InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bottled Genius ❯ Without You ( Chapter 16 )

Author's notes: Ah! Horrible cliff hanger - I'm so sorry! I tried to update as fast as I could so I wouldn't leave you all hanging. Hopefully this should calm everyone down and stem the death threats I've been receiving lately…

Bottled Genius

Chapter 16

Without You…

Someone was holding her hand. That was probably the first thing she was aware of when she finally came around. She could vaguely hear her mother and her Grandfather conversing nearby in quiet voices, and judging by the soft, cool hand that gripped hers, it was her mother who held her hand.

The first thing Kagome did was squeeze her hand back and open her eyes as she drew up another hand to stifled a yawn. "What time is it?" she squinted at her wrist watch to find out… only she wasn't wearing her watch anymore. Instead she was wearing a paper bangle with her name and date of birth scribbled on it.

She quickly looked to her mother and Grandpa and saw them smiling at her, in that disturbing way they used when something had happened - be it bad or good.

There was a clatter somewhere nearby and Kagome sat up so suddenly in her bed that she nearly got a head rush.

"You shouldn't do that, dear." She felt her mother press down on her shoulders to get her to lie back, but Kagome was too busy looking around to pay any attention.

"Why am I in hospital?" she asked quickly, darting a startled look around her ward. There were two other empty beds in there with her and a vase of dry flowers on her bedside table. "What happened? Where's Souta? Where's Inuyasha?"

"Souta just went to the vending machine." Her mother explained. "But… don't you remember what happened?"

"We were coming home…" Kagome frowned as she tried to pick at her memory. "We were driving and… and I remember we kept swerving…" she looked down at herself and slowly took in the numerous bruises and graces that covered the exposed skin on her arms. Other than those few scratches, she felt perfectly fine… except… She snapped her head up to look at her family. "Did we crash?"

"We don't remember much either." Grandpa offered.

"I lost control of the car and it went off the road…" Mrs Higurashi winced apologetically at her daughter. "It was amazing none of us were seriously injured. I think us three were thrown out of the car before it fell… you went down with it but you've only sustained minimal injuries. The paramedics were impressed with you."

But there had been a fifth person in that car… "What about Inuyasha? Was he thrown free too? He's ok, right?"

Grandpa and Mrs Higurashi traded tense looks… Kagome hated it when they did. "Well…" Her mother began slowly. "We think he was thrown free like the rest of us… I mean… we were all nearest a door - and you being in the middle was trapped inside… and if you survived then we're pretty sure he survived too."

"What - what do you mean by that?" Kagome stammered. "You're pretty sure? Where is he - why aren't you sure?"

"Well, we didn't find any body around the crash sight so we're assuming he walked away ok." her mother turned to look at Grandpa. "But I would have thought he'd have stayed to let us know… don't you think?"

Kagome slumped back down onto her rigid hospital pillow, her heart thudding a little too fast in her chest. They didn't understand… they didn't know that he was a Wishbringer - that if he had died he wouldn't have left any body to be found. When Inuyasha died he turned into a cloud and drifted away on the breeze… but…

Wishbringers didn't die from car crashes did they…? Or did they?

And what about his bottle?

"Mom - have you seen that coke bottle anywhere?" she asked quickly.

"What bottle?" her mother blinked.

"That ratty one that I always carry around with me."

"I can't understand why you wouldn't let me throw that away - I mean, it's empty isn't it?" her mother shrugged. "Well, the people who picked up the car retrieved what survived of our luggage… though I didn't see that bottle with it."

Kagome's breathing was getting a little too choppy for her own good. What if the bottle had been broken in the crash? What if he was gone… what if he was really gone…

"I-I…" Kagome struggled to sort her thoughts out. "I don't want to stay here, I wanna go home."

"The doctor says that we could leave as soon as he checks you." Her mother told her gently. "Just to make sure there isn't any concussion or hidden damage. He thinks you might have hit your head."

Which probably explained why it felt so sore… but she ignored the pain in favour of continuing to fret about Inuyasha. She needed to find his bottle and see if he was ok… see if it was broken…

"Oh!" Mrs Higurashi suddenly sat up. "Do you know where Inuyasha's foster family lives? Only it's probably best that we contact them in case he's there with them… or in case he's not."

Kagome just shook her head. "I don't know where he comes from…" she sighed and turned her gaze to the stark florescent light tube above her on the ceiling. "He's always just been around… you know…"

"Don't worry, he'll turn up." Her mother reassured her.

^_^

As soon as the doctor had checked Kagome out to make sure she really was ok, he announced her as fit as fiddle and ready to go home. Once again he expressed how surprised he was that Kagome had survived the fall at all. Seeing as how she'd been pinned inside the vehicle and banged her head on a particularly nasty rock. She should have been dead, but she was walking away with only a few cuts and bruises.

"That's more than what can be said for my car." Mrs Higurashi said in dismay as they took the taxi back home.

Along the way, Kagome looked up to see them travelling down the same road as before… and spotted the broken barricade that they must have crashed through which was now penned off with some police tape. She looked around desperately for some sign of Inuyasha… perhaps he was wandering around the hill looking lost and confused with the bottle in his hand. Yet the likeliness of that was not so likely.

She sighed as she sat back down. Souta must have read her thoughts. "I wonder where Inuyasha went to?" He mused. "I mean… he must have survived - because he's like ten times more tough than us."

Kagome stared dully at the leather seat beside her scratched up thigh.

"Maybe he hit his head and got amnesia." Souta went a little vacant as his imagination swept him away. "And then he wondered off and joined this underground Mafia thing - and so because he doesn't remember who he is he'll start working for them to make a living for himself. And he'll be the baddest and the best and because he's so cool and strong, he'll work himself into being the boss of the Mafia and he'll be ruling all the drug traffic in Japan and dealing out assassinations to 'guests' who don't pay back their loans and stuff."

Kagome and Mrs Higurashi shot him two very incredulous looks and Souta jumped as though he'd been zapped. "Hey - Inuyasha could be the head of the Mob!" he suddenly grinned. "That would be so cool knowing someone like that… we could get favours off of him 'cause we're friends of his, right?"

"Yes, but if he had amnesia he wouldn't remember us would he?" Grandpa pointed out.

"Ah…" Souta nodded. "Ok, so maybe he hasn't got amnesia and just wondered off and joined the Mafia for giggles? And then we'd still get favours from him."

"If we found him." Grandpa put in.

"That would be useful I suppose." Mrs Higurashi said thoughtfully. "Knowing someone in the Mafia and getting favours… because our hedge really does need trimming. And I never really did like those horrible trolls up the road… we could get someone to do away with them."

"What? The Hashimotos'?" Grandpa gave her a startled look.

"No - the little doll trolls with colourful hair that the daughter puts in the front bedroom window." She explained. "They give me the shivers every time I drive past, it would be nice to find them gone one morning."

"Guys!" Kagome suddenly broke in. "Inuyasha isn't in the Mafia."

"Deny it all you want." Souta sighed at her.

"Look - we still have to find him!" Kagome gasped at them all. "We still don't know whether or not he's alive!"

"Oh he's alive." Her mother nodded. "They didn't find his body remember? So he's obviously gotten up and walked away-"

"-So he could join the Mafia and line people up against the wall to shoot them up with Tommy guns like they do in those-"

"Souta, shut up!" Kagome snapped a little more harshly than she'd intended. Fortunately Souta was of the hardy variety and insults and snaps just bounced off of him like rubber. He just shrugged and went back to watching the trees flash by outside.

Kagome sank down miserably in her seat and prayed that her fears weren't correct.

The arrival home wasn't very gallant and welcoming, though Kagome had doubted it would be. All she really had to do to settle back into the old house was drag her suitcase up the stairs, dump the contents in her chest of drawers and then sit down on the bed to bask in the afterglow of her feelings. She was confused, upset, angry… and perhaps a little hungry. But most of all she felt worried, and very alone. With a groan she hung her head in her heads and began wracking her brains to try and remember what had happened yesterday.

She didn't remember much past the point of leaving the airport, but she tried to anyway. There were scraps of recollection of a game between her and her brother… Yellow Car and Bugs. The car swerving sharply into another car… But that was all she could retrieve…

"Where is he?" she whispered aloud and looked around her room as if that would produce some kind of answer. This didn't provide much inspiration, so she pushed herself up and looked out the window instead.

So far it didn't look good. Any one of four things could have happened to Inuyasha. Firstly, he may have had his bottle smashed and was dead… Secondly, Naraku may have gotten his hands on Inuyasha and the bottle… and thirdly, he may have just misplaced himself…

The last option was that he really had ambled off and joined the Mafia. Kagome wouldn't put it past him.

^_^

Mrs Higurashi looked around the scene of devastation with folded arms and a light frown. "Look at this mess…"

Kagome didn't say anything as she picked her way through the remains of the car wreck. Most of it had been taken away, but a lot of the general rubble still lay around, mixed in with the ferns and roots of the trees. She stopped next to the place where she'd been found lying. "I didn't think it was this bad…"

"The car was a total write off, of course." Her mother said quietly. "It was a miracle and a blessing that we all got out alive… though I still don't remember how…"

Kagome crouched down and touched the surface of a rock that seemed to be stained with a dark brown liquid. Her own blood maybe?

Somehow she knew that they should have all died in that crash. No one should have gotten out alive, least of all Kagome.

Inuyasha must have done something… it was the only explanation.

"Thank god we had insurance, eh?" Grandpa commented as he approached the two. Souta was still off in the trees collecting little bits of metal as souvenirs.

A glint of light caught Kagome's eye and she turned quickly to look over towards a crop of bushes between some trees. At once she darted over and scooped up the one thing she had persuaded her family to come for…

The coke bottle.

Kagome hastily turned it over in her hands, checking and rechecking for flaws, scratches or signs of any breakage. To her relief… she found that it was in perfect condition, save for a few white scratches on the plastic, but they had always been there.

But then the question arose. If his bottle was in tact - then why wasn't Inuyasha showing himself to her?

"Why…?" she gazed at the bottle in confusion. "Where the hell is he…?"

"Who? Inuyasha?" Souta toddled up to take a look at what she held. "And people think I collect weird stuff."

Kagome glanced down at him.

"Did you know that Mom called the police?" Souta told her. "She's put Inuyasha on their list of missing people… so if anyone sees him… we'll get a call."

"Yeah…"

"Some of the witnesses to the crash said they saw a guy fitting Inuyasha's description." As he said this, Souta scratched his head as if puzzled.

"What did they say?" Kagome asked quickly.

"Well… they said he was standing on the road up there one minute," Souta pointed to the road above them. "And then he was gone the next, like he'd just vanished into thin air."

"Did anyone see him after that?"

"Kagome, they obviously must have imagined it. People don't just disappear, right?" Souta sniffed. "Well… even if they did see him after that, I wouldn't know. That's all the police man told us when they took you out of the wreck."

"Oh…" Kagome sighed softly and turned to carry the bottle back to the car they now had on loan since their original one had been destroyed the day before. Her mother joined her side and put a comforting arm around her shoulder. Neither of them spoke for a while until her mother gave her shoulders a squeeze and placed a kiss on her temple.

"He'll turn up." Was all she said. Kagome just continued to stare at the ground as they walked back.

^_^

On the second day of the family's return to the old house, Kagome was becoming more than a little worried and stressed. Inuyasha still hadn't turned up, despite the number of threats, orders and wishes she'd shouted into the air. She'd even tried holding the bottle in her hands and contacting him through telepathy. It had never worked in the past, and it still didn't work for her now. So she wasn't too let down when it failed.

"Two days!" Kagome ranted as she paced the length of the living room, distracting the others from the Tv. "He's been missing two days and there's not a single word of him to be heard!"

"The police are out there looking…" Her mother tried gently. "The minute he's spotted we'll know, dear."

"Yes but… Inuyasha just isn't the type to be seen that way…" Kagome sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "What if something bad has happened to him? And we'd never know because… I never got to say good bye…"

No one said anything to counter this. After two days of searching, even the police had started voicing their doubts that the boy was alive and well, even though his body hadn't been recovered.

"You shouldn't be so pessimistic." Her Grandfather said eventually. "He's probably back home being grounded by his foster parents…"

This did nothing to alleviate Kagome's mood… of course they had no idea that Inuyasha didn't belong to any family or anyone except her… and possibly Naraku. He had no family to house him like a normal teenager…

"That's not what's happened." Kagome snapped bitterly at them. "You wouldn't understand." Now that had sounded rather Inuyasha-like.

Kagome heard her mother sigh gently from the sofa. "Kagome, it's all right to cry if you want. It'll make you feel better."

"Oh will it?" she snapped again in anger as she marched over to sit down heavily on the sofa beside her mother. "Well thank you very much!"

At once Kagome dissolved into tears and fell against her mother's shoulder who quickly pulled her arms around her daughter and rocked her gently with soft comforting noises. The two males in the room shifted uncomfortably at such an unfamiliar display of emotion. It wasn't like Kagome to burst into tears like that and down right bawl on her mother.

Mrs Higurashi stroked Kagome's hair slowly as her daughter buried her face in her blouse. "It's ok… Shh…" her shirt was getting damp with tears now. "It'll turn out ok, Kagome…"

"W-what if he doesn't come back?" Kagome managed to cry out, still in the middle of her flooding tears. "W-what if he's gone…?! For g-good?!"

Her mother was helpless to her questions and could do nothing more than try to soothe her.

^_^

"This'll be the third…" Kagome muttered that night to her ceiling. She lay flat out in bed, still trying to contemplate the possibility that she might never see Inuyasha again. It had already been three days…

Hadn't Inuyasha told her once that Wishbringers couldn't stay away from a master for more than two days?

The cogs in her brain had been turning and she'd been remembering more things.

She'd remembered all the fear that had gone through her mind when they'd shot off the road and into the air. Everyone had screamed around her and what had scared her most was the fact that they were scared. So she also remembered the flash wish that she'd made.

To save them…

She'd been completely oblivious to the fact that she was in danger too… she'd simply seen that her family were about to die and she had done the first thing that had entered her brain.

That must have been the eighth wish… because she didn't remember making another that would spare her own life. She clearly remembered the dawning realisation now of when she'd seen the ground rushing up to her. It all blurred at that point… but she had a feeling - no, in fact she was almost certain that when she'd fallen she'd been alone. But when she'd hit the bottom - there had been someone with her…

And then she'd woken up in hospital.

What had happened back there that she didn't recall? Why wasn't Inuyasha with her now?

A rather strong possibility of what had happened had occurred to her long ago. But until now she'd refused to really accept it as a possibility. What if Naraku had made his third wish? What if he'd wished Inuyasha would die? In which case he would just dissipate into thin air and never return - which would explain why his bottle was still intact…

Another wave of strong emotion was washing over her and she valiantly fought it back down before she started to cry again. She pressed a hand over her mouth and screwed her eyes tightly shut against the prickle of tears.

It was pathetic really… he'd only been gone two days and she was missing him like crazy. In the beginning she would have given anything to get rid of him, but now…

Now she felt like she was losing an arm or a leg…

Kagome felt herself sitting up almost without being conscious of doing so, She knelt on the old dipping mattress of her bed and rested her elbows against the window sill whilst clasping her hands together. She bowed her head until her forehead touched her interlocked fingers and closed her eyes tightly.

Oh dear… she must have been pretty desperate if she was resorting to praying.

"Dear, anyone who is listening to pathetic old me." She whispered, half hoping that if she was humble, someone up there would take pity on her. "Please… if Inuyasha is out there alive… give me some kind of sign? Or return him to me? I know I spoke to you a few weeks ago asking you to remove him… but I really take that back. I'm really falling to pieces without him…"

She trailed off her prayer as her eyes opened slightly and her thoughts started to wander. Was she really falling to pieces? Well… she felt like crying all the time, she missed him like crazy and she was suffering the same symptoms of grief as when she'd lost her friend when she was thirteen… only slightly more milder because there was still a hope he would return to her.

Kagome quickly remembered she was in the middle of a prayer and she was keeping whoever was listening, waiting. "Um… sorry… got distracted. As I was saying, I'd really appreciate it if you sent Inuyasha back to me… I'm getting a little lonely, I suppose. I need someone to talk to… someone my age. And if he's out there… lost… and unable to return to me ever again… if he's dead, please watch over him?"

"Amen."

Kagome whipped around so fast she nearly dealt herself some whiplash. Her neck gave a jab of pain and she slapped a hand up to rub the ache while she tried to peer through the dark room behind her. "Who's there?"

She groped around in the dark beside her until her hand connected with the lamp and new light flooded the small room. Kagome blinked rapidly as it momentarily blinded her, but soon managed to focus a squinted gaze on the person sitting in the dusty arm chair near the door. The arm chair was still covered in the large white dust sheet that she had yet to remove… this didn't seem to matter to the young man sitting there.

He was dark haired, fairly good-looking and young… perhaps in his late teens, early twenties. Judging by the ever so faint and disappearing swirl of royal blue smoke that swirled around him… he'd just popped into that seat without actually walking into the room.

"Naraku…" Kagome breathed, a little vehemently.

The stranger regarded her with a mild smile. "Naraku? No. A relative perhaps, but I'm not Naraku."

Kagome pulled the blankets tighter around her form. "Why should I believe you?"

"You shouldn't." The stranger said bluntly. "If you did, I would seriously think you were naïve and dim."

Kagome blinked at him. "You don't sound like him…"

"Good. Because I would be very insulted if I did." The young man ran a finger across the armrest rest of the chest and inspected his digit, as if looking for dust. Kagome had no idea whether he found dust or not, because his expression remained neutral and mild, even when he lowered his hand and looked at her in a penetrating way. "But I didn't come here to discuss any similarities between me and hell-spawn man. I came to ask if you are, or if you are not, Inuyasha's primary master."

Kagome opened her mouth, about to answer, when she stopped herself just in time. Should she answer? She didn't know if this person was good or bad… perhaps it wasn't a great idea to go blabbing information around. So instead she fixed him with a shrewd glare. "I'm not telling you anything. You just said you were a relative of Naraku-"

"Yes. I am." He cut her off. "But then you could also say that Inuyasha is a closer relative to Naraku. If Inuyasha is Naraku's father, then I would undoubtedly be Naraku's grandfather."

Kagome remained non-plussed. "What?"

The stranger sighed deeply, as though patiently getting impatient with her. "Are you or are you not Inuyasha's Master?"

"First tell me who you are." Kagome told him stubbornly.

"You needn't be suspicious of me." The young man said in a slightly offended manner. "I am one who serves Buddha. I am not a suspicious person."

"Yet you still haven't told me your name."

"Miroku." He said breezily, like he made this kind of introduction every day. "A Ninth Generation Wishbringer and one who seeks Inuyasha."

"A ninth generation…" Kagome whispered. Slowly her intuition was sorting out the puzzle. "You… you're the guy who made Inuyasha a Wishbringer."

"And don't I regret? Or I will regret it if I don't-" He suddenly stopped himself short and tried again. "I came to ask you where he is."

"I… I'm not sure if I want to tell you." Kagome said snippily, hoping she gave an air of knowing. "You might be out to get him."

"Do you have any idea how many rules that pesky little Hanyou has broken over the last fifty-four hours?" Miroku said in that mild way of his. "Half of those rules should have been impossible to break, but that doesn't seem to have put a limit to his behaviour."

Kagome's mouth dropped open. "A-are you saying Inuyasha's alive? He's out there somewhere?!"

Miroku blinked slowly at her. "You really don't know where he is, do you?"

It wasn't really a question. Kagome ducked an embarrassed gaze to the floor.

"Well," Miroku stood up easily and folded his arms calmly. "Perhaps you need informing of exactly what has been transpiring these last few days."

Kagome nodded slowly. "Please?"

"I suppose it's only fair to fill you in, since this is partly your fault too." Miroku put a hand to his chin. "Well let's see now… the first rule he broke must have been when he brought you back to life - and not the conventional way either."

"But I never died-"

"Yes you did. For about ten seconds. And if Inuyasha had simply just broken the rule cleanly, you would be a zombie. Soulless. So he made a pig's ear of it and just had to reverse time by fifteen seconds so he could heal your injuries before you dropped dead on him." Miroku smiled placidly. "Of course, you being human, would be unaware of the time shift, but me, and every other unearthly being on this planet suddenly found ourselves repeating the last fifteen seconds of conversation we were having. I in particular had to endure a rather painful slap… twice, thanks to him."

Kagome stared at him.

"And reversing time and healing most of your injuries without your permission should have been enough to kill him out flat… and I thought perhaps he had been killed out flat. But then a few hours later more rule breaking occurred."

"What did he do then?" Kagome whispered, a little concerned for Inuyasha.

"Half destroyed Naraku." Miroku didn't look so cross about this though. "Stole half of his life force and used it for himself, with which… I'm guessing it was enough to keep him alive to break just a few more rules."

"So Naraku's half dead…?" Kagome gasped.

"And gone into hiding… though I'm sure he'll recover soon enough…" Miroku looked bewildered now. "Though how on earth he managed to actually steal life from someone like Naraku without the power of a wish behind him is beyond me… But that's not all."

"Oh god…" Kagome nearly grimaced.

"As far as I know, he's managed to conjure."

"Conjure?" Kagome frowned. "But he said that's impossible-"

"It is impossible." Miroku agreed readily. "He conjured a tin of beans and a tin opener. I don't know how he did it. Though he always had a habit of saying 'I can bend the rules but not break them… yet' so I'm guessing he's finally broken them. So not only has he broken Wishbringer rules, but he's also broken Physic's rules."

"Wow… Inuyasha got turned into a dog once and that really sapped his energy… how can he do all these things without me wishing them on him." Kagome wondered. "Have you been watching him?"

"Well, not closely. I've always picked up on the things he does… part and parcel of being the one who created him. He's my responsibility so I have to keep him out of trouble." Miroku scowled slightly. "Which is getting harder and harder to do."

Kagome chewed her lip.

"And he's also broken the final rule - the golden rule of being a Wishbringer. By staying away from his primary master for more than forty-eight hours." Miroku sighed. "It's my duty to deal with him now… or else if he keeps up this rule breaking he'll get our whole line exterminated."

"Exterminated? What's that supposed to mean?" she hadn't liked the sound of that.

"It means that the First will bring it down on our heads. Inuyasha will end up getting Naraku killed, himself killed, me killed, my sire killed, and his sire killed and so on until theirs no one in our line left. That's how the First deals with trouble makers. He wipes out everyone associated with the troublesome one."

Kagome remained in silent shock for a moment. "And… who's the first?"

"The First is the true Wishbringer. The one who came before all others and has always been a Wishbringer since time began. He is the only one of the first generation." Miroku shrugged slightly. "While the rest of us have limitations on our wishes and have to abide by rules, the First can grant whatever wish he wants… though only one at a time."

"And he'd really do Inuyasha in if-"

"If Inuyasha doesn't stop messing around. Yes." Miroku dropped his arms and gave her a serious look. "The minute he returns to you… if he decides to return to you, you should inform me. It's in everyone's best interests if I kill Inuyasha before he gets everyone killed too by his carelessness. My own master is active… so you'll be able to contact me whenever you want. Just give me a shout."

Not likely. Kagome smiled and nodded anyway, thinking that was the best way to get rid of him the fastest. The Wishbringer, Miroku dissipated in a similar fashion to Inuyasha… disappearing in a small whirl of blue smoke that quickly vanished in his wake.

Kagome stayed sat there in stunned silence for a few minutes, slowly assimilating all the knowledge that had been given to her. She eventually lay down, this time with a new hope thrumming in her chest. Inuyasha was alive! In trouble… but alive! Somehow she just knew he would return to her.

And he did. That very night.

AN: Wow… a whole chapter without Inuyasha turning up once. That has to be some kind of record for me…