InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cats and Dogs ❯ The Calm and the Storm ( Chapter 10 )

-*-

I'm going to hop on this story for a while. I will be making my epilogue to Inu Yasha as promised in First Class Dog. Don't worry, guys, I haven't forgotten. I figured it would be a big bummer if I started the new story and then had to drop it until December. I'd rather add infrequently to this one than start a fresh story and let it sit like that. I promise, I will do the other story in time!

-*-

During the momentary confusion Neko had slipped away.

Inu Yasha cursed.

“Perfect.” He grumbled.

Kagome pursed her lips in thought. Their two adult guides in the alien world of RhyDin were gone. One had been spirited away, the other had run off. The miko and her close-knit friends had only a young boy to rely on. It was then that she noticed her shirt had grown damp at the shoulder where his tears had fallen onto it. Slowly, she edged off the sofa she had been sitting in and carefully stood with the child in her arms. It was no small feat to do so but she had carried around Souta so much that J's near dead weight was easy to adjust without compromising her balance.

The hanyou noticed her movement out of the corner of his eye. He opened his mouth to speak but the demon hunter clamped a hand on his shoulder and turned him towards her.

“Let her have some space. The only person who might know where Neko and Fia are is very upset…” In a quieter voice she added, “…Besides, our shard lead might not make it and we don't know anything about this land.”

Inu Yasha's golden eyes were closed as he took a second to think. Kagome was already half way to her room with J. It seemed the miko had made up her mind for them both so he nodded and then stepped away from the huntress. He had to admit, the girl had a gift for healing broken minds. If anyone could get the kid back on his feet it would be her.

The moment the door shut to Kagome's room Acebris emerged from room four. He seemed calm, almost aloof to the predicament of his companion. The half demon expected him to be a mess after witnessing the girl in such a terrible condition. Then again, he did not seem to care much for her company. His blue eyes scanned the room until they fell upon the dog demon. The man's long strides quickly brought them close.

“You found her?” Acebris had the voice of a man who was all business and the impatient attitude had vanished from his body language.

Inu Yasha nodded, “I picked up the smell of her blood in the woods and tracked her down.”

Miroku appeared beside them and added, “We brought her here and then we returned to where we found the young lady to see if whatever attacked her was still around.”

“Her scent and her blood trail led us further into the woods.” The hanyou continued.

“So she was attacked, then tried to walk back to the inn?” Acebris inquired, one black eyebrow arched incredulously.

“It seems that way.” The houshi replied, “The evidence points to an attack by one possessing miasma. It is a dark fog which burns or melts any living thing on contact.”

“This thing attacks with an acidic fog?”

“Yeah, it reeks of an enemy we're a little too familiar with. But we're pretty sure she killed it. There wasn't any sign or scent of anything other than her outside of the initial attack site.” Inu Yasha added.

“Tell me all about it.”

-*-

It took some degree of skill to get the door to her room closed behind her with a limp pre-teen in her arms. Kagome sat down on her bed carefully with J and patted his back to get his attention. He had been so quiet she almost wondered if he had passed out.

“You heard Neko is gone?”

The boy nodded into her shoulder.

“You know that this wasn't your fault, right? He's not mad at you, he's mad at himself.”

J's quiet voice wavered when he spoke, “No, he's right. I should have been watching her. We know they wait to get her alone. It's easier to make the extraction.”

He swallowed hard.

The miko hated to make the point but knew it would be the only thing that might break through his emotional state, “But, even if you were there, would you have been able to fight those people off alone?”

Again, he shook his head no. J shifted off her lap and sat on the bed beside her, clasping one of her hands tightly between two of his. He clung to her as if she might be spirited away as well if he let go. Knowing that the boy was very analytical in nature she followed her question up with another.

“So, if you had been there and fought with them and been hurt…what would Fia do?”

“…She would have been upset…” He replied, hesitantly.

Kagome pressed on, “Would Neko have run off even if you were hurt?”

Another nod from J followed, “He would have known I was safe with you guys. He was taught to travel alone.”

A thought struck her just then and she pursed her lips in thought for a moment before asking, “J, you and Fia…you communicate to each other with your minds, right?”

His unnaturally blue eyes stared up at her for a moment; he had the faintest hint of a blush on his tear-streaked cheeks, “Y-yeah… of course I can, why?”

“Can you reach her with your mind?” She chewed on her lower lip before adding, “Can she tell you where she is?”

The sudden realization that he was not quite as useless as he had originally thought caused him to regain much of his composure. His posture straightened, his fists scrubbed off the tears from his cheeks and then settled on his knees. J's blue eyes seemed to defocus for a moment. They were wide open and stayed that way unblinking. His lips moved as if they were forming silent words, then his brow wrinkled and he blinked again.

“Damn! They must have shut her down. I can't pick up a signal.”

“Well that makes sense. APAC wouldn't want her fighting them the whole way to their labs, now would they?” Acebris said as he appeared in the doorway to their room.

J jumped a little and instinctively put a small arm out in front of the miko protectively, “What do you want and what do you know about APAC?”

“Please, kid. If I wanted to hurt her it would have already happened. Look, I'm hunting the same people that took your girlfriend.”

“S-she's not my girlfriend!” J blustered, “And so what if you're hunting the same people? Your partner is hurt…she might die. Are you just gonna leave her there?”

Something flashed in the tall man's eyes that Kagome sensed was trouble. He might have been angry, but the look was so momentary that she had little time to think much about it. She gave the boy a gentle squeeze to his shoulder to let Acebris talk.

“No, brat, but if you wait a few days they'll have to boot her back up again once they get her back to the labs now, won't they? Then you can triangulate her signal and find out where they took her.”

“But why take on APAC? Rose is hurt.” Kagome interjected.

“It's just business, that's all.” He grunted and crossed his arms in a way that Kagome recognized as a move Inu Yasha often used when he was finished talking about a personal matter. She could ask the dog demon about it later. He and Miroku had been talking to Acebris before they had stepped in. Before she could inquire further the mercenary had stepped back out into the hall.

The miko turned her attention back to J, “Are you feeling any better now?”

He nodded and gave her a lopsided smile. The pain was still evident in his eyes but he seemed to be aching far less than before.

“Yeah I'll be fine. Let's go talk to everyone and let them know what's going on.”

-*-

The explanation of the most recent chain of events and their new objective turned out to be far easier than what J had originally supposed. Explaining com-links had turned out to be too complicated for the Sengoku people to relate to. Eventually they settled on calling it a `special shared psychic link' and left it at that. The boy genius had an even more difficult time explaining why he had to wait for them to take Fia to their base before he could determine where she was. He could not explain what triangulation was but he was able to simplify the idea into telling them that Fia could not tell him where she was until she was conscious and could give them an idea of her location. Granted, he would know exactly where she was without knowing physical features and it wouldn't be a guessing game but he could cross that bridge later when he came to it.

For the rest of the day J continued his attempt to contact Fia at least once every hour. Both Sango and Kagome quickly realized that the effort to try and make a connection wore the boy out. He ate frequently, yet continued to look more and more exhausted as the hours went on. When it grew dark Sango begged him to stop and take a rest. Acebris had gone in and out of Rose's room most of the day but at that moment he leaned against a wall, staring intently at J. When he refused to go to bed Acebris shook his head and sat down next to him on the couch the boy was meditating.

“Look, kid. You've got an organic computer, right?” He tapped his head with a leather-covered hand for emphasis.

J blinked in surprise, “You know that?”

“Of course,” Ace continued, “I am going after APAC, after all… but anyway. You need to go take a rest. Your heart rate is rapid, you're pale, and you're worrying these women half to death.”

“But… who'll check the signal when I'm asleep?”

“I can—only if you let me.” Acebris motioned at a small electronic board on one of his ebony gauntlets. “I can monitor the signal while you're asleep. I know you don't know me that well but…” He hesitated for a moment, as if contemplating what he was about to say and if it was worth saying, in the end he gave in. “APAC took something very dear from my people. I want them gone. You can even delete her call sign in the morning, personally.”

J ran his fingers through his hair for a moment in thought then accessed the small hologram keyboard which hovered over the man's gauntlet. Sango watched the two from a distance; she jumped when Miroku leaned in to whisper to her.

“Don't those two look alike?”

“I thought so too.” Sango replied under her breath “They almost look like brothers.”

“Indeed. We ought to keep an eye on him, I should think.”

She nodded. After searching through a few of Ace's databanks J decided that the man was trustworthy enough and configured his gauntlet to pick up Fia's call signal.

“You'll wake me up if you get through to her…even if it's late?” J looked up at the man, his eyes pleading.

Ace ruffled the boy's hair, “Of course, kid. Now, let the little ladies put you to bed.”

J groaned but allowed the big man to push him towards Kagome and Sango. The boy grabbed onto Kagome's hand and allowed her to bustle him off to bed. Shippo had already fallen asleep in their room. Inu Yasha followed behind the two girls at a distance, and then stood against the wall beside the doorway to keep watch over them. Fia's disappearance had put him on edge and he was concerned that either one of them could be next.

J insisted that Kagome remain with him while he slept and held her hand like a security blanket. Eventually Sango managed to switch her hand with his so that she could go to bed. The huntress was used to sleeping sitting up so it was easy for her to remain in that position. The miko was not so accustomed to such things; she waved to Sango appreciatively and then headed back to her own room. Inu Yasha scrambled up from the sitting position he had adopted while he waited.

“Oi, woman, slow down,” He grumbled.

She whirled towards him and gave him her most disarming smile. “Are you ready for bed?”

The hanyou gaped for a moment, shocked at how forward she was to him, “I…uh… yes, bed is good.”

As they passed by the open door to Rose's room the two noticed Ace sat in a chair beside her. He tapped on the hologram over one of his gauntlets and without looking up gave the two a wave. The man was incredibly perceptive. The dog demon's sharp eyes also noted that her burns were looking slightly better as well; her scent did not reek so much of miasma, either.

“I think she's going to pull through…She doesn't smell so much like death.” Inu Yasha commented below his breath.

“That's good to know.” The miko replied.

Back in their room Kagome quietly closed the door and plopped down onto the bed. She stared the half demon down intently and without hesitation he spoke exactly what had been on her mind.

“You want to know why Acebris wants to come with.”

She nodded.

“We told him that we're pretty sure Rose killed whatever attacked her but I also mentioned that there's always a chance that it she didn't.” He took in a breath slowly as he replayed their earlier conversation back in his mind, “Miroku told him that we wouldn't look for her attacker until we found Fia.”

Kagome nodded for him to continue.

“When we told him what had happened he immediately said that he would help us take on APAC. He said he was originally commissioned to deal with them…Kagome, they're taking people…lots of them.”

The thought sent a cold shiver down her spine. Naraku had a knack for wanton destruction but not so much for kidnapping. Inu Yasha was not done enlightening her yet.

“He said they experiment on the people and that they do it to make money. It's downright sick. I don't wanna think about what they're going to do to Fia. The way he talks about APAC I get the feeling this is more than business…it's personal to him. It sounds pretty dangerous… not that I can't handle a little danger but,” His voice softened, “I…”

Suddenly the dog demon turned on her, his large claws clamped down on her shoulders and his golden eyes bored into hers. His face was just an arm length away from hers and she could feel the uptick in the tempo of her heart.

“I want to help get rid of these people. Fia and J, hell, even that damned cat has been good to us.”

He felt more than he spoke. He had never seen a group of people show such hospitality without reason. The villagers they often encountered in the Sengoku period did not show such warmth unless they needed the gang to kill off some powerful demons. However, Fia and Neko seemed to carry their own burdens and asked for no help in return. Even though they did not need the trouble Naraku might bring the odd family had jumped to help two `evil' demons and a handful of human strangers. It was the least he could do to lend a claw in reuniting their little family.

The compassion in his face and his voice was impossible for Kagome to miss and it made her smile, “Of course we'll help them.”

“Oh no, it's not going to be `we' this time; just me.” He replied immediately.

“What? Why?” She blinked, bewildered.

“Because!”

The irritation began to build in her voice, the heady feeling she had experienced a moment ago as he held onto her shoulders was forgotten, “Why not?”

`I should have known that wasn't going to work for an answer,' he thought to himself before responding. “Someone's got to keep an eye on Rose while she heals.”

“She's getting better and we both know it.” Her voice raised an octave and he was aware that he was treading on thin ice and she was not finished speaking. “We're in battles all the time; we're a team!”

“Yeah and so are Rose and Acebris and look what happened to her!” He snapped back. “Fia, Neko and J are a family and they're separated! Fia might even be dead for all we know!”

His grip tightened on her shoulders but did not squeeze them enough to bring pain. The half demon seemed to be using them as a way to keep his thoughts grounded. Kagome was too surprised to speak, riveted by his penetrating gaze.

“Listen to me, Kagome. Acebris has told me about these people. They attack in groups and have been trained to hunt—and kill—people for a long time. They aren't demons. Demons hunt alone and attack head on. These guys can sneak up on a person and spirit them away. Hell, your arrows might not work on them. If they took you…I…I don't know what I might do.”

His cheeks burned red when he realized what he had said aloud yet the words continued to spill from his lips, “I'm not sure if I can protect you from these people…or what they would do to you if they caught you. I can't let that happen.”

Inu Yasha almost said `because I need you' but he bit it back. If she knew his weakness for her then she might assume that she had to stay with him. The dog-demon would not allow her to follow him into a danger of which he knew so little. Instinctively he felt that this threat was too different from the demons he was used to facing; too subtle and too clever.

“Please, Kagome. For once just listen to me. Miroku has already agreed to watch out for you.”

“What about Sango?” Her eyes narrowed and her hands moved to her hips to show her displeasure over the arrangements made without her knowledge. Oh, he was so in for a sitting.

“Sango coming with us; she knows a good deal about stealth and we really need to surprise these bastards.”

She realized that Miroku was the obvious choice to stay. His air rip was not exactly the most subtle attack and he could always be put down with poisons. The way Acebris described those working for APAC made her fairly certain they were not beyond fighting dirty. The miko also acknowledged internally that she was no better at stealth or poison protection. Besides, they still did not know if the threat from Naraku had truly been vanquished, which meant someone had to stay behind and wait for Rose to recover enough to tell them. Kagome tried to be stubborn but in the end relented with a sigh.

“You're sure this is the only way?”

He nodded quickly.

“All right then… but just this once… and you better come back safe.” She warned, waggling a finger at him.

The breath he had been holding while he waited for her answer whooshed out of him in a sigh of relief. The hanyou yanked her in close and gave her a squeeze. Her scent was everywhere around him and he knew that he would miss it terribly while he was gone.

“Crazy woman, of course I'll come back.” He scoffed into her hair, “And it's not like I'm leaving right this second. That signal-thingy hasn't come through yet.”

It seemed like RhyDin was full of surprises, or perhaps Inu Yasha was full of them? Either way she liked it. Kagome had lost her breath for what seemed like an eternity when she had been pulled into his embrace. His unusually soft voice in her hair had sent her heart racing. His sensitive ears misinterpreted the sound to mean that she needed to rest so he begrudgingly withdrew a little and nudged her towards her bed.

“You've been standing a long time. You should sleep.”

The manner in which he said it made it sound like he might have been discussing something very obvious, like `water is wet' or `the sky is blue.' The girl rolled her eyes but shuffled backwards to sit on the bed. As soon as she sat down her body reminded her that she really was tired. The miko turned her eyes to the demon.

“I have to get changed…”

A blush began to heat her cheeks. The way she had said it had none of her usual no-nonsense attitude. Rather, her voice sounded soft and shy in her ears. Her embarrassment escalated when she realized that Inu Yasha had hesitated. His gilded eyes stared at her for a minute, as if time has suddenly slowed, the look he gave her was difficult to read but it almost looked like desire. No, it could not be that, she thought to herself. As if to justify her thoughts the hanyou gave a disgruntled `feh' and trundled out of the room.

“Just hurry the hell up. I've got to sleep too.” He told the door.

Kagome hurried to put her pajamas on initially, and then slowed down as a thought dawned on her. Why did she have to hurry? What was the rush? He could be so impatient sometimes. He was most likely completely unaware of what he had made her feel just moments ago. She finished buttoning up her pajama top in a far grumpier mood than before. He would have to stay nice to her or else she would come along just to spite him. Feeling slightly satisfied with her reasoning the miko opened the door to her room again and quickly spotted the dog demon leaning against the wall beside it.

“Well come on then. I wouldn't want to ruin your beauty sleep.” She grumbled.

He balked but pushed off from the wall with his shoulder and followed her inside. She complained about his rude behavior all the way to the bed and then down under the covers. Without thinking he climbed onto the bed next to her on top of the covers, too busy making snippy comments to notice their proximity. It was only when Kagome ran out of things to complain about that she noticed that he was propped up on one elbow right beside her. Still, her pride would not let her get all mushy at their closeness. In order to keep up her demeanor she quickly turned her back to him, facing the wall that the bed was pushed up against. As soon as she had turned away she felt her cheeks begin to burn a little and she shut her eyes tight as if not seeing would will her sudden bashfulness away.

Inu Yasha, on the other hand, still had a few choice words to say to her back but when she failed to respond they died on his lips. It dawned on him just then how easily he had climbed into bed next to her—and she had allowed it without question! He knew that she had allowed him to rest with her before but only now did it occur to him how natural it felt to be at her side. No one could take his precious miko from him when they were so close. He could feel her every movement on the mattress and it would be impossible for one of those APAC fiends to steal her away. The half demon smirked, `I would have been on his sorry ass in a second.'

Kagome's breathing had slowed, signifying that she was asleep. He found the gentle rise and fall of her sides captivating. `All that anger and yet you still sleep like a pup' he mused inwardly. It was one of the many things that he enjoyed about her. One day he would tell her everything he thought. For tonight, though, he would sleep.

-*-

In the adjacent room Miroku briefed Sango about their latest quest. She was a bright woman and had quickly understood why he would stay and she needed to go. There would be no ensuing arguments like the one likely happening at the moment between Kagome and her stubborn protector.

“There's one other reason you need to go with them.” He began, “I know Inu Yasha-sama can handle himself but it would be more advantageous if there were two of you.”

Sango agreed. She knew was he was getting at. To a certain degree they trusted Acebris, but he was still little more than a stranger and could have been lying for all they knew. If he did turn out to be a problem it was a much easier to tackle a fight of two against one. She doubted that such a thing would happen but it still paid to be prepared for the worst.

With the discussion adjourned the two prepared their beds. They had been lucky enough to have found a room with two small beds on each wall. The huntress ordered the perverted priest to turn around. He complained that he would miss seeing her beautiful body but she was adamant and so he faced the wall on which his bed butted up against. Fearful he might try to sneak a peek she pulled off the pieces of her armor quickly. She had managed to un-strap most of the armor before she realized he was peeking. With a furious blush she slapped him silly, stripped the remaining pieces away, and crawled into bed in her black bodysuit. Once she was satisfied she was adequately covered under the sheets Sango allowed him to turn back around.

Sango closed her eyes and replayed the day's events in her mind. She did so to clear her mind in preparation for sleep. Eventually her mind returned to their most recent talk. Their conversation was brief but she could easily make out the concern in his voice. For all his womanizing she knew the houshi cared for their little group. He might even be helpless without them. She smiled a little at the thought and dozed off thinking, `what a silly, strange man.'

Miroku pondered why such a lovely lady pummeled him so. His cheek still smarted. Well, not really, he knew why but it was more than a little entertaining to him to annoy her. Besides, the pain was always worth the view. He might not get to see her lovely body for a while and he acknowledged that he would miss her. That gave him all the more reason to give her behind a good-bye pat before she left. As he turned in for the night the houshi's thoughts were filled with pleasant thoughts of his irritable huntress and her lovely backside.

-*-

Back in room four Acebris tapped the hologram in an attempt to reach Fia again. He knew that it was foolish to bother with the hourly check of her signal. APAC employees would likely travel with her switched off until they got to one of their labs. No one in town had stumbled upon anything heavily fortified or guarded recently. If none of the locals had noticed anything strange then it was a good bet that the closest APAC lab had to be more than a day's walk away. Locals were more likely to travel in any direction only as far as they could get back to their own home before nightfall. Hence, checking the signal for at least a day was pointless.

Some rumors in town indicated that a few regular traveling merchants from the next closest settlement had gone missing. Acebris suspected that those unfortunate few might have accidentally come too close to a facility and were quietly taken out. The next nearest town was a little more than three days away so he could consider that the lab might be about that far away.

Ace checked the signal again regardless. He would not let the kid down, even if he knew it was pointless to try. Nothing registered and he allowed the screen to close out. For a few minutes he tried not to look at the prone woman beside him. If he did look, he was certain he would lose his focus on the upcoming mission. It was a dangerous thing in their business. Rose never seemed to understand that; she always stuck her neck out for people because she always felt badly for them. In the end she worried too much for others and never enough about herself.

The big man shook his dark head and shot a glance over at Rose. He immediately wished he had not. Her normally petal-pink skin exhibited a multitude of colors. Her chest was a hot pink and white mess of blistering skin and swollen tissue. Her arms and legs were still a mess of charred black skin. Had she been a normal human the girl would have desperately needed several skin grafts. However, Rose healed at an accelerated rate which was often complicated or slowed if such procedures were attempted. It had always been a frustrating thing to Ace to know that there was next to nothing he could do for her except impotently wait for her to recover on her own.

Seeing her suffer always ruined his concentration. If Ace had not looked he could have at least calculated her rate of healing; instead all he could do was sit there taking in the horrific sight. He ran a hand through his hair to scratch his scalp and then absently rubbed his chin.

“You shouldn't have run off without me.” He spoke to her, knowing she could not hear him. “…Then again, I shouldn't have left you alone in the first place, now should I?”

He smirked, knowing she would have responded by saying, “Would `a, could `a, should `a.” Rose was never one to dwell on the past for too long. Acebris always found that a bit odd. He could be angry over the slightest thing for hours; raging internally at himself and externally getting irritable with everyone else. When things happened to Rose though, some of them he had told her were downright unforgivable, she would huff and puff for a few minutes and then be perfectly happy again the next.

It occurred to him that he'd never seen her cry. Angry, yes; but sad, no… somewhere in the back of his mind he heard his leader Joseph tell him he could be pretty blind about some things. Perhaps he had simply never noticed the times she had been sad? Ace shook his head to clear away the thought from his mind.

“You'd call me an idiot, wouldn't you?”

She remained silent. He sighed and checked the time again. In a few more minutes he would have to check the signal again.