InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dead Famous ❯ A Heart in Need ( Chapter 24 )

Author's Notes: Ok, I've decided that the next person who asks me to try harder to update sooner is going to be my next death-by-sock victim. But don't worry, they're clean socks… I'm not a complete sadist. Anyway, I'm back home again T_T Thank the lord! The journey back was horrible though… I travelled the width of the country and through up five times on the way ¬_¬ That is officially the second worst journey of my life (the first being a seven hour trip through France, throwing up every half hour when I was seven). But it's all worthwhile to get my beloved broadband back!

And I want to thank EVERYONE who has reviewed so far (and the rest who don't review but are still reading ^_^ I don't mind) and even the ones who just grumble about slow updates… well, maybe not that one person who called me a stupidhead >.< Wow! 4,0 reviews?! And a year ago I considered myself lucky to get 100. But thank you all, I couldn't have done it without you guys (does that sound too much like a cheesy award acceptance speech?)

Also, be warned that this chapter is basically segmented with flashback sequences… I don't know how this will work because I've never done flashbacks before (or I have and just forgot). Wanna take a wild stab in the dark to which year these flashbacks will be of?

So these flashback sequences will be closed with ~~~~~~ marks.

Dead Famous

Chapter 24

A Heart in Need

~21st May 1992~

~~~~~~~~

"Come on Inuyasha, stop dragging your feet!"

Inuyasha stuck his tongue out sullenly at his mother behind her back as she continued to drag him impatiently down the corridor of whatever building they had just entered. Inuyasha entered too many buildings a day to really take much notice of where they were or why.

"Sesshomaru's opening the N-Tech complex in half an hour, we have to hurry!" His mother suddenly whipped Inuyasha up into her arms to carry him at a pace that better suited her.

There she went about Sesshomaru again. Inuyasha was beginning to get the distinct feeling that Sesshomaru was the favourite of the two brothers. Of course, he was a grown-up so naturally they liked him better.

"But I'm bored!" Inuyasha whined against his mothers shoulder. "I'm so bored I want to die!"

"Don't be silly." His mother admonished distractedly, looking around at the different doorways along the hall they she all but jogged down.

It was then that Inuyasha realised where they were going.

This was the modelling agency's building. His mother only ever came here for dress rehearsals and fashion shows… and since she was due to be somewhere else in a little while, it meant that she was planning to leave him here.

Inuyasha knew of only one method that would allow him to get his own way. It was time to turn on the water works…

Ribia cast her eyes heavenward as she felt her small son instantaneously screw his face up and begin wailing at the top of his lungs, clenching his fists into the material of her dress. She winced at how he might be wrinkling her freshly ironed dress. "What on earth's the matter with you now?" she demanded irritably, already knowing he was trying to pull her leg.

Inuyasha's response was only more incomprehensibly wailed words. Ribia gritted her teeth and marched straight towards one of the side doors; one of the dressing rooms. Inuyasha was still sobbing like the world had come to an end as she entered the room, drawing everyone's attention instantly. Models, designers, make-up artists and PA's all looked up at the new arrival.

"Miss Ribia, what are you doing here?" a rather flamboyantly dressed man asked from where he was arranging an equally flamboyant hat on a young, half-naked woman.

"I'm very sorry for doing this, but I need someone to look after Inuyasha while I dash off to some other business." She carried a now screaming boy forward into the long, brightly lit room. "Do you mind?"

Broody models looked at the screaming child on her shoulder and burst out into simultaneous coos and aws and 'no problem at all!'s. Ribia breathed a sigh of relief, knowing her son would be safe from the bastards of the press in a room full of mildly famous women.

But when it came time to put Inuyasha down in an empty chair, he wouldn't go. The minute she set him down he sprang back up and latched onto her leg, screaming vaguely that he didn't want her to go. "Inuyasha, stop making a scene!" she tried to say as tolerantly as she could as she pried him off her leg.

Another model came over and helped scoop him off Ribia's leg, holding him as he kicked and screamed, trying to get back to his mother. "Quite a pair of lungs he's got!" the model said politely over the racket.

"Thank you so much for doing this." Ribia thanked her co-workers again as she backed towards the door again. "I promise I will make this up to you all when I pick him up!"

"It's no problem!" they all began chorusing again.

After all, to them, getting to pander to an adorable little boy was a chance none of them would ever experience in their own lives… not with a career that relied on them staying slim and young. Having kids was guaranteed to lose you a modelling job any day.

"Thank you." Ribia opened the door and glanced back at her screaming son who was straining to run after her. Any other adult in her position would drop everything and run to his aid. Those cries could be really heartbreaking to hear… but Ribia knew Inuyasha's mind didn't work like most little boys. He was manipulative and spoilt. "Be good, Inuyasha!" she called with false sweetness before stepping out into the corridor and closing the door.

Inuyasha continued screaming for a good five minutes after the door had shut, ignoring all the female coddling and reassurances around him. He listened, waiting for his mother's step to turn back around and come running to fetch him. But she just kept going until he could no longer hear her at all.

Deep resent and anger lodged in his throat, making him cry even harder, this time for real. She'd abandoned him again. She always did that when it wasn't convenient for her to drag around a little boy. She always went to boring places and talked with boring people and then dumped him for hours on end in more boring places.

"Don't worry, she'll be back before you know it." Someone said.

"Stop crying, you'll wrinkle that sweet little face of yours."

Models… Inuyasha began to calm down a little, realising that perhaps it wasn't going to be all that bad… after all, grown-ups were easier to twist around his little finger than his parents.

It wasn't long before Inuyasha completely forgot about his mother and was pandering to the whims of the women around him. Rehearsals had been drawn to a complete stop now that he'd arrived, not that anyone seemed to have noticed.

"… and then Daddy said that Sesshomaru looked like a girl!" He giggled as he told them a story that didn't seem to be going anywhere, yet they still hung onto his every word. "Mommy wouldn't talk to him for a fort… forni… two weeks!"

The models practically squealed at the adorable waves pouring off Inuyasha. One of them leant down with a smile. "Say 'Fortnight'."

"Four knights!"

More squeals.

"Alright girls! Back to work!" the flamboyantly dressed man began clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. Reluctantly the models began slinking back to their dressing tables or began getting dressed up in their weird costumes. The flamboyant man with a lisp bent down to speak to Inuyasha. "Why don't you go play with that box of toys over there?" he pointed to a cupboard filled with old props and designer calamities.

Inuyasha knew a box of crap when he was looking at it. He gave the man a dirty look as he left to go chatter to some of the models. Inuyasha kicked his feet against the chair, growing bored again with no one to distract him.

"Oh my, you look miserable in here."

Inuyasha darted his gaze up at a grown-up he hadn't noticed approaching him. Actually, she was in her mid-teens, but to him she looked as grown-up as the other women in the room, just dressed in more normal clothes. Though he reckoned all that blonde hair wasn't her natural colour.

"Why don't we go down to the cafeteria and get you some fudge cake?" she held out her hand for him to take.

Inuyasha took it automatically. Strangers were always chaperoning him here and there, this was nothing new for him.

No one noticed as he slipped out of the dressing room with the young girl who didn't work there...

"My name's Jinko Aida." She told him as she held his hand down the stairs. "Of course that's not my real name, but everyone calls me that so you can call me Jin."

"My name's Inuyasha," he told her. Jinko was actually a rather pretty girl, of course she was no match for his mother but he liked her open-features and her smile.

"Everyone knows who you are." She laughed squeezing his hand. "No need to be so formal with me."

She led him out of a fire exit and down the metal staircase outside , heading down into an alley. Somehow it didn't seem like the way to the cafeteria. "Where are we going?" he asked, knowing for sure that the cafeteria was inside the building, not down an alley.

"I just remember that there was a corner shop that sold better fudge just along the road. Why don't we go there?"

By now Inuyasha was beginning to grow suspicious. His parents were naturally and chronically suspicious people thanks to their professions, but at least a smidgen of it had rubbed off on Inuyasha. He started to drag on Jinko's hand. "I think I should go back. Mom will shout if I'm not there when she gets back…"

"Oh come on, it's only up the road." She chided. "You're a man aren't you?"

No one insulted Inuyasha's potential masculinity and got away with it. So he chewed his cheek sulkily as he followed Jinko towards the mouth of the alley…

That's when it all went wrong.

A slim black car came screeching into view before them, making Inuyasha start and flinch back. Two men got out of the front wearing normal working clothes and started coming straight towards them, walking with hurried but purposeful and firm strides. This was bad… Inuyasha instinctively knew trouble when he saw it and tried to back away and run down the alley… but why wouldn't Jinko let go of his hand.

"Come on, don't make a fuss now Inuyasha." She said tightly, refusing to let go of his hand.

"Let go!" he screamed… then he caught on and quickly began screaming at the top of his lungs in hopes that someone would hear and come running to help.

"Shut up you stupid brat!" one of the men caught hold of his shoulder in a painful grip and shoved a cloth over his nose and mouth. It smelt strong… enough to make his head spin and his cries weaken.

"Stupid kid…" the other man grabbed him by the hair and began dragging him towards the car. "Good job, Jin."

"Hey, be careful with him!"

Inuyasha was out like a light before he even hit the back seat of the BMW.

~~~~~~~~

"You were so much shorter the last time I saw you." Jinko Aida forked up a little bit of fudge cake from a plate on the table in front of her. "And sweeter looking. Your face has gone all hard and petulant, you know. Now open wide."

She brought the cake to Inuyasha's mouth, but he only glowered semi-consciously at her. "If my mouth wasn't so dry I'd spit on you." With his hands tied securely behind the back of his rickety wooden chair, that would be the maximum he was capable of.

"Play nice, puppy." She diverted the fork to her own mouth. "You didn't have much of a mouth on you last time either. Where did you get the attitude?"

"Must have developed after someone murdered my parents." He responded. To him, Jinko didn't seem as tall or as pretty as she used to. Maybe that was because half her face was carefully covered by a curtain of blonde locks and wore a pair of obscuring shades.

She laughed softly. "I half want to let the drugs wear off so I can look you in the eye and see your real fear." She pushed the cake around the plate. "But then you'd break free and run to the police."

Inuyasha had no doubt that he would probably be pissing himself had he been in a normal state of mind, but right then he didn't particular care about Jinko, or the fact that his life was in danger, or the fact that Kagome's was as well. But there was one question he felt he had to ask. "Why…?"

"Why what?" Jinko arched her eyebrows over her shades. "Why did we kidnap you when you were six or why did we kidnap you again? Maybe we just don't like you Inuyasha."

Inuyasha looked at the floor, feeling sick.

"Of course, you already know why." Jinko said quietly. "Didn't you find out a week ago last Monday? When you were human? You tried to kill yourself that night if my sources are correct."

"That was an accident." Inuyasha said thickly.

"You probably don't even remember what you learned or why you took the drink Kouga offered you even though you knew it was brimming with lethal doses of heroine." Jinko said bluntly. "Do you remember Inuyasha? What I told you that night?"

He shook his head, although small details were already beginning to seep through the thick fog that obscured that night from his memory. He remembered the blonde woman, the drink… the truth behind the worst, most traumatic experience of his life and the warning of what was to come…

He'd forgotten it all and now he recalled it when it was too late.

Inuyasha dropped his chin down to his chest.

"Oh Inuyasha, don't look so down." She reached over and squeezed his shoulder. "Look, I promise that I'll try and convince Fushira to go easy on you when he comes by Friday night… tomorrow, ok?"

"He tried to kill me six years ago…"

"I know," Jinko smoothed the bangs from his face in a soothing, motherly fashion. "I promise I won't let him hurt you this time." His eyes were beginning to sting and he felt a lump in his throat. Jinko cupped his cheek. "Do you want to go back in with your friend?"

He nodded quickly.

"Come on then."

Kagome glanced up eagerly when the door to the junk-filled room opened. In came the a blonde woman, dragging a weary looking Inuyasha behind her. Kagome kept her mouth shut, despite her urge to question this woman silly. Instead she just watched as the young woman brought Inuyasha into the room and made him sit on the floor. Rather than tying him back to the pole she simply smiled, stroked his cheek and left the room again.

"Are you ok?" Kagome quickly hissed to Inuyasha, slightly jealous that he wasn't still cuffed to the pole like she was. "Did she hurt you?"

"Jinko never hurt me…" He said drowsily, falling onto his back to stare at the ceiling through hooded eyes. "I hurt her though…"

"Listen, I've been thinking." Kagome glanced at a work bench against the far wall. "There's a saw on that table over there. Do you think you can get it?"

"It was him all along…" Inuyasha didn't seem to be hearing her. "It was him…"

"Inuyasha!" she pleaded. "You need to get the saw down so we can get out of here! I don't want to be tortured! Please!"

"I kept having dreams that he had come to rescue me… I kept hearing his voice when I hallucinated, kept hearing him… but then when I woke up I realised I was still alone."

Whoever 'he' was, he would have to wait. "You're not alone Inuyasha, you have me now. And if you could just go and get the saw we can go home."

Water was leaking out the corner of his eyes, but Kagome wasn't sure if they were real tears or that he was just tired. She began pulling at her wrists again, trying to fit her hands through the rings like she'd been doing since she'd woken up, she was nearly free… or would be given a few more hours of struggling.

"I did try to kill myself. You were right."

Kagome looked across at Inuyasha, pained. "What?"

"Last week… on the new moon. I knew what Kouga had put in my drink." Inuyasha said quietly. "I still drank it because I wanted to die."

Kagome gaped softly. "But you said-"

"I didn't know… until now."

It was weird. Before Kagome would have looked at the scene before her in shock and bemusement… Inuyasha the superstar lying in the middle of the dirtiest room in creation, crying. But now all she saw was one teenage boy that had been screwed with his whole life… it didn't seem so strange anymore. All she felt for him was dismay and compassion. She wasn't sure what to do…

"Why would you try to overdose, Inuyasha?" she asked tiredly. "If you knew it could kill you…"

The water running out of his eyes were definitely tears now. Kagome renewed her struggles to break free with new vigour and determination. That was how she did it, with a bit of wriggled and a few cracking noises, her right hand slipped through the ring of metal and she was free in an instant.

But the first thing she did, instead of run to the window and attempt a break-out, was to go to Inuyasha. She knelt quickly and brushed his tears away with her thumbs. "Don't cry, please don't, or you'll make me cry too." Her throat felt strangely tight as she spoke and she looked down into his face gently, seeing the pain there. "It's ok, we're going to get out of here."

"What's the point?" he muttered.

"That's just the drugs talking."

"No it's not." I gave her an irritated look and turned his head away.

Kagome's brow lowered. "Ok, fine, you want to stay and get tortured, fine. That's your choice. But I want to get out of here and I need you help… please?"

The door slammed open, rebounding off another workbench behind it and knocking a few junk objects to the floor. Kagome whipped back around, knowing she was in serious trouble in before the big man walked in.

"Oh, he's early." Inuyasha said weakly from the floor.

Kagome recognised his picture from the newspaper. It was none other than Fushira Hashimoto… yet that mild looking picture from the paper did him no real justice. Cruelness leaked from every pore and those hard beady eyes told Kagome that the one who would be doing the torturing was him…

"What the fuck are you doing up? Jin told me you were tied up." He remarked as his greeting.

Before Kagome could even stammer a response, Fushira had crossed the room in three long strides, grabbed her hair and had literally tossed her back towards the pole. The metal smacked painfully against her shoulder, making her arm go numb and a gasp escape her throat.

Kagome had never earned such treatment in her life… she had every right to be terrified, especially when that heavy set boot descended on her skull, grinding her cheek into the concrete floor. She grimaced in pain and only managed a strangled sound of pain.

"You don't move from that spot unless we tell you to, got that honey?" To her great relief he lifted the boot away and headed for Inuyasha. But for some reason, this didn't calm Kagome's rattled nerves.

"Well, well, look who sprouted up a few feet."

Then that boot got to work again and slammed into Inuyasha's ribs hard. The impact looked as though it had hurt more than it should have… Kagome wondered if there was a little demon in that Fushira Hashimoto.

"Do you know how long I was rotting away in that stink hole of a cell?!" he shouted at a curling Inuyasha. "Six - fucking - years! All because one brat identified me as the guy who slammed that car with my truck!"

Kagome wanted to scream that he'd killed two people - he had deserved to go to prison for longer than six years! But her throat seemed frozen. She wondered if Inuyasha would shout it instead but he didn't.

Hashimoto bent down and grabbed Inuyasha by the hair, wrenching him up. "Consider this my revenge. For putting me under in that living hell for all those years. Six years I lived in torture… now you'll do the same for me. Six years, no more, no less." He let Inuyasha drop back to the ground. "And then of course we have Jinko to repay. You spoiled her pretty face with those nails of yours… that in itself will need three years at least."

Kagome trembled beside the pole. Nine years of torture? Surely someone would find them before then… surely she could escape with Inuyasha? Sooner rather than later hopeful… but sooner might as well have been a few weeks away in the grand scale of nine years.

Inuyasha was trembling too.

"We start with you tomorrow morning." Fushira spat at Inuyasha. "We'll start with that arrogant little face of yours. Maybe break your nose a couple of time and then get out the pliers for your teeth, eh?" he swung his gaze to Kagome who flinched under the intensity. "And then the day after that we give you a turn? I know a few techniques that can separate those manicured nails from your fingers in six hours. Trust me, it's agonising."

She shuddered unconsciously.

Thankfully he left after that, but not before securing both her and Inuyasha to the pole again, but this time by one hand each. The second set of cuffs was employed in pinning their free hands to each other. Both of them were deathly silent. Inuyasha seemed to be wallowing in self-pity, Kagome was still trying to think of an escape plan…

It was getting dark when their supper arrived in the form of two doughnuts and a large diet coke from MacDonald's to share. Jinko Aida delivered it, setting it down gently within their reach before smiling at Inuyasha and leaving again. Kagome had noticed the way her perfect blonde hair had parted when she'd knelt down, giving a glimpse of the shiny scar tissue beneath. Had Inuyasha done that? When he was six maybe?

If so, why was she acting as if she was actually quite fond of Inuyasha?

"The food's surprisingly good for the accommodation." Kagome found herself saying as she stared at the sugary goodness of the donut after Jinko had left.

"It's drugged." Inuyasha said dully without looking.

Kagome stared at the food with slightly more caution. "We shouldn't eat it then."

"If we don't and they come back to find full plates they'll only force-feed it to you." Inuyasha said flatly again, too depressed to really put much emotion into anything he said.

He began reaching for his food, hauling Kagome's free hand with him.

Kagome snatched it up before he could touch it. "I'll eat your share then." She said abruptly.

Inuyasha turned a confused gaze on her. "What…?"

"The sooner those tranquillisers wear off the sooner we can get out of here." She reasoned, looking at the donuts. "If I eat both donuts then they will think you ate yours and won't force-feed you. And when you get your strength back we can bust out of here, right?"

"That won't work." Inuyasha shook his head slowly.

"Yesh it wiy!" Kagome nodded eagerly with one donut already in her mouth and the second one in hand, ready and waiting. "Just make sure you remember to carry me out of here if I can't walk."

Inuyasha gave her an irritated glare. "If you eat both donuts you'll probably fall into a coma!"

"Worst case scenario, Inuyasha." She said quickly as she bit into the second donut. "God, I think I can actually taste the drugs…"

"You're an idiot." Inuyasha told her shortly. "We're not getting out of here, you might as well just give up."

"Well sorry, I'm not resigning myself to torture unless I have to." She snapped. "You just hold up your end of the bargain and find a way out of here when your sense return."

"What bargain?" he demanded, but she was already slurping down the diet coke, too busy guzzling the liquid to respond. He gave up and let her eat cake, as it were, deciding it was on her own head if she didn't wake up tomorrow…

~~~~~~

"Just eat it for god's sake!" Jinko clamped her arm around Inuyasha's small head, struggling with him to get the drugged food down his throat.

"It smells bad!" he yelled back, wriggling to get free. He was strong for a child but not enough to break free of one teenage girl's grip.

"Don't be such a baby!" she admonished, forcing the lump of bread into his mouth whilst trying to avoid his sharp little fangs.

From the opposite end of the room, Fushira Hashimoto just laughed. "Oh come on, Jin. He's a child!" he crowed as he chiselled lumps of rubber off the souls of his boot with a penknife.

"He's a strong child!" Jinko snarled. "Stop waving your arms around! You'll have someone's eye out!"

Inuyasha drew in a breath with a sharp hiss, realising she'd given him a rather opportune opening and an idea. The fear and anger inside him made him irrational… things he wouldn't normally even think of doing were beginning to manifest as of late…

Well, being locked up in a dog cage and tormented for days on end was beginning to strain on his young mind.

"I HATE YOU!!" he screamed as loud as he could as he raked his short, but sharp claws towards Jinko's face.

Flesh tore… blood sprayed.

Inuyasha was released in an instant and he dropped back onto the floor gazing in dumb shock at the girl standing in front of him. She hadn't cried out or screamed, but she looked just as shocked as him as she raised a timid hand to her face, dabbing light fingers against the bright, fresh blood that was already running down her brow and cheek into her left eye.

Inuyasha looked down at his hand, surprised by the lack of blood on his fingers.

Then all hell exploded.

Fushira erupted like a volcano, shouting and screaming about nasty little children, Inuyasha shouted and screamed back about various things, it was his only defence. In the wild fray that followed, Inuyasha was too confused to take much of what happened in. He knew that Jinko had slipped away during the escalated scuffle, but other than that, all he was aware of was the crushing blows the big man was dealing to him, the boot that kept crashing into his rips.

And that penknife came into play more than once…

After it all, Fushira simply dragged Inuyasha up by the grubby collar of his t-shirt and lifted him like a limp rag doll to throw him back into the steel dog cage. Inuyasha was too weak to protest by then.

He only felt relief when Fushira left the room, leaving him in near-silence for the rest of the night. It gave Inuyasha a chance to heal, but the time passed with excruciating slowness… every rattling breath that he took was drawn out and a whole task in itself. It wasn't until later in the night that he found the strength to pull his arm over his face and cry…

He just wanted his Mom…

He had dreams, small fitful nightmares that only lasted for minutes and kept him awake for most of the night, but there was one vivid one that always recurred.

He dreamt that his father had come to rescue him, and that it was his voice that he could hear in the next room. His father always shouted, demanding to see Inuyasha and it was usually at that point that Inuyasha fell into a deeper slumber where dreams didn't exist.

And when he woke up he was only dismayed to find that his father had never come and he was as alone as ever.

Except… it hadn't ever been a dream.

~~~~~~~

Kagome snorted against his shoulder, lost in her dreams. "It's alright Mama… I'm coming home on Sunday…" she mumbled in a not-so intelligible way.

The handcuffs that joined their hands clinked against the concrete between them as she shifted closer in her sleep, unconsciously seeking a warmer body in the chilled room. A cold draft had been sweeping through the window since the sun had set, if Kagome hadn't been doped up she wouldn't have been able to sleep in such a temperature.

Inuyasha was still numb to it. All he could do was stare ahead at the red stains on the floor. That was paint… but the crusty black looking marks were blood, old blood by the smell of it.

His blood.

"He set it up…" Inuyasha whispered into the frigid air, his breath too cold to form vapour clouds.

For six months he's periodically dreamt that his father had come to rescue him, a small hope that the dream would come true had been what kept him going…

But now he knew.

Jinko had told him the truth the night of the new moon… he remembered now. He'd been so upset he'd deliberately used Kouga's drink as an excuse. And in the morning he'd woken with amnesia of all that had happened.

Of course, anyone would be upset upon discovering their own father had organised their own kidnapping.

AN: Sorry… all chapters must come to an end at some point…