InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ En Famille ❯ Creeping up on you ( Chapter 16 )

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In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.

Pliny the Elder (23 AD - 79 AD)

 

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-crash-

 

“No! You stupid cat!”

 

Miroku stuck his head around the corner, grinning as he watched Inuyasha scoop up the kitten and stab some papers over the mess she'd made when she spilled his coffee.

 

“It's your fault for putting that dinky thermos next to a playful cat,” Miroku smirked, moving into the room to take said fur ball from him before he chucked her out the door.

 

“Kagome had better come home soon, her nameless cat's getting' on my nerves.” Inuyasha grabbed his thermos and tossed it in the sink. “What's she naming it anyways?”

 

“Cat”

 

Inuyasha blinked, “That's not a name.”

 

“You obviously never saw Breakfast at Tiffany's,” Miroku cradled the purring kitten against his chest. “Audrey Hephburn was Kagome's idol when she was growing up, and in that movie, a classic by the way, she had a cat named Cat.”

 

“Only a woman,” Inuyasha shook his head and picked up his dishes. “Where is she, by the way? Is Sesshomaru giving her a ride home?”

 

“Nah, she's going to call home when she's ready to come back, she went to visit Saul and Mae and give them their Christmas presents. I didn't want to stay though, she's much closer to them and I had some checking in to do at the hospital.”

 

“So your transfer's all set huh?”

 

“Yeah, I'm only on an emergency basis with most of my patients anyways, but I'll still have to do a lot of traveling. It's all part of the job.” Sitting on one of the kitchen stools, he set the cat down and watched her roll over.

 

“You know, she's probably hungry. Her bowl's empty.” Inuyasha mumbled, standing over Cat's assigned feeding corner. “Almost out of water too.”

 

Miroku smirked, “And here I thought you didn't care.”

 

“I don't! I'm just thinking about Kagome,” picking up the bowls, he quickly refilled them before slipping out of the kitchen. He was splayed out on one of the sofas and staring at their tree when he remembered he still had some shopping to do.

 

“Speaking of whom, what did you get her for Christmas?”

 

“You haven't got her present yet?” Miroku rushed out of the kitchen. “It's Christmas Eve!”

 

“I know, I just couldn't find anything,” Inuyasha shrugged, “I mean she's a fashion designer so the woman doesn't need what others do, you know, clothes, make up and shoes. She gets all of those from her friends and her own company.”

 

“That's true,” placing the kitten by his friend's head, he watched her slip on the back sofa cushion and tumble down onto his stomach.

 

“Little bugger,” with a wry grin, Inuyasha focused on the kitten and batted his finger at her paws. “So about Kagome's gift?”

 

“Let's go find something,” Miroku offered. “Although it's going to be hell on earth out there.”

 

“Tell me about it,” Inuyasha sighed and sat up, picking up the cat to put her in her little kennel.

 

“Any ideas then?”

 

“Actually, there's a couple of cd's she's wanted to buy lately, and a pretty cute rocking chair she was checking out the other day at ikea.” Miroku grabbed his keys and opened the front door, grabbing up his jacket against the cold outside.

 

“A rocking chair?” Inuyasha picked up his own coat and followed him out the door. “What the heck does she want one of those for?”

 

“They're comfortable,” Miroku shrugged, not willing to give away anything yet. They could all find out after he had the ring on her hand.

 

The phone rang just as he got the apartment locked and both the guys froze. Inuyasha frowned, “Didn't you say she'd call home for a ride?”

 

Miroku gave a nod, “Have you got your cell phone?”

 

“Yeah, we'll call her cell on the way there,” flipping the phone out of his pocket, Inuyasha waited until they were down in the parking garage before speed-dialing her number.

 

“She's not picking up.”

 

“That's weird, it probably wasn't her then. We'll try again later.” Miroku slid into the passenger seat and buckled up. “She always takes at least two hours with Saul and Mae, and she was going to grab some stuff from her old place and drop off her gifts for her other neighbors.”

 

“Good, that could take her hours,” Inuyasha pulled out and into the heavy New York traffic. “Where to then?”

 

“Just head over to Broadway and we'll look around.” Miroku leaned back against his seat and yawned, better enjoy the peace while it lasts.

 

“Yeah, and looking at this traffic, that won't be very long,” Inuyasha flipped off a guy honking at him and ignored Miroku's laugh.

 

They had just parked when Inuyasha's cell phone went off. Getting out of the car, he picked it up with his usually gruff, “Yeah?”

 

“Grandma I got it!”

 

Wincing at the screaming voice on the other end of the line, he rolled his eyes and slammed the car door. “Who the heck is this?”

 

“Inuyasha you have to get over here! Kagome's gone!”

 

The voice suddenly clicked as he realized it was Shippo, an obviously worried and frightened Shippo at that. “What do you mean she's gone? Get your grandma on the line!”

 

“Who's gone?” Miroku stopped a feeling of dread swamping him.

 

Inuyasha waved away his question for a sec, demanding answers from Kaede as she took up the phone from her distraught grandson. In the blink of an eye Inuyasha had the car open and Miroku slammed his door shut again.

 

“Shit!”

 

“What the hell's going on?” Miroku asked as soon as he'd shut off the phone.

 

The car's tires squealed ominously as they backed out and sped out of the parking lot. Inuyasha was decidedly somber when he finally explained.

 

“He's got her.”

 

 

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“No one else can love you like I do. Feel it when I'm creepin' up on you.”

 

(- Why's my head so fuzzy? -)

 

Kagome hardly listened to the singing and the radio, her head murky, feeling oddly out of place and nauseated. She hadn't been sick before so it couldn't be the baby.

 

A touch brought her mind into focus a bit more. It was soft and comforting, soothing her hair back and lightly tracing her neck, cheek, lips and eyes. The fingers were large, definitely male, and she smiled, imagining it was Miroku. Feeling safe again, she was about to drift off when she focused on his voice, hoping it would lull her back to sleep.

 

“I know that it wouldn't be right, if I stayed all night. Just to peek in on you. Creepin' up on you..”

 

It wasn't Miroku's voice.

 

Fighting against the strange weakness dragging her down, she forced her eyes to open, blinking slowly against the darkness around her. Before her was a black stick, pointing up to her right, a bright green screen flickering numbers behind it, slightly off-centered and lopsided too.

 

(- I'm lying down -)

 

The realization made her realize that not only was she lying down, she was in the passenger seat of a car. Her world came crashing down as she remembered the reason she'd fallen asleep in the first place.

 

Her gasp let her abductor know she was awake.

 

“Hey baby, have a good nap?”

 

His fingers tapped her lips playfully before moving away. She tried to move, only to find her hands and feet were tied down. She was getting dizzy, the motion of the car was making her gag and she closed her eyes in an attempt to make it stop. It made it so much worse she involuntarily whimpered and attempted to shift into a seated position. She couldn't, her seat was completely down.

 

“You want to get up? Hold on just a little longer ok?”

 

He was true to his word. Just a few minutes later he was pulling into somewhere and stopping the car. It was too dark to see him well, and still feeling hazy, Kagome could only let herself be lifted and moved about like a rag doll. She was lifted onto his lap, her head falling listlessly to his chest, the warmth of his body soothing despite the knowledge that she was in the arms of her stalker.

 

“You have no idea how much I've dreamt of this,” he whispered against her temple, giving her a kiss and trailing his lips up to her forehead.

 

“Why?” Kagome whispered, “Why me?”

 

He laughed softly, one hand coming up to cradle her chin while the other settled her more comfortably in the crook of his arm. He kissed her eyes and her nose before settling his mouth over hers. There was little Kagome could do to stop him, feeling as weak and disoriented as she did.

 

He kept his touches light, brushing his slightly parched lips against hers and scraping his teeth across her lower lip in a teasing manner. Since he used little pressure, it was easy for her to ask again. “Why?”

 

“Because you're beautiful,” he replied, the words fanning across her mouth. “Because you're kind, and loving, and everything a man could want. You're perfect.”

 

“I'm not,” Kagome replied, the haziness in her mind slowly receding. “I'm a brat. I'm not perfect.”

 

“Well, as damn close to perfect as God could have made,” he took advantage of the way her lips were parted to steal a taste.

 

The touch of his tongue on hers made Kagome buck and weakly try to pull away. It was laughable, really, how easily he subdued and repositioned her. Stretching her legs straight between his, he brought her bound arms up around his neck and leaned his own seat back a bit.

 

Kagome felt tears well in her eyes as he cupped her head and her bottom, using one to angle her head better while the other pressed her hips to his. The proof of his `wanting' her was easy to distinguish as he grinded against her.

 

To her relief, his own groan seemed to snap him back to reality and remind him of where they were. “God, I've wanted you for so long, it's hard to stop.”

 

A sob was the only response she could give while her hands were lowered again and he sat back up. She flinched when he cooed and wiped her tears away, “I'm sorry darling, don't cry, you deserve better than a car. I've got a nice big bed waiting at home for us. I just had to sneak a little sample as soon as I knew you were awake.”

 

“I don't even know who you are,” Kagome whispered, forcing her tired limbs to stay upright on their own and not lean against his chest again.

 

“Don't you?” He seemed genuinely surprised at that. “Oh wait, it's so dark, of course you don't. You haven't seen me since you returned to the costume shop.”

 

With a start, Kagome blinked against the darkness and looked up at the face before her. There was something familiar about it, but she couldn't see much, and squinting made her head hurt.

 

“Oh, and I didn't look like this before, you probably are more familiar with me looking something like this.”

 

Reaching behind the passenger seat, he took a moment when she wavered to help her lean against the steering wheel before pulling something over his head. After a couple of quick tugs, he had it in place and pulled out a small box. He took less than a minute to dab on a whole mess of products that even in the darkness changed his look drastically. When he was finally ready, he set the box aside and turned the inside car light on with a soft, “Ta da!”

 

Kagome gasped, eyes widening as she stared at the man whose lap she sat on. “Rayne?”

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“What happened?”

 

Miroku and Inuyasha rushed out of the elevator, making their way past the spectators cluttering Kagome's apartment. “Kaede!”

 

“You came!” Shippo ran out and threw his arms around Inuyasha. They were not surprised to find Sesshomaru there, since Inuyasha had called his brother on the way over. He and Sango had been visiting Mushin and Aoi, who stood with the crowd by the washer, bent over something.

 

Inuyasha picked the kid up easily and settled him on his hip. “What happened, Shippo?”

 

“The wiring was tampered with,” Saul and Trevor both tried to explain.

 

Mae and Kaede came too, urging them all into the living room. “The power was only gone for about ten minutes, no one thought very much about it until Shippo came in to tell Kagome a joke.”

 

The little boy nodded and jumped in at that, “I saw her go in when the lights were still on, then when they came back, I came first thing to talk to her about it and she was gone. Her shoes were by the door, her keys were on the table, but there was no sign of her except for a mess by the washer. There was a note there too.”

 

“Let me see it.” Miroku demanded, taking it from Sango's shaking hand. The fear on her face made him briefly want to pull her in for a hug like he used to when they were younger, but his need to find out about Kagome came first.

 

For certain is death for the born

And certain is birth for the dead;

Therefore over the inevitable

Thou shouldst not grieve.

 

It was inevitable that she would come home with me.
Accept it, she is dead to you now.

She was always mine.

 

“DAMN HIM!”

 

The room's occupants jumped back when Miroku crumpled the paper and slammed his fist into the wall.

 

The violent act was so unlike him, even Inuyasha stared in amazement. He'd seen Miroku angry, but never like this. Resting his head against the wall, knuckles still against it, he visibly struggled to control his fury.

 

“You're bleeding,” Shippo finally whispered.

 

“I'll survive,” Miroku ground out, moving gradually away from the stained wall. Shaking out his hand, he flexed his fingers and faced them. “We'll find her.”

 

“Of course,” Inuyasha agreed.

 

Still holding Shippo, he turned and speed-dialed Kouga, knowing he and Ayame would rush back once they knew. Sango and Sesshomaru had just called Jaken to check on the kids when Miroku snapped again.

 

Having sat down and wrapped his hand in some ice, he suddenly sprang to his feet with a shout.

 

“What?! What is it now?” Inuyasha shouted back.

 

“The baby!” Miroku cursed and strode over to the mantel. “Damn it! What will he do if he finds out about the baby?”

 

“What baby?” Sango asked, a bad feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. “Miroku…”

 

“Our baby!” He snapped, “The baby Kagome just found out she's having! The one we've been trying to get her with for months!”

 

Inuyasha actually dropped Shippo at that, “You knocked up Kagome?!”

 

Even Sesshomaru's jaw opened the tiniest bit at the admission.

 

“I was going to propose!” Miroku explained, “It wasn't an original part of the plan, the plan was just to get her knocked up and then I could go.”

 

“What?!”

 

Both Sango and Aoi screeched that.

 

“Then things got complicated. She ran into Hojo and found out he just had another baby. I lost Sarah and all I could think was that I had to see Kagome, as if somehow Kagome could make it stop hurting. I mean, we never planned on it but somewhere along the lines we… we fell in love!”

 

Miroku scoffed, “Can you believe it? How stupid could we have been, not to realize there was too much between us already to just sleep together and stay friends?”

 

His anger and worry seemed to be sapped out of him suddenly, as he sank down into another chair. Resting his elbows on his knees, he dropped his head into his hands and groaned. “I can't lose her now. We've only just gotten started.”

 

“What kind of talk is that?” Mushin snapped, “This is no time to give in to dark thoughts son, Kagome's a smart girl, she's not going to take this lightly.”

 

“Let's just hope she won't do anything to get herself into worse trouble,” Sesshomaru mumbled.

 

“How could things get worse?” Sango turned on him.

 

The man's calmness added to the feeling of gloom his words brought, “From what we know, this man is obsessed with her, he worships the very ground she walks on. That makes him dangerous, especially if his `paragon' were to suddenly become too real. If she were to do something to remove the rose-tinted lenses he's been seeing her through, she would be in a lot of trouble.”

 

“Where could they be?” Shippo suddenly asked.

 

“That's the problem, with what little we know, they could be anywhere.”

 

“Oh god,” Aoi sank down beside her son, taking his hand into hers. Neither one commented on the terrified shaking of both their limbs. No one else in the room said anything either, since they were in no better condition themselves.

 

 

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“No! Please don't make me wear it!”

 

Kagome shook her head frantically, “I have no idea where I am already, there's no need for a blindfold!”

 

“We're going to head into town in a few minutes, sweetheart, and you could see something.” Muso, as he'd explained his real name was, lifted the black piece of silk and held it out in front of her eyes.

 

“If you don't want me to hurt your eyes you'd better shut them, either way I'm tying this on.”

 

Biting her lip, Kagome did as told, lowering her head obediently so he could tie the knot at the back. She was still so weak she couldn't move much on her own. She gave a tired sigh as she was lain back down on the seat. When he felt her shiver, he reached over and pulled a blanket out of the backseat, covering her and tucking it tenderly around her huddled form.

 

“Sleep tight, princess.”

 

“Rayne- I mean, Muso?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“How long have we been driving?”

 

“A couple of hours.”

 

Nodding, she lay her head down on her bound hands and yawned. (- I'm so tired, and I was out for a couple of hours too. I wonder how the others are taking it? I'm sure they know by now. Please, please, lord, let them find me soon. -)

 

“I left a note for your friends.”

 

“You did?”

 

“I thought it only kind to reassure them you'd be ok with me,” Even though his voice was supposed to be calm, Kagome realized Muso sounded a bit too cheerful for just a reassurance note.

 

She couldn't help but ask, “What did you say?”

 

“Honestly?”

 

“No, lie to me,” Kagome mumbled.

 

At that, he gave a laugh and spanked her bottom, “I could, you know.”

 

She frowned beneath the blindfold, annoyed at his hand still on her back, “So what did it say?”

 

“Not to worry about you, basically, that you're gone from their lives.” Muso removed his hand and she felt the car turn.

 

From the looks of the road earlier, Kagome knew they were way out of the city in some suburb. If she could only figure out where they were going, maybe she could find a way to get out.

 

(- Don't be stupid Kagome, you have no idea where you are. He's could be taking you anywhere. -)

 

“Not much longer until we're out of town, then it's just a half hour and we'll be home,” Muso announced happily. “Want to hear our song again?”

 

“Our song?” Kagome whispered, dismayed by the idea that the town was half an hour away by car from this `home' he was taking her to.

 

(- It can't be as bad as he's making it out to be, it can't be! -)

 

“I found your address got your phone number too. Visit all the stores where you buy all your clothes. Been to secret places you think nobody knows.”

 

“Oh my god,” Kagome mumbled, shivering as he sang along, word for word.

 

It made sense that he knew the song by heart, the guy in it was as creepy as he was. Yawning, Kagome realized it was useless to try to stay awake. The radio was loud, the blindfold kept her from seeing anything that might be useful, and having his fingers touching her wasn't a very pleasant thing to focus on. With the steady rubbing of his hand at the back of her neck, she fell asleep, giving a sad little sigh.

 

(- Please Miroku, come soon. -)

 

 

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“You're sure they didn't see anything odd once the lights came back on?” Hiten and Manten were there, along with a whole crew of police taking notes and searching through the apartment for clues.

 

The others were downstairs in Mae and Saul's apartment, having some tea and worrying, but Sesshomaru, Inuyasha and Miroku had stayed with the police. Miroku refused to be left out of anything, and thankfully, Hiten allowed it, granted they not touch anything else that might be worthwhile and didn't get in the way of their investigation.

 

Inuyasha was still unsure of how to respond to the admissions Miroku had made earlier. He decided to get things out in the open while the topic was still fresh. “So how long have you two been…”

 

“Months,” Miroku replied, “Since the dinner party at the beach house. Remember? The one where Kagome and I slipped out for a while, and she came back with a cut on her foot?”

 

Sesshomaru let out a low whistle, “That feels like ages ago, Sango wasn't due for two months at that time.”

 

“Hell,” Inuyasha cursed, “I can't believe you guys kept this from us.”

 

“Why not? It was an odd arrangement. All I was supposed to do was get her pregnant. She wanted a baby, not a husband, and she didn't think she could ask anyone else for something so intimate.” Miroku tried to explain.

 

Inuyasha was not going to give up that easily, however, “Why you?”

 

“Because she trusted me,” Miroku sighed, “Because I had always been her protector and her friend. She knew I would cut off my right hand before doing anything that might hurt her. She couldn't be so sure of anyone else, at least, that's what she told me.”

 

“In truth I'm not sure why, I've just thanked my lucky stars that she came to me,” he admitted. “I'm sorry that you're upset, I can understand that, your feelings for her are no secret.”

 

“But then again neither were yours before we knew,” Sesshomaru interrupted. “There's always been a certain warmth in your expression when Kagome comes up. I had wondered about it a few times but shrugged it off as brotherly love, since she was raised with you and all.”

 

“So had I,” Miroku and Inuyasha admitted, sharing a chuckle when they realized they'd said the same thing.

 

“Good to see the mood's lightened up a bit,” Hiten came over from the kitchen and gave them a smile. “We have a lead.”

 

“Already?” Inuyasha and the others followed him out.

 

“It seems this has happened before,” Hiten explained while the elevator closed behind them.

 

“I got a call from an old pal, Naraku Warne, works in L.A.P.D, had a guy who had a similar penchant for stalking and leaving notes on cards. Same exact style.” Hiten led the way over to Saul's apartment, where more people waited now, including Hilde, Duo, Desirée and Nate.

 

“I had Souten, my assistant, e-mail out a general record of our case to some fellow detectives across the states, turns out Naraku's been trailing this guy for a couple of years now. Sent me some files,” Hiten took the folder from a young officer and pulled out a few pictures, spreading them on the table. “Any of these look familiar?”

 

Young men covered the table, blonds, redheads, one with silver hair and others with black. The differences were vast and daunting, but looking into the eyes it was easy to see the truth. He could cover his features well, but his eyes were a unique golden/brown color easily recognizable. Not only that, in the few pictures he had contacts in, there was an air of cockiness about him that couldn't be denied.

 

It was Hilde who suddenly gave a gasp, “It's that boy!”

 

“What?” All eyes turned to the wide-eyed young woman.

 

“From the costume shop, with the name like a natural disaster, what was it? Tempest? Tornado? Storm? No, but I think it… Rain! That's it! His name was Rain!”

 

“Rain what?” Hiten asked, already calling it in over his walky talky.

 

“Preston? Patterson?” Hilde shrugged, “I only saw him once, but he was ga-ga over Kagome. I thought it was cute.”

 

“Souten look up a guy Rain P. There can't be too many with such a weird name.” Hiten accepted a cup of tea with a nod, gulping it down quickly before turning to Manten and exchanging a few words with him.

 

“The guys are going to run a few tests, some for prints, which we probably won't find, but still worth a shot. And a few on a hairs and things found in the kitchen.” Waving them off, he went over a few more documents that Souten had sent over before getting a response from her.

 

“That's a check on Rayne Peterson, he spells it oddly, making it easier to find him,” Souten explained over the line. “However, according to this report he was found dead a couple of days ago. I'll print out a few images and send `em over.”

 

“She can send them through e-mail, it'll be faster,” Trevor offered, giving Hiten his address.

 

Minutes later they were printing out pictures, which to the room at large were obviously not of the man they were looking for. Hiten gave a sigh and contacted Souten again,

 

“This is getting more complicated by the minute Sou, but one thing's for sure, that is not Rayne Peterson. The body type is similar but Rayne has a tattoo on his upper arm, one that isn't on that body's picture.”

 

“So he's still out there?” Souten sounded exasperated as she typed on the other side of the line.

 

“I'm afraid so, and the guy's got Kagome,” Hiten hung up and was surprised when his phone rang again. It was Naraku, “What name did he use this time?”

 

“This time?”

 

“Just answer the question.”

 

“Rayne Peterson,” Hiten explained.

 

“Find out as much as you can about Rayne Peterson. Your guy's real name is Muso Dioramas, and he has a tendency to find out every detail about the person whose identity he takes and use them as he sees fit. The key to finding this girl in time is to find out the person's darkest secrets, the darker and more sinister, the better. He has a penchant for those.” Naraku warned.

 

“I'm sending a file with some more images and details, I wouldn't, however, advise you to allow anyone else to see them. If she has family or a husband, they will not want to know what he's capable of.”

 

Hiten cursed, “That bad?”

 

“Worse”

 

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