… and it baffled psychologists. No answer could be given, there was no logical explanation.

 

It would have been useless information and Abi first assumed it was; perhaps there wasn't enough on the Internet about the woman and other articles were just thrown in because of a similar name, as it was known to happen in search engines. It certainly wouldn't have surprised her since she didn't find Kagome that interesting of a person.

 

That train of thought stopped abruptly as she read through the articles. She knew once she read that Suikotsu's girlfriend Kagome Higurashi was the one to turn the killer in. The fact of the doctor's relationship with Higurashi, coupled with the vague hints Naraku offered when he felt cocky enough to gloat, led her to the realization that Naraku had done something to this man. Whatever had made Suikotsu go mad, she knew that Naraku was the cause of it.

 

What, exactly, Abi didn't know. How, she didn't know either. All she knew was that this poor man was in Naraku's way and Naraku's obsession was intense—as it still was currently. She pitied the doctor and she pitied Inuyasha for whatever Naraku had planned to do to him.

 

She didn't think she was a saint and she hardly had a holier-than-though attitude. Abi knew she was far from innocent. She went along with many of Naraku's twisted plans. She made weapons that caused the deaths of an uncountable amount of people and she really didn't care about those who were affected by it. She felt no guilt for what she'd done. But she had never gone as low as Naraku was apparently able to go.

 

She didn't know what he was plotting in that demented mind of his. She was afraid to even try and think about it. But now she knew the depth of his madness and she knew that whatever he had planned for Kagome and her hanyou… it wouldn't end pretty.

 

Inuyasha bought Shippo a strawberry ice-cream cone doused with red and pink sprinkles.

 

The child beamed and shoved the treat into his face as the two made their way back to Inuyasha's apartment. That man at the park had the hanyou's nerves on edge. The way he stared at Shippo was unnerving in itself and the hateful glare he received when their eyes met… who was that man?

 

An ex of Kagome's maybe? He knew she had some bad relationships in her past but she never elaborated on them. The only one she ever even named was her ex-husband and the most she ever said about him was, “Cheating bastard knocked up my friend and ran off.”

 

Could the man have been Hojo? Was that the reason for the hateful glare and the strange look for Shippo? Had he returned to beg Kagome's forgiveness and try to mend their broken marriage? The thought almost brought forth a possessive growl from his throat—as primitive as the action may be. He suppressed it for the sake of the boy but continued to seethe inside.

 

Hojo left Kagome and Shippo for another woman. He didn't deserve Kagome's love and the thought that he might have dared to return to try to get her to take him back infuriated Inuyasha. And—though he would never admit it—it threatened him.

 

It shouldn't, he knew. Hojo's betrayal was an unforgivable act. Still, the thought lingered, women took back unworthy men all the time.

 

And they had a family together and a marriage. Things he abandoned later on, but things they built together all the same. What if Kagome saw something that was worth rekindling? The old flame… what if it still burned? As slight and dim as it might be, it could still remain.

 

Hojo had raised Shippo! Adopted him… Inuyasha shook his head, trying to rid himself of all these thoughts. Hojo also hadn't spoken to the boy in years.

 

How could Inuyasha be so ridiculous? Kagome loved Inuyasha, he knew it. No matter the reason for Hojo's return—as he was convince the man was in fact Hojo—Kagome wouldn't take her ex-husband back because she loved Inuyasha

 

But Inuyasha loved Kagome. He loved her more than anything and it frightened him. It scared him because he didn't know what he would do without her… if he lost her… if she ever left him. And it made him shudder with insecure thoughts.

 

“Why're you so quiet, Inuyasha?” asked the little fox, his mouth sticky with ice-cream and three sprinkles on his cheek.

 

“Just tired,” he told him with a smile, the boy's voice pulling him out of his raging mind. “It's tough keeping up with an energy ball like you.”

 

“You're just old,” nodded Shippo, who would've looked more serious had his face not been covered in pink ice-cream.

 

There is no just reasoning for the lateness of this chapter other than the lack of inspiration. However I got my inspiration today, why I got it in the middle of my accounting class I haven't the foggiest, but I wrote the whole chapter during break.

 

Random Quote:

 

“"I'll send you a copy." BAM! Bitch went down. "I'll send you a copy." BAM! Syd! Super bitch!” - Tatum (Rose McGowan) - Scream