InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Buried Alive ❯ Renewed Friendship ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Disclaimer I don't own InuYasha.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! More to come soon I promise.

Chapter Six Renewed Friendship

The short walk to the embassy was pointless. Within minutes of Hojo and me parting ways I picked up on someone following me. I didn't bother checking out who it was because there was a fifty percent chance that it was one of Hojo's boys following me to make sure I was going where I said I was. It turned out that InuYasha was an easy man to find, especially when he wanted to be found. I had decided on my walk to the embassy that I was going to pretend I didn't know anything that Hojo had told me in the past few hours. If I confronted him with the information then I might be throwing away my only bargaining chip. He was sitting on a bench out in front of the embassy building. His ears twitched, I noticed, as I walked around the corner and into the clearing where I could see his form sitting on the bench. He knew I was approaching and if I was right he'd been waiting for me.

I had no idea how long I had been gone but if Hojo had been right about me only having 25 days then I had probably been gone for more than a few hours. As I grew closer he turned to me. A look of relief flooded his feature and I felt almost confidant that he wasn't a bad guy. For some reason I liked InuYasha, I didn't know if it was smart, but I had this uncontrollable feeling like he was on my side. I sat down next to him on the two-seater bench. Our knees touched sending a jolt up my leg. There was definitely something different about him. He wasn't just another guy. Of course it wasn't like I hadn't come to that conclusion already, what with the cute ears on his head, the fangs I'd noticed the first time he'd smiled and the claws that were taking the place of his fingernails.

He shocked me then by pulling me into a hug but it wasn't one that was comfortable, like the ones I used to share with my mom, this one was more awkward. The memory of my mother had tears springing to my eyes. I could only imagine what she had gone through losing me and then my brother in a few months time and then having to live through it again after the year of being frozen. I wondered for a moment if she had died alone. The thought made my eyes well up and tears flood down my cheeks. InuYasha, not being able to read minds, thought he'd been the cause of my tears.

“Kagome what is it? What happened to you? Where have you been?” He was using his thumbs to brush away the tears from my cheeks. “Did you get hurt?” He didn't wait for an answer only started to check my visible body parts for injury.

“I'm fine,” I was going to tell him about my family, but then he'd know that I had found something, “I'm just relieved, I thought I'd never find my way back here, I got lost.” I dried up my tears saving my grief for another, more appropriate time. “But everything is okay now, I'm with you.” Okay so maybe I was laying it on a little thick, but it worked.

“Kagome everything is going to be fine. I promise.” Yet again this man was making me feel like I belonged. Why did he have to be such a good guy? If I was going to lie, cheat and steal, I wanted it to be easy, and InuYasha was making it hard on my conscience to be bad. Of course there was another part of my mind thinking that InuYasha could just be a really good actor.

“I want to make a deal.” I watched InuYasha for any signs that he wouldn't be open to the idea of making a deal with a walking time bomb. I wondered for a moment if he even knew. Was he just a pawn, or was he the head honcho? It was frustrating not being able to tell him what I knew and find out what he knew.

“What do you mean?” The wind picked up around me and I could smell his hair. It was a musky scent, and very mysterious. I felt stupid for thinking about InuYasha in any other way than an unknown enemy. It made me feel unsure.

“You want to run your tests, and I want some answers, I think we could be civil enough to work out a deal.”

He turned toward me and looked me in the eye. “I think we can work something out.”

I knew I had to be careful; I had to be in charge of this deal. I definitely didn't want him calling the shots. “There are, of course, some stipulations.” It didn't seem right for me to be ordering InuYasha. For all I knew he was the king of his planet, or whatever they called their leaders. It wasn't something I wanted to think about.

He didn't object right away, which I took as a good sign. “Like?”

Okay this was my chance; I had to cover all the basics. “First, any test I undergo you will too, I get to see the results and be informed of their significance.”

He thought about what I said, and for a moment I really thought he was going to say no. “And what do I get in return?” He watched me with those careful amber eyes.

“I won't run away, and you get your tests, I also want to ask some questions.” I gauged his reaction thinking I'd gone too far. Maybe I was too demanding.

“What kind of questions?” I felt a flood of relief flow through my body and I relaxed a little. Now that I had what I wanted I'd let him think he was getting something in return.

“I want to know what happened here and what does Naraku want with me?” That wasn't even a small fraction of the questions fighting in my brain to be asked.

“Okay, I agree to the terms, on one condition of my own.” I waited but didn't object. “Don't ask any personal questions.”

“Do you have a library, or database?” It was worth a shot; at least if I could be alone for a while I would have a chance to look up Dr. Sential. Maybe even find him before my time was up.

“Yes, we have both, what is it you want to research?” I didn't think he knew what I was trying to do, but I did have an eerie feeling that he was being to accepting.

“Well while I was gone on my little walk I realized I've missed quite a bit, and unless you want to be answering questions till the end of time it might just be easier for me to read about the things I've missed out on.”

I was still staring into those deep eyes when something changed. There was something going on that he wasn't telling me. “You don't remember anything do you?” I supposed he was referring to my past, before I had been turned into a bomb and then frozen into an ice cube. And he was right.

“I remember faces, my mom, Souta, Grandpa. I know who I was, I worked a lot with computers and I did more than my fair share of bad things. But I had fun doing it. I don't really remember having any friends, maybe a few here and there. But the names and faces are blurry.” It was hard for me to talk about my family to him, especially since he couldn't know that I knew they were all dead.

“I see, well then before we seal our deal, there are a few things you should know.” I was expecting another stipulation, which would have been fine with me, or for him to tell me something about him.

“About you?” I guessed aloud, “I mean it's not every day that you meet a guy from another planet.” I can't believe I just said that out loud.

“No, not about me, it's about you, well about your family.” My heart sank; I instantly knew what he was going to tell me. Still a part of me hoped Hojo had been lying to me, that somewhere out there my mother and brother and grandpa were still alive.

Still either way I had to pretend like I didn't already know. “What about them? Are they here?” I almost died at the excitement in my own voice.

“Kagome, I'm sorry, but they are dead.” The noise that came out of me next wasn't quite a sob. It was all the pain I'd wanted to withhold, the pain that I could no longer keep inside me. I cried hard, for the second time over the loss of my family. This only confirmed my previous fears. I knew now that Hojo hadn't lied to me, and I knew that all the things he said were going to happen. I had to find Dr. Sential, and I had to be frozen again. InuYasha pulled me to his chest and cradled me there. I felt terrible for getting his shirt wet, but I was crying hard and there was no stop to this flood.

“Are you sure?” I wanted more than anything for him to be a big fat liar, but I knew he wasn't.

“Yes, I'm sorry, but you do still have one person. She's an old friend of yours. Though I'm not sure you remember her.”

Now I was more intrigued than upset and I knew I had to move on eventually. Not that I was over the grief I felt for the loss. Somehow InuYasha made it easy for me. He hadn't pushed me. It was comforting. “Who is it?”

“First let's go inside, it's getting cold out here.” He must have noticed the shiver that had run down my spine and mistaken it for a chill. I was afraid of meeting someone who I wouldn't remember. What would she possibly remember about me? Whoever it was probably knew more about me than I did. “Oh I should warn you, there is one test you need to take before we go inside, for everyone's safety.”

I was curious, and since he had agreed to answer questions I felt free to ask as many as I could. “What is it for?”

He pulled the door open for me and I stepped in. “It's to check you for parasites.”

I tried to remember the fact that he didn't know I knew about everything and so I played the part of village idiot. “Parasites?”

“Yes it's mandatory for all humans.” I saw the machine they were going to use on me and I felt my heart race.

“Will it hurt you?” I knew one thing for sure, I wasn't going first.

He quirked one of his eyebrows in confusion. “No.”

With a wave of my hand I indicated that he should go first. “Then you first.”

He smiled at me and I felt my heart race again. “As you wish.” The InuYasha look-a-likes took that as a queue and with a small click of the big machine a red light flashed and a full scale image of the inside of InuYasha's body popped up on a small screen. There was a loading bar and then the word “clear” flashed over the screen in green letters. Now it was my turn. I was scared for a moment that the test would show the explosive inside me but it didn't. I was cleared and allowed access to the rest of the building.

“Come with me.” I had momentarily forgotten everything in my amazement of the building around me. There was so much going on and everyone was moving quickly. I felt like at any moment I could trip and fall and ruin the clockwork of it all.

“Where are we going?” I tried to pay attention but the similar faces around me made me nauseous. I noticed InuYasha pick up a plastic box.

“Library.”

“What is that for?” I pointed to the plastic case and he smirked at me.

“Our first test.” I felt a lump form in my throat. I didn't like the idea of tests, but it was a deal that I had made.

“What kind of test?” I tried to swallow the lump in my throat and my stomach did a back flip.

We got on an elevator and rode to the second floor. When we stepped out of the elevator we stepped into a large room. It was filled from floor to ceiling with shelves of books. There was a deck of computers as well in the center of the room. “I'm going to draw some blood first.”

“What are you testing for?” I moved around the room looking at the shelves of books. Most of them I didn't recognize. A few looked familiar, but I couldn't place titles with memories.

“I'm going to start with the basics. I want to check your white blood count along with a few other simple tests to make sure you're healthy.”

I picked up a volume of an encyclopedia and glanced at the picture on the cover. “I feel fine.” Besides the fact that there were butterflies in my stomach and a lump in my throat.

“That may be true, but I want to confirm that before we start you on the other tests since they could be fatal if you are sick.”

I had thought I would finally be able to swallow the lump in my throat until the fatality issue took place. “By sick do you mean infection?”

He motioned me closer to him and I set the giant book down on a table before going to his side. “I'm going to test for infection, as well as checking for broad spectrum viruses and bacteria, and check for any genetic abnormalities.”

“Sounds intense,” I sat down in a chair and he opened the plastic case, “are you a doctor?”

“I'm good at a bunch of things. On my planet we are trained in everything we would ever need in life. We age differently so we have the time to spend on learning more.” He pulled a large needle from the plastic case and attached it to a clear plastic tube that he then attached to a small plastic vial.

“Did I mention I am terrified of needles?” I tried not to show my fear, but it was obvious by the way I had cringed from him.

“I'll go first.” He smiled reassuringly at me and I tried to keep my hands from shaking. He tied a tourniquet around the upper part of his right arm and balled his hand into a fist. He clenched and unclenched his fist a few time and then with no warning at all jabbed the needle into his arm at the crease.

I winced and looked away barely catching site of the blood that flowed down the tube and into the vial. I tried to remember my past, if I was created into a human bomb there had to be times when I was pricked with needles and even had to get surgery. Unless it was a small, yet powerful, bomb. I wanted to believe the first one so I could pull through this first test and be able to—without complaint—endure the others. When the vial was filled he carefully removed the needle and I watched in amazement as the wound healed in a matter of seconds.

“Whoa!” I blinked as he put the needle away and pulled out a new one. He put a label on the vial that held his blood and then started getting things ready for my turn. “So you aren't human, does that make you an alien?” I didn't really care about the answer; I was only asking to distract myself. I knew what was coming and I knew that if I was paying attention I would panic.

He laughed out a harsh bark of laughter that made a smile grace my face. “You could better compare me to a demon like that of your fairy tales, aliens like what your Roswell landing is supposed to portray aren't real. There are no little green men.” He rubbed the skin on my upper left arm. I thought he was trying to soothe me but it only made me jump.

“I—I can live with that.” I felt stupid for faltering but he'd tied the tourniquet around my arm and was now looking deep into my eyes.

“Mind if I make a suggestion?” I found myself looking away from his bright eyes and at the ground.

“To help me ignore the pain? I'm game.” I was expecting some advice, what I got was far better. He leaned in really close and I could smell him again. It was intoxicating. I couldn't breathe.

“Small pinch.” He whispered before his lips touched mine and then I was so caught up in the emotions that I barely felt the needle sink into my skin. It was just like he'd promised, small pinch. He backed away after a few seconds a small grin on his face and I felt myself flush red.

“What was that for?” I was afraid of the answer but the question was already out there.

“It works on the girls back home, so I figured it would help you to forget the pain.” I was shocked into a solid stone. The emotions on my face must have been rage and fury because he leaned further back. “Whoa Kagome, it was only a joke.”

I was still too appalled to reply. Knowing he would joke about a kiss made me feel robbed. It had been nothing to either of us, but somehow it was painful. Instead of saying anything at all I looked down at my arm, which made me woozy. I felt myself sway, why did I have to become indisposed at the site of blood? I was chosen to become a human time bomb but I couldn't stand seeing blood. His arm caught me and kept me from falling off my chair. But I was still fuming and I pushed off him and tipped the other way.

“Okay, hold still for a moment, and let me get this out of your arm.” This time there was no promise of a small pinch. He pulled the needle out in a quick motion and put a small square of gauze over it. He put some pressure to the wound and before I had time to realize I was in pain he put a band-aid over it.

He left my side to walk to a large shelf of books and came back with a thick volume. “This may help you remember, I'll be back later.” I was shocked at his clipped tone. He left before I had the time to express irritation. I took the book off the desk and let my anger boil inside me. First he kissed me, and then he had the audacity to tell me it was a commonplace occurrence, and now he was livid with me because I was pissed off—which I had every right to be.

I got up from my seat, still indignant, and pulled the book off the table. I opened the front cover and flipped through a few pages at the front. I glanced at the table of contents and found nothing that looked interesting. I looked over at the deck of computers and knew I'd find something on there that would help me find Dr. Sential. I glanced at the door and made sure no one was going to walk in unexpectedly. After that I went over to the farthest computer and powered it on. It hummed to life and I waited for the screen to load.

I began by opening a search of all the files on the computer, since it didn't seem to be connected to an internet source. I was curious about that; maybe there was no longer internet, after all, tons of people were killed. I figured since this Dr. Sential was responsible for saving what was left of the human race, he would be somewhere on this database. I found several pages of information and it took me a while to narrow it all down to specific information about the man. I found a picture of him that was dated quite recently and I was shocked. He didn't look a day over 20. There was something else about him that made me confused. He looked familiar. I thought back to what Hojo had said. I knew Dr. Sential; I had helped him create the terrible parasite. I agreed with him to make me into a human time bomb. I just wish I could remember him. What was he like? Where did he live?

Finally I got the answer to my question. I found an address and even though I had no idea how I was going to get to New York, at least now I knew where he was. Now I needed to get rid of InuYasha, or at least get out of this building. I had been thinking so hard on a plan of escape that I hadn't heard someone enter.

It made me jump when this person made their presence known. “Hi Kagome.” My first reaction was to shut down the computer and swivel around in my chair like the guiltiest person alive. Thank goodness I realized it wasn't InuYasha before I turned to shout my explanation.

“Oh, hello, do I know you?” Before me stood a girl of my height, she had long dark hair, and bright eyes. I couldn't tell the color from where she stood because she wasn't looking directly at me. It was shocking to see her as a unique individual because I was only used to seeing the InuYasha look-a-likes from earlier today.

“I'm Sango.” She seemed to be saying less and meaning more. I don't know what I was thinking but her eyes were pleading with me. I just have no idea what she wanted from me.

“What are you doing here?” I knew I had no right to ask such a question. After all this was a public—I thought—library. Maybe she was doing research on something or looking for a book. She knew my name so she must be a friend of InuYasha, or maybe everyone knew about me.

“I came to see you.” She was relaxed, which made me relax; she wasn't here to spy on me, or find out what I was doing. I hoped.

“Why?” That was the only thing I wanted to know. Why did anybody want to see me? Or talk to me? Or test me? This led me on to other thoughts. Like: Was InuYasha really using my blood to run tests on my white blood count, or was he doing something else. After all, even if he showed me the test results I wouldn't know what it all meant. I wouldn't know if he was lying to me. I realized then that I'm too trusting. So I stopped right then and there.

“You don't remember me do you?” It was the second time I'd heard that line in one day and I was growing doubtful that all these people who were my friends were still around. I mean Hojo made sense, he was about sixty-something and he looked it. The person in front of me had to be around 20 to 23 years old. There was no way that I could know her, not since I had been in a cryogenic tank for the past sixty years.

“No, sorry, I don't think so.” I felt bad for the way my voice had been clipped and harsh.

“We used to memorize every line of every Mike Myers film. We'd stay up till five AM just so we had an excuse to sleep in. You used to call me Miss. Scarlet, I called you Mrs. Peacock. They were our code names for our nightly trips to the Candy Club. We were wild and brainless, but you had to go and leave me for that stupid, stupid man. We were supposed to be friends to the very end. Instead you left me to go create something that tortured our world and then you tried to fix it. Well guess what, you failed.” I was taken aback, but not before memories came flooding back into my brain. Not all of them, I still couldn't remember who exactly this Dr. Sential person was, but I remembered Sango. She was clear as daylight in my head.

I knew she was angry at me. She blamed me, but my next actions were unstoppable. I rushed forward and pulled Sango into a giant hug. I whispered into her ear. “Don't you remember the crimbo din-din we had with the grotty Scots bint?”

I thought for a moment she was going to pull away and leave me alone—which would have been expected. Instead she whispered back. “Oh, the one that was all sixes and sevens?” We both tried to repress our urges to laugh behind small giggles but they burst through as I finished the next line of the quote and she replied back. We were laughing so hard we were rolling on the floor with tears in our eyes, when—to our embarrassment—someone walked through the double door entrance.

The speed at which we contained out mirth was record-breaking. We stood from our sprawled positions on the floor. I was comforted to find that it was only InuYasha. He probably came to tell me about the test results that could, or could not, be information that would tell you about infections and hereditary diseases. I would never know.

“I see you two remember each other.” I nodded enthusiastically.

“Except I do have one question, if that's not too much to ask.” He smiled at me, it seemed like he'd gotten over his previous tiff with me. I was still boiling deep down, but I wasn't going to let it fester up just yet. I would save my ammo for later, in case I ever needed a good reason to ignore him.

“Go ahead; after all I got my first tests.” Never mind, he was still angry at me—for what reasons I was unsure. It was obvious by the contempt in his voice.

“How is Sango still young?” I smiled at my best friend. “Not that I'm complaining, if you were senile it'd be hard for you to remember half of the stuff we did together, which would have kept me from remembering.”

“Well that's quite a question, it may take a while to explain fully, but Sango has lived on my planet for so long that she has too started aging differently. Like I said earlier, we age differently on my planet. That's mostly because time is different there. Sixty years on this planet is only three on mine.” He smirked at the look of confusion that I knew was on my face.

“Whoa, that's enough to make you dizzy. We can go over the strict details at a later time. What did your tests tell you?” Not that I was for sure he'd tell me the truth. I wasn't all that worried, if I had my way I wasn't going to be here for many more of his ridiculous tests. I had enough information to track down Dr. Sential now so I needed to be leaving soon. I thought for a moment about asking Sango to come with me, but it seemed that she was fully on InuYasha's team and not so much mine. Despite us being best friends years ago, she couldn't be trusted, at least not yet.

“Well you're 100% disease free. Good for you.” He showed me the charts and explained the graphs for me and Sango stood to the side watching idly.

“You know you could totally be lying to me and I'd have no idea.” It was meant to be a humorous remark but he took it seriously.

“I wouldn't lie to you Kagome, you need to be able to trust me and I need to be able to trust you.” He gave me a sincere smile and I wanted to look away. I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. His eyes were locked on mine and it was impossible to even pull up the anger I had felt toward him little over an hour ago.

“So has she gotten the grand tour yet?” Sango wondered aloud not exactly breaking up our staring contest.

“How big is this place?” I had figured that only a few floors of the building were in use but the look on Sango's face told me the whole thing was utilized to its fullest potential.

“Do you mind if I steal her away from you for a few hours?” She was pleading with InuYasha. “Or you could come with us.” She had taken my arm and was already dragging me to the doors. I watched his face hoping he would decline his invitation. No luck for Kagome today.

“I can join you, after all I'm the one responsible, and I can't have you getting her lost.” He grinned down at me and I was sure I was sporting a morbid look.

“Pssh,” Sango laughed at the comment. “I know this place better than you do.”

He let out a bark of laughter that I found rather cute, after all with his dog ears and adorable face it worked well for him. I found myself incapable of staying angry at him, or at least showing my irritation with him.

“We have to get you used to the place fast, we have game night tonight.” She sounded gleeful and that only made me more confused.

“What is game night? Like board games?” They both laughed at me, well Sango laughed at me, InuYasha seemed more concerned.

“She can't play the game tonight, she'd get lost within minutes.” He grinned at me, “We'd never find her again.” I wasn't sure that I didn't like that idea. Whatever this game night is it could be my chance to escape and it would give me a few hours to get out of town.

“Oh come on, we can show her the way around, and if we have to she can stick with one of us during the games.” Her bottom lip jutted out in a pout and I followed suit. There was no way he could say no.

“Well if we're going to do this then you're going to have to pay attention, this place is huge.” I smiled at him temporarily forgetting our argument. With an excited squeal from Sango I was rushed off to get fully acquainted with the seven story building.

End Chapter

Ok so I hope you love it! Lol! I'm proud of this update, and if you have any questions feel free to ask!