InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Decisions ❯ Council of War ( Chapter 16 )

Chapter 16: Council of War

“We have to do something” Ranmaru told his younger companion as they stood by the old tree together at break time.

“Why?” she asked shrugging “they're supposed to be grownups”

“Grownups can be stupid too Rin-chan” he told her

“Hn” she thought about it and Ranmaru was slightly worried by how much like Sesshoumaru she sounded when she went `hn' “Fine, I'll help you. But under one rule”

“What?” he asked

“Transform” she commanded

“You never give up huh?” he said rolling his eyes like his mother

“No” she folded her arms

“Fine” he grabbed her wrist and dragged her to an empty classroom

“What are you guys doing in here?” Shippo asked in surprise as he came across the two children

“I'm showing her my true form” he told the teacher earnestly

“Oh” he said raising a brow

Ranmaru closed his eyes and he was hidden from Rin's view by a wall of water that seemed to be flowing upwards and then became a whirlwind made from water. The water subsided into nothing and instead a small foal stood in front of her. He was midnight black without a hint of white on him and Ranmaru's eyes gazed steadily at the young girl from the horse's body. If he had been a horse at the age of seven he would have been matured and had an adult's physique. However Kelpie children age at the same rate as human children do and do not reach maturity until later.

“Neat” Shippo said

Rin's eyes went all glassy “So, cute” she threw her arms around his neck “I want to keep you!”

“I'm not a pet” Ranmaru remarked dryly “Please let me go”

“Oh” she stepped back

The wall of water appeared again but this time it flowed downwards and did a whirlwind but in the opposite anticlockwise direction and then when it dispersed she was staring at the human form of Ranmaru.

“Possibly the coolest transformation ever” Shippo said

“Shippo-sensei” the children called Shippo by his first name always, no one really knew why. “Can you help us?” Rin asked

“What do you want me to do?” he asked

“Get Sango-Obasan and Ayame-Obasan and bring them here” Ranmaru instructed taking control in a commanding manner reminiscent of Kikyo.

Ten minutes later Sango, Ayame and Shippo were staring down at a very determined Ranmaru and an expectant Rin.

“You need to help us make them be friends again” Ranmaru instructed

“Why?” Sango asked. As far as she saw it Sesshoumaru was a jerk and Kagome was well rid of him.

“Yeah” Ayame said “he is rude and obnoxious and totally wrong for Kagome”

“I have no idea what's going on” Shippo said looking at each person in turn

“Sesshoumaru-sama and Higurashi-sensei had a fight” Rin explained

“I don't know what obnotos—” Ran began

“Obnoxious” Sango corrected

“Whatever” he rolled his eyes “I don't know what that means but I know Okasan is upset”

“No” they all said as one

“She's better off without him” Sango said

“Just wait” Ayame told Ranmaru “in a few weeks she'll be back to her old self”

Ranmaru sighed.

Rin noticed that no one had mentioned how Sesshoumaru was doing but then again he wasn't exactly their friend; Kagome was their priority. Sesshoumaru was hers.

He watched and he waited but nothing good seemed to be happening. She would insist she was fine but she stopped reading the books published by Taisho inc, she threw out the roses he had bought her and the vase that had been sitting on her bedside table; the one he had bought her, was relegated to the very back of the living room dresser where no one could see it. She stopped watching romantic movies and threw away her much loved copy of pride and prejudice. She went to kickboxing every other night instead of just on Thursday's and she went jogging every Saturday. Those that knew Kagome well knew that when she was upset she threw herself into fitness.

Whenever Taisho corp. was in the newspaper she threw it out before even reading it.

Sasuke called often, but she refused to speak to him. Never a good sign, if she couldn't speak to Sasuke there was normally something she needed to hide from the overly intuitive neko.

“Okasan?” Ranmaru was sat on a cushion on the floor of the living room watching TV when he heard a loud screeching noise followed by a thunk

“I'm fine” she called. She was saying that a lot recently.

Ranmaru unfolded his legs and walked into her room. She was in her closet dragging Kick-san out of hibernation.

“Oh no” he said in horror. Kick-san was an automated punching mannequin. Parts of him light up and instruct you to kick him, she got him from Sango last birthday and had only ever used him once, when she had broken up from her previous boyfriend.

“What do you mean oh no?” she laughed “is it so wrong I want to use this?”

“The last time you used Kick-san was when—”

“I know” she cut him short “but that was then and this is now”

Yeah right. He set his mouth in determination, next time he went to school he was calling another meeting and this time he was going to get his own way. In the mean time he needed to call Sasuke and give him an update.

***

Sango and Kagome jogged over the crest o the hill together both panting slightly from exertion.

“Can I ask you something?” Sango began tremulously

“Maybe” Kagome hedged

“Why are you so upset about this whole thing with Sesshoumaru?” Sango asked

Kagome blinked at her friend in surprise “Huh?”

“It was just you needed the backing and he provided it, shouldn't you be happy?”

Kagome smiled slightly “I thought you'd understand, Kikyo did instantly. It's not about him helping me it's about many things. First you know I'm not one to be reliant on anyone else”

“Yeah”

They had slowed to a brisk walk now to keep up with the conversation. “Well I built up that school myself, it's my baby and everything to do with it is my job. To interfere is like saying that I couldn't have done it on my own, it's stripping me of my standing.” She sighed “maybe I'm being selfish but to me it was my challenge to overcome, I don't need Sesshoumaru to prove he's better than me by dealing with this, I already knew he could have solved my problems for me. But I didn't ask him, I didn't want that”

“But independence only goes so far...” Sango couldn't help but interject

“I waited three years to get the approval for the school, I slaved day in day out. I met with everyone I could possibly think of. But in the end I won, it worked and I was able to create what I had envisioned. I did it without pity, but I needed the support of everyone. I still managed to do it. This in comparison was so much easier, just another battle of wills with some conglomerate jerk who thought he was better than me. It would have worked out eventually.”

“I suppose”

“But that's not all of it” she frowned “I never told Sesshoumaru about Naraku's intimidation and insistence on me dating him. But I didn't really want to talk about it” she sighed again “so maybe it's my fault that now to Naraku I look like I can't help myself, I look weak and it makes me angry. He probably thinks I need some demon like Sesshoumaru to look after me or else I'll flounder and fail”

“why do you care what he thinks?” Sango asked

“Because Sango, Naraku is a predator, as soon as he finds out that I am weak and that I am unprotected it's only so long before he'll strike”

“Is it getting that bad?” Sango asked worriedly

Kagome gave a wan smile “No, I'm fine” she was lying through her teeth but at this point she really didn't want anyone else sticking their noses in her life. “Look I'm gonna run on my own for a while okay?”

Before Sango could even think about answering Kagome was gone.

***

Kagome stretched outside her flat just after her run and smiled. She loved running; how there was nothing but you and the road and no one could touch you. At least once she was alone.

“Hello Ka-go-me” came a silky smooth voice

She tensed and slowly turned to see Naraku stood behind her.

He, as usual, was radiating an aura of pure maliciousness as he smiled sedately at her.

“Leave me alone” she snapped turning to go into the building. On the surface she was angry but underneath it all she was terrified, he knew where she lived and he was still calling her nightly. She was not happy with her newly acquired stalker.

“That's really no way to thank me is it?” he asked putting a hand on her arm to stop her

She punched him in the face with enough force to knock him onto the ground. “I said leave me alone”

She got into the flat block and ran up the stairs three at a time.

“I'm not going to leave you alone until you give me a proper thank you!” he yelled after the Miko

***

Rin was having just as many problems as Ranmaru. Sesshoumaru was not taking being separated from Kagome any better than she was taking being separated from him. He however had a different way of coping. It was called sleep with a different woman every night of the week and then pump iron for seven hours.

His mood was so volatile it was liable to blow up at any wrong movements.

His employees walked on eggshells around him like they were wary gazelle being prowled in a wide open valley by the tetchiest lion to ever walk the lands.

Since his argument with Kagome he had fired seventeen people, made five people cry and his secretary had resigned and joined a convent to ward off `the dreaded demon'.

The Yokai had realised a little too late the depth of his feelings for the only woman to ever get under his skin and he was lashing out at everyone who wasn't called Rin.

Sasuke who had gotten annoyed at Kagome's refusal to even talk to him over the phone went to his apartment complex to talk to him. But didn't get any further than the lift when he felt the enormous youki that threatened death to anyone who dared approach. At that he couldn't help but smile; at least the feeling was mutual. Sesshoumaru seemed to be hurting as badly as Kagome apparently was.

A conference meeting was called, or a council of war as Shippo called it.

“Do you still think this will all just blow over?” Ranmaru was gleeful, he had proved the adults wrong; it was a high point in his seven years of life.

“Yeah, yeah” Ayame flicked him on the nose playfully “You told us so”

“So what do we do?” Shippo asked sitting on a desk “She won't even speak to the neko”

“Well we need to help them” Sango said “last time we went jogging together she started to cry”

“Yeah, Kags deserves to be happy” Ayame was dreaming “just like me and Kouga-kun”

“Who's Kouga?” Shippo whispered to Sango

“”You've only been on two dates with the guy,” Sango hit Ayame with a piece of card that was left over from the last arts and crafts lesson “Don't go getting starry eyed until at least the third date”

“So what do we do?” Rin was annoyed at the arguing adults; there were more important issues to contemplate.

“I don't know” Sango admitted “the last time I tried to ask her she just kept punching the punch bag until I couldn't even hear myself think anymore”

“Yep” Ayame nodded “the last time we went clubbing together a Yokai hit on her and wouldn't leave her alone so she sent him flying across the room with her reiyouku”

“She's pretty annoyed” Shippo nodded “I saw her soda get stuck in the vending machine, she punched it and kicked it. She probably would have broken it if I hadn't helped her”

“Think how I feel” Rin said “Sesshoumaru- sama has never been this angry before”

They all thought back to the times they had met the Inu Yokai and tried to imagine him in a worse mood. It wasn't a pretty mental image.

“I have an idea” Ranmaru grinned evilly and they all listened to his plan in awe.

“You came up with that on your own?” Sango was in awe of the young one

“Kikyo-Obasan and Sasuke-niichan helped a little” he conceded “but I'm sure it'll work”

“Well” Shippo was sombre “It was nice knowing you guys”

“What are you talking about Shippo, we aren't dying or anything” Ayame rolled her eyes

“Yeah but if this plan fails and they find out we are dead beings walking” he said

“It has to work” Ranmaru was adamant

“En!” Rin nodded

A/N: I think we've established I don't own Inuyasha! Okay thanks to all who reviewed on the last chapter and to those who didn't understand Kagome's anger I hope this explains it. Thanks for your reviews I truly love them! With that in mind please review and thanks for reading!