InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Entrapment: A 21st Century Adventure ❯ Reunited ( Chapter 4 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: King Baka 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.17.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.1K | Visits: 908 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.17.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.1K | Visits: 908 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha or any of the publicly known characters, plot, etc. I’m just renting them from Rumiko Takahashi, Viz, etc. I do own the plot of this story and any original characters I’ve created. I will make no money from this fic; I write for my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of my readers.
Reunited
Kagome cringed, her skin erupting in goose bumps at the revolting touch of the man currently affixing the polygraph apparatus to her arm. Just looking at him or smelling his grubby, unwashed odor made her sick to her stomach. He was the same man who had injected her with the drug last night. Oh, if only that truth serum had also wiped her memory of that horrifying experience clean. But no, she remembered every agonizing moment of helpless torment, as she compliantly spilled every detail of her adventure in the feudal era. The bastards had even made her reveal her feelings for Inuyasha. She felt raped, not in body, but in mind. And she hated them for it.
“Alright, Kagome,” the man said, seemingly in a good mood. “All you have to do is sit there and answer my questions. And try not to lie,” he told her, sitting down across from her and fiddling with his instruments.
“And if I refuse to answer?”
He glanced up from his work, grinning nastily. “Then I’ll start pulling out your fingernails until you change your mind.”
Kagome shuddered; the creep would enjoy it too. She was still tempted to refuse, so strong was her resentment and loathing for her captors. But the prospect of incurring pointless pain was not an appealing one, and she would not let her emotions get the better of her. There was absolutely no reason to decline to answer now.
“I would think you’d want to cooperate anyway,” the man continued cheerily, as if discussing mere pleasantries with her. “It’s not like the police are looking for you.”
Kagome felt a jolt of fear at that statement. “W-why is that?”
“Because we staged your abduction perfectly. The whole world thinks you’re dead, little girl. Nobody is searching for you. In fact, you’re funeral is probably in a few days!” Saburou finished, cackling evilly.
“You…you bastard!” Kagome cried, fresh rage flowing through her. “How could you do that to my family?!”
Kagome’s head jerked to the side as Saburou’s palm connected with her cheek, the sound of the slap echoing obscenely in the small room. Tears pooled in her eyes at the humiliating sting, but she blinked them back, vowing not to show weakness in front of this man.
“I don’t take kindly to insults,” he snarled. “Remember that or you won’t get away with just a slap next time. Face reality, bitch. You’re all alone here, and we can do whatever we want to you.”
“Inuyasha will come for me,” Kagome spoke lowly, her faith in her friend manifesting itself in her confident tone. “And when he does, he’s going to make a spineless weasel like you piss himself and beg for mercy.” She fully expected to get hit again, but instead Saburou only burst out into laughter, a spiteful sound that had much of Kagome’s bravado deserting her.
“Your lover boy is gonna come rescue you? Ha! I’m sure he’d try, if he wasn’t currently locked in a cage. It’s just as well for him; if he tries anything, I’m going to carve him up like a piece of meat.”
Kagome’s mind slowed to a crawl. Oh, no, they got Inuyasha too?! Now all confidence left her, and she had to fight against a wave of despair. But she refused to be pulled under. I won’t give up. Inuyasha and I will figure something out. We’ll escape somehow. She repeated similar reassurances in her head several times over, but was only able to partially restore her faith. She could not completely ignore the direness of the situation.
“So what’ll it be, girlie?” Saburou asked, pulling Kagome from her thoughts. “Are you gonna answer, or should I go get my pliers?”
Kagome swallowed. “I’ll answer” she replied meekly.
“Good girl,” he praised patronizingly, making Kagome feel like a naughty child under the control of a tyrannical disciplinarian. But she had no choice but to ‘behave,’ even if it made her nauseous. And as Saburou posed his first question, Kagome had to wonder if she really would end up evacuating her stomach, as she had already evacuated the contents of her mind.
“Well, polygraphs aren’t totally accurate, but it basically confirmed everything she said yesterday. The little bitch tried to lie to me a couple times, but the machine caught her.”
Kagome’s step hitched noticeably at this comment, but she kept her mouth shut. Neither man said anything else until Saburou halted Kagome at the doorway to her room, released the cuffs, and shoved her inside before locking the door behind her.
“So what have you been up to this morning, Sasaki-san?” Saburou inquired conversationally as they made their way down the hallway.
“Waiting for Inuyasha to wake up from the tranquilizer. But something occurred to me. Kagome talked about a jewel—the ‘Shikon no Tama,’ I believe—last night, did she not?”
“Yeah, I think so. Why?”
“Shouldn’t we go collect this potentially valuable artifact?”
“Hm, good idea. She told us it was on her bureau or something. I’ll send somebody out tonight.”
“Excellent. One less loose end to worry about.”
“Speaking of loose ends,” Saburou stated darkly, “you know we’re going to have to kill her, right?”
“What?!” Kurou exclaimed, horrified at the prospect of murdering one of his countrymen. “Why on earth would we do that?”
Saburou grimaced, hating this act. The decision had already been made; Kagome was destined to meet her end shortly, perhaps even that evening. But there was a benefit to letting Kurou think he was still in charge, at least for now. And that meant trying to persuade when he should be giving orders.
“Obviously, because she’ll be able to identify us.”
“But she doesn’t know our names! How wi—”
“She’s seen our faces, hasn’t she? And don’t you think that we might gain some fame from this discovery of yours? Even if she doesn’t know our names, she’ll associate us with Inuyasha, and she’ll recognize our faces on TV. Face it, Sasaki-san; she’s a disaster waiting to happen. We can’t leave her alive.”
Kurou frowned, waging an internal battle. He really didn’t want to have Kagome killed, but everything Saburou said made perfect sense. His logic was impeccable, and Kurou had always valued reason over emotion. He sighed, still not liking the decision even though he knew it was the correct one.
“I’ll take her out to the country and do it real quick and painless,” Saburou declared, seeing the uncertainty in his companion’s gaze.
Kurou nodded, allowing his conscience to be eased by the mercenary’s promise. “Alright, if you really think it’s necessary…”
“Good,” Saburou said, clapping Kurou on the shoulder. “Don’t you worry about Kagome anymore. You just focus on learning all you can about our hanyou guest.”
Kurou silently agreed, pushing reservations about the schoolgirl’s impending demise to the back of his mind. He had important work to do. The two men soon arrived on the main floor of the warehouse, a large open space perhaps two hundred square feet in area. Saburou’s organization used it as one of their bases of operations; there were indeed many illegal or suspicious items stored here. But the object which naturally drew the most attention was the steel cage in the center of the room. It was rectangular, with dimensions of six feet by ten feet by eight feet, with flat top and bottom pieces connected by thick metal bars a two or three inches apart. Inside lay a red-clad figure, his peaceful slumber belying the power Kurou knew resided in those limbs. Not for the first time, he felt a small amount of trepidation at the sight.
“Are you sure that cage is strong enough to hold him? He did leap thirty stories in the air like it was nothing.”
“Relax,” Saburou told him. “If that cage can hold a six hundred pound male Siberian tiger, I think it can hold your little hanyou. And if not, we’ll just tranquilize him again.”
Once again, Kurou swallowed his qualms, deciding to defer to the expert. He turned to one of the three mercenaries standing guard around the cage with dart rifles.
“Status?” he inquired.
“He’s started to stir,” the man answered. “He should wake up soon.”
Kurou rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Just think,” he told Saburou, “our first opportunity to speak to an intelligent, non-human life form!”
“Heh. Don’t get your hopes up; he could be as dumb as a cockroach.”
“I try to be optimistic.”
The two men passed the next ten minutes or so in casual banter, watching as the sleeping hanyou exhibited more signs of waking, such as twitching ears. Finally a low groan sounded from his throat, immediately terminating all conversation and plunging the room into silence.
For Inuyasha, returning to consciousness was a miserable experience. The light seemed to burn through his eyelids and sear his corneas, forcing him to briefly cover his face with a hand until the extraordinary sensitivity wore off. In the meantime, his nose and ears passively scanned for familiar scents and sounds, but found nothing recognizable. At least his memory came back to him quickly, as he recalled searching for Kagome and being attacked at the school. Since whatever was in those darts had apparently knocked him out, it was safe to assume that he was now a prisoner. But all the other elements of his situation were a mystery, a state of affairs he hoped to rectify very soon. Finally, when the light did not seem quite so formidable, he opened his eyes.
Immediately Inuyasha realized he was in a cage, the vertical bars breaking up his vision of the outside world. He pulled himself into a crouch, taking the time to methodically examine his surroundings. Perhaps the old him would have already been up demanding release and testing the strength of the cage, but he had become less impulsive since his revival on Goshinboku, more apt to thinking before acting. There were five men standing around the cage, three of them dressed alike and holding what looked like weapons, quite possibly the same which had incapacitated him the day before. At least, he assumed it was the day before. The other two men were more interesting, and Inuyasha sensed that they were the leaders. One wore drab clothing similar to the first three, his muscular arms folded across his chest and his face scrunched into a condescending stare. But it was his eyes which really caught the hanyou’s attention; they were the dull, merciless orbs of a killer.
The last of his captors was, in contrast, clean shaven and professional-looking. His style of dress appeared more formal, though Inuyasha was by no means an expert in modern apparel. But although his gaze was excited, it was not benevolent. This man was no friend to him either. Inuyasha stood and walked slowly over to the two leaders, keeping his expression neutral.
“Hello, Inuyasha,” the professional-looking man greeted warmly. “How are you feeling?”
Inuyasha ignored the pathetic attempt at establishing a rapport; he had no intention of answering any of this asshole’s questions. Instead he drew a deep breath through his nose, seeking any additional information he could find. He nearly choked, eyes widening in surprise as he took a confirmatory sniff. It was very faint, but there could be no doubt; he smelled Kagome’s scent. And it seemed to be emanating from the other man, the one with killer’s eyes. Rage blossomed within Inuyasha like a sudden inferno. This man had touched Kagome, who knew to what end. His only consolation was that he did not detect the scent of Kagome’s blood, only some of her natural scent which had rubbed off.
Inuyasha drew himself to full height, cracking his knuckles and baring his fangs while allowing pure fury to bleed into his seething glare, the combination of which would have made any sensible human shrink back in fear. But the bastard only smirked confidently, his eyes shining with malice. The apparent failure of his intimidation attempt only enraged Inuyasha further.
“Where’s Kagome?” he growled, golden orbs boring into his enemy’s skull.
Saburou chuckled darkly. “Relax, half-breed. She’s fine…for now.”
The threat in last two words tore a snarl from Inuyasha’s throat, a vicious sound which caused the other four humans to nervously retreat a few steps. But the bastard with killer’s eyes stood his ground unflinchingly. At that moment, Inuyasha settled on a general course of action; he would let his combat instincts fill in the details.
Leaning in close, he flicked one of the cage bars with a claw, hoping to hear the telltale echo indicating that the shaft was hollow. It was not. Still, he thought he could bend the bars, though it might take too long with three armed men standing around. Glancing down to his side, he discovered that Tetsusaiga had been removed from his hip. Fortunately, Inuyasha knew of another way to affect his escape. Perhaps his bare claws would not be sufficient for the task, but he had not spent his youth training to utilize his youki for nothing. Backing up a few steps, he settled into a combat stance, and after a moment’s pause to steady his nerves, launched himself forward.
“Sankon Tetsusou!”
Two precise and visually dazzling swipes sent the middle sections of over a dozen cage bars clattering to the floor, leaving a gaping hole in the structure. Inuyasha leapt through the opening, immediately charging at the nearest man with a weapon. He needed to deal with them before confronting the leaders, lest he wind up with any more darts sticking out of him. He was upon his first victim before the man could aim properly, and quickly sent him flying with a jaw-cracking punch to the chin. The mercenary collapsed to the floor unconscious.
Inuyasha turned to the next man just in time to see the weapon in his hands go off. The hanyou dove to the floor, feeling the dart whiz through his hair instead of embedding in his neck. He did not give his adversary a chance to fire again. In four great strides he was upon him, smashing the weapon away and hoisting the man up by the collar. Now he turned to face the third enemy, rushing forward while holding the comrade in front of him as a meat shield. When he was close enough, Inuyasha hurled the second man into the third with all his might, watching in grim satisfaction as the two men tumbled over and over before finally coming to a stop in separate crumpled heaps a good thirty feet away. Neither would be on his feet for awhile.
Watching this debacle unfold from across the room, Kurou tried to move, but his legs were frozen in fear. Turning to his right, he saw Saburou sprinting toward the door leading to the back hallway as fast as his legs could carry him. Apparently all that bravado he’d exhibited a few moments earlier had been illusory.
“Yoshida! You fucking coward!” Kurou cried, the sudden rush of anger seemingly chasing the paralyzing chill from his limbs. As Saburou vanished from sight, Kurou took off, hoping to make the same escape. But his attempt to flee came far too late. Inuyasha leapt over the cage in a single bound, hitting Kurou from the side and slamming him by the throat into a wall. Kurou wheezed, his vision blurring for a moment from the impact. When it cleared, he was faced with the infuriated visage of the incensed hanyou, bright amber eyes glowing with unspoken threat.
“Where’s Kagome?” the terrifying voice rumbled, sending fresh waves of panic down Kurou’s spine. Again he found himself temporarily paralyzed, unable to muster a response. But Inuyasha was not in an especially patient move; he reared back and slammed Kurou into the wall again, hard enough to give the man a mild concussion.
“Listen, you piece of shit! If these claws can tear through that cage, what do you think they can do to you? Now, I’ll ask you again. Where. Is. Kagome?!”
Kurou never got a chance to answer. Scuffling footsteps drew Inuyasha’s attention to the side; he nearly gasped at what he saw. There was Kagome, and though he felt relief that she was alive, he experienced no elation at their reunion. For behind her stood the man with killer’s eyes, his right arm wrapped around her shoulder. In his hand was a long, wide-bladed knife, pressed against the delicate skin of her neck. His left arm hung by his side, likewise clutching a knife. Kagome’s eyes also shone with relief at seeing Inuyasha alive and well, but this emotion was overshadowed by fear. She clutched at the arm holding the blade to her neck, but it was clear her feeble struggles would amount to nothing. She simply lacked the physical strength or combat experience to escape from her captor’s grasp.
Inuyasha’s blood boiled, but he forcibly suppressed the desire to charge over and save her immediately. The mark on her cheek where someone had struck her made this urge even more compelling, but he could take no foolish chances with Kagome’s life. Instead, he decided to try negotiation.
“Let her go and he lives,” he proposed, nodding his head towards the man currently feeling the prick of sharp claws against his neck. The response was not what either of them hoped for.
“Ha!” Saburou barked. “Go ahead, kill him.”
Inuyasha studied Kagome’s captor, those murderous eyes which held no remorse or guilt, nor a care in the world for anyone. The spike of fear in the air from his abandoned ally confirmed it; this man truly did not care if Inuyasha’s hostage lived or died.
“Fucking bastard!” Inuyasha swore, tossing Kurou to the side like a rag doll. “How about this, then?” he growled, stalking menacingly toward the pair. “Let Kagome go, and I’ll let you live!”
“Hold it right there, half-breed,” Saburou ordered, pressing the knife into Kagome’s flesh, drawing a thin line of blood and a frightened moan from her throat. Inuyasha halted, his glare physically incapable of conveying all the loathing he felt for this man. Yet, if given the option, he would still gladly forego any retaliation in favor of Kagome’s release. He would make that deal in a heartbeat, and honor it. But unfortunately, Saburou had no intention of entering into such an arrangement.
“Good, you’ve got the right idea,” the mercenary declared, smirking cruelly. “You may be able to make helpless rabbits like him piss themselves, but you don’t scare me. If you take another step forward, I’ll slit this bitch’s throat. And when you come after me for revenge, I’ll slice you open down the middle and spill your guts onto the floor.”
The knife in Saburou’s left hand moved with his words, emphasizing perfectly the foretold actions. And for the first time since he awoke in this strange place, Inuyasha felt fear. Not for himself; he had no doubt he could easily dispatch this arrogant human. But said human appeared to honestly believe otherwise, and the sincerity of his threat weighed heavily on Inuyasha’s mind. He could not realistically hope to cross the distance between them before Kagome’s captor plunged his blade into her throat, spilling her lifeblood all over the floor. Our proud hanyou was forced to come to terms with an inescapable truth; if he took a single step forward, he would condemn Kagome to death. Beyond that, whether or not he could defeat the human holding her hostage was immaterial.
So then what could he do? He refused to abandon Kagome now that he had found her again. It seemed he and his fellow antagonist were locked in an intractable stalemate, neither willing to budge, both fully entrenched—
“Look out!” he heard Kagome croak. Too late he broke his all-consuming concentration and focused on his surroundings. The dart was already in his back. But that was okay; it was just one. He turned to face the shooter, only to have the world continue spinning before his eyes even as his body came to a stop. He wobbled, then collapsed, out cold.
“Inuyasha!” Kagome called, more out of reflex than anything else. He could not hear her now.
Kurou heaved a huge sigh of relief, setting down the rifle next to the unconscious mercenary. “Well, I see the new formula worked well,” he observed, glad he had urged Saburou’s men to arm themselves with more potent tranquilizers. Inuyasha certainly would not have allowed him to fire any additional darts. It was a miracle that he had managed to hit the hanyou as it was, with the way his hands had been shaking. Now he slumped against the wall, nursing his injuries and trying to slow his adrenaline-fueled heartbeat.
He looked up at the sound of footsteps, one set scuffling and the other purposeful. Saburou prodded Inuyasha with a boot, satisfying himself that the hanyou was still alive. Kagome was forced uncomfortably along the whole way.
“It looks like you were right, Sasaki-san,” Saburou declared. “We’ll have to get a better cage. Oh, and Sasaki-san?”
“Yes?”
*Thunk!*
Kurou’s eyes flew wide as saucers, as he slowly turned his head to the right. There, embedded in the wall about an inch from his ear, was one of Saburou’s knives.
“Don’t ever call me a coward,” the mercenary growled, his expression a hardened mask of hate. Kurou could only nod dumbly and lock his knees to keep his vibrating legs from giving way. His message delivered, Saburou marched Kagome toward her room, rearing back and planting a vicious kick in the prone hanyou’s side as they passed. For Kagome, who had decided to remain quiet to avoid any further trouble, that was the final straw.
“You bastard! You rotten son of a bitch! When Inuyasha comes to, he’s going to kick your a—ack!”
She was silenced by her captor’s arm tightening around her neck. But he didn’t completely cut off her air, instead applying ‘merely’ enough pressure so she appreciated the fact that he could choke the life out of her at any time. Kagome rasped, coughing at the strain of obtaining enough oxygen to fuel her agitated body. Saburou laughed, enjoying her distress.
“Come on, sweetie,” he announced sinisterly, “let’s go for a nice drive.” Then he turned and resumed leading Kagome away, chuckling wickedly as he went.
“W-wait!”
Saburou stopped, glaring over his shoulder at Kurou, surprised and enraged that the academic had the gall to challenge him on this again. Perhaps a more abject lesson was needed.
“We can’t kill her,” Kurou continued, allowing his conviction to fuel his defiance. Inside, however, he was quaking.
“And why the hell not?”
“Because she might be the only way we have to control him,” he answered, motioning to Inuyasha. “Your thugs certainly couldn’t do it!”
Saburou thought about it. Yes, he was confident in his ability to slaughter the half-breed if necessary, but that would lead to a substantially reduced payday. A live hanyou specimen was surely worth a lot more than a dead one. That was the reason he had run to collect Kagome in the first place, after all. So perhaps Kurou was right; maybe the best way to control Inuyasha was to hold Kagome hostage.
“Alright, she lives,” he told the academic. “But she’s your problem now. She pisses me off; I want to choke her too badly.”
“Fine,” Kurou agreed, relieved that his objection had gone over so well. Now to sweeten the deal so Saburou wasn’t tempted to take out his homicidal lust on him. “She’ll stay at my home in Morioka. We can’t keep the two of them too close together in case he breaks out again. But I don’t want them too far apart either. Why don’t we move Inuyasha to Morioka as well? I’ll rent a warehouse near the city, and if you know someone you can buy a better cage from, I’ll pay for it.”
Saburou smirked, recognizing the effects of his intimidation when he saw them. “That’s very generous of you, Sasaki-san.”
Kurou nodded, brushing off Saburou’s mocking gratitude. Better my wallet than my life. It dawned on him that the power in this relationship had shifted, or perhaps it had never been his to begin with. Either way, he couldn’t do anything about it now. For better or worse, Saburou had taken over this project. At least he was still willing to listen to reason. Kurou would look for opportunities to assert himself in the future, but realistically, all he could do was play along and hope the mercenary didn’t screw him too badly in the end.
That distinction went to Inuyasha alone. He had saved her life yet again, though not in a way that either of them anticipated. By proving how difficult he was to contain, he had demonstrated a need for her continued survival, without which she would have been done for.
But that was where Inuyasha’s heroism would end. Now that they could threaten him with her life, he was paralyzed. She knew him; he would not do anything to place her in danger. He wouldn’t take the chance that their captors were not bluffing.
So the responsibility for their escape fell on her; she felt the heavy burden on her shoulders. If she could liberate herself from their clutches, and somehow communicate that state of affairs to Inuyasha, then he could free himself in turn. There was the plan. Now to figure out how to set that design in motion. The sooner a revelation came to her, the better. For who knew when her abductors would change their minds.
Converting /tmp/php3uC24V to /dev/stdout
Reunited
Kagome cringed, her skin erupting in goose bumps at the revolting touch of the man currently affixing the polygraph apparatus to her arm. Just looking at him or smelling his grubby, unwashed odor made her sick to her stomach. He was the same man who had injected her with the drug last night. Oh, if only that truth serum had also wiped her memory of that horrifying experience clean. But no, she remembered every agonizing moment of helpless torment, as she compliantly spilled every detail of her adventure in the feudal era. The bastards had even made her reveal her feelings for Inuyasha. She felt raped, not in body, but in mind. And she hated them for it.
“Alright, Kagome,” the man said, seemingly in a good mood. “All you have to do is sit there and answer my questions. And try not to lie,” he told her, sitting down across from her and fiddling with his instruments.
“And if I refuse to answer?”
He glanced up from his work, grinning nastily. “Then I’ll start pulling out your fingernails until you change your mind.”
Kagome shuddered; the creep would enjoy it too. She was still tempted to refuse, so strong was her resentment and loathing for her captors. But the prospect of incurring pointless pain was not an appealing one, and she would not let her emotions get the better of her. There was absolutely no reason to decline to answer now.
“I would think you’d want to cooperate anyway,” the man continued cheerily, as if discussing mere pleasantries with her. “It’s not like the police are looking for you.”
Kagome felt a jolt of fear at that statement. “W-why is that?”
“Because we staged your abduction perfectly. The whole world thinks you’re dead, little girl. Nobody is searching for you. In fact, you’re funeral is probably in a few days!” Saburou finished, cackling evilly.
“You…you bastard!” Kagome cried, fresh rage flowing through her. “How could you do that to my family?!”
Kagome’s head jerked to the side as Saburou’s palm connected with her cheek, the sound of the slap echoing obscenely in the small room. Tears pooled in her eyes at the humiliating sting, but she blinked them back, vowing not to show weakness in front of this man.
“I don’t take kindly to insults,” he snarled. “Remember that or you won’t get away with just a slap next time. Face reality, bitch. You’re all alone here, and we can do whatever we want to you.”
“Inuyasha will come for me,” Kagome spoke lowly, her faith in her friend manifesting itself in her confident tone. “And when he does, he’s going to make a spineless weasel like you piss himself and beg for mercy.” She fully expected to get hit again, but instead Saburou only burst out into laughter, a spiteful sound that had much of Kagome’s bravado deserting her.
“Your lover boy is gonna come rescue you? Ha! I’m sure he’d try, if he wasn’t currently locked in a cage. It’s just as well for him; if he tries anything, I’m going to carve him up like a piece of meat.”
Kagome’s mind slowed to a crawl. Oh, no, they got Inuyasha too?! Now all confidence left her, and she had to fight against a wave of despair. But she refused to be pulled under. I won’t give up. Inuyasha and I will figure something out. We’ll escape somehow. She repeated similar reassurances in her head several times over, but was only able to partially restore her faith. She could not completely ignore the direness of the situation.
“So what’ll it be, girlie?” Saburou asked, pulling Kagome from her thoughts. “Are you gonna answer, or should I go get my pliers?”
Kagome swallowed. “I’ll answer” she replied meekly.
“Good girl,” he praised patronizingly, making Kagome feel like a naughty child under the control of a tyrannical disciplinarian. But she had no choice but to ‘behave,’ even if it made her nauseous. And as Saburou posed his first question, Kagome had to wonder if she really would end up evacuating her stomach, as she had already evacuated the contents of her mind.
* * *
“What were the results of the polygraph?” Kurou asked as Saburou emerged from the interrogation room, pushing a handcuffed and blindfolded Kagome along in front of him. Kurou fell into step beside him as he roughly directed her down the hall. “Well, polygraphs aren’t totally accurate, but it basically confirmed everything she said yesterday. The little bitch tried to lie to me a couple times, but the machine caught her.”
Kagome’s step hitched noticeably at this comment, but she kept her mouth shut. Neither man said anything else until Saburou halted Kagome at the doorway to her room, released the cuffs, and shoved her inside before locking the door behind her.
“So what have you been up to this morning, Sasaki-san?” Saburou inquired conversationally as they made their way down the hallway.
“Waiting for Inuyasha to wake up from the tranquilizer. But something occurred to me. Kagome talked about a jewel—the ‘Shikon no Tama,’ I believe—last night, did she not?”
“Yeah, I think so. Why?”
“Shouldn’t we go collect this potentially valuable artifact?”
“Hm, good idea. She told us it was on her bureau or something. I’ll send somebody out tonight.”
“Excellent. One less loose end to worry about.”
“Speaking of loose ends,” Saburou stated darkly, “you know we’re going to have to kill her, right?”
“What?!” Kurou exclaimed, horrified at the prospect of murdering one of his countrymen. “Why on earth would we do that?”
Saburou grimaced, hating this act. The decision had already been made; Kagome was destined to meet her end shortly, perhaps even that evening. But there was a benefit to letting Kurou think he was still in charge, at least for now. And that meant trying to persuade when he should be giving orders.
“Obviously, because she’ll be able to identify us.”
“But she doesn’t know our names! How wi—”
“She’s seen our faces, hasn’t she? And don’t you think that we might gain some fame from this discovery of yours? Even if she doesn’t know our names, she’ll associate us with Inuyasha, and she’ll recognize our faces on TV. Face it, Sasaki-san; she’s a disaster waiting to happen. We can’t leave her alive.”
Kurou frowned, waging an internal battle. He really didn’t want to have Kagome killed, but everything Saburou said made perfect sense. His logic was impeccable, and Kurou had always valued reason over emotion. He sighed, still not liking the decision even though he knew it was the correct one.
“I’ll take her out to the country and do it real quick and painless,” Saburou declared, seeing the uncertainty in his companion’s gaze.
Kurou nodded, allowing his conscience to be eased by the mercenary’s promise. “Alright, if you really think it’s necessary…”
“Good,” Saburou said, clapping Kurou on the shoulder. “Don’t you worry about Kagome anymore. You just focus on learning all you can about our hanyou guest.”
Kurou silently agreed, pushing reservations about the schoolgirl’s impending demise to the back of his mind. He had important work to do. The two men soon arrived on the main floor of the warehouse, a large open space perhaps two hundred square feet in area. Saburou’s organization used it as one of their bases of operations; there were indeed many illegal or suspicious items stored here. But the object which naturally drew the most attention was the steel cage in the center of the room. It was rectangular, with dimensions of six feet by ten feet by eight feet, with flat top and bottom pieces connected by thick metal bars a two or three inches apart. Inside lay a red-clad figure, his peaceful slumber belying the power Kurou knew resided in those limbs. Not for the first time, he felt a small amount of trepidation at the sight.
“Are you sure that cage is strong enough to hold him? He did leap thirty stories in the air like it was nothing.”
“Relax,” Saburou told him. “If that cage can hold a six hundred pound male Siberian tiger, I think it can hold your little hanyou. And if not, we’ll just tranquilize him again.”
Once again, Kurou swallowed his qualms, deciding to defer to the expert. He turned to one of the three mercenaries standing guard around the cage with dart rifles.
“Status?” he inquired.
“He’s started to stir,” the man answered. “He should wake up soon.”
Kurou rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Just think,” he told Saburou, “our first opportunity to speak to an intelligent, non-human life form!”
“Heh. Don’t get your hopes up; he could be as dumb as a cockroach.”
“I try to be optimistic.”
The two men passed the next ten minutes or so in casual banter, watching as the sleeping hanyou exhibited more signs of waking, such as twitching ears. Finally a low groan sounded from his throat, immediately terminating all conversation and plunging the room into silence.
For Inuyasha, returning to consciousness was a miserable experience. The light seemed to burn through his eyelids and sear his corneas, forcing him to briefly cover his face with a hand until the extraordinary sensitivity wore off. In the meantime, his nose and ears passively scanned for familiar scents and sounds, but found nothing recognizable. At least his memory came back to him quickly, as he recalled searching for Kagome and being attacked at the school. Since whatever was in those darts had apparently knocked him out, it was safe to assume that he was now a prisoner. But all the other elements of his situation were a mystery, a state of affairs he hoped to rectify very soon. Finally, when the light did not seem quite so formidable, he opened his eyes.
Immediately Inuyasha realized he was in a cage, the vertical bars breaking up his vision of the outside world. He pulled himself into a crouch, taking the time to methodically examine his surroundings. Perhaps the old him would have already been up demanding release and testing the strength of the cage, but he had become less impulsive since his revival on Goshinboku, more apt to thinking before acting. There were five men standing around the cage, three of them dressed alike and holding what looked like weapons, quite possibly the same which had incapacitated him the day before. At least, he assumed it was the day before. The other two men were more interesting, and Inuyasha sensed that they were the leaders. One wore drab clothing similar to the first three, his muscular arms folded across his chest and his face scrunched into a condescending stare. But it was his eyes which really caught the hanyou’s attention; they were the dull, merciless orbs of a killer.
The last of his captors was, in contrast, clean shaven and professional-looking. His style of dress appeared more formal, though Inuyasha was by no means an expert in modern apparel. But although his gaze was excited, it was not benevolent. This man was no friend to him either. Inuyasha stood and walked slowly over to the two leaders, keeping his expression neutral.
“Hello, Inuyasha,” the professional-looking man greeted warmly. “How are you feeling?”
Inuyasha ignored the pathetic attempt at establishing a rapport; he had no intention of answering any of this asshole’s questions. Instead he drew a deep breath through his nose, seeking any additional information he could find. He nearly choked, eyes widening in surprise as he took a confirmatory sniff. It was very faint, but there could be no doubt; he smelled Kagome’s scent. And it seemed to be emanating from the other man, the one with killer’s eyes. Rage blossomed within Inuyasha like a sudden inferno. This man had touched Kagome, who knew to what end. His only consolation was that he did not detect the scent of Kagome’s blood, only some of her natural scent which had rubbed off.
Inuyasha drew himself to full height, cracking his knuckles and baring his fangs while allowing pure fury to bleed into his seething glare, the combination of which would have made any sensible human shrink back in fear. But the bastard only smirked confidently, his eyes shining with malice. The apparent failure of his intimidation attempt only enraged Inuyasha further.
“Where’s Kagome?” he growled, golden orbs boring into his enemy’s skull.
Saburou chuckled darkly. “Relax, half-breed. She’s fine…for now.”
The threat in last two words tore a snarl from Inuyasha’s throat, a vicious sound which caused the other four humans to nervously retreat a few steps. But the bastard with killer’s eyes stood his ground unflinchingly. At that moment, Inuyasha settled on a general course of action; he would let his combat instincts fill in the details.
Leaning in close, he flicked one of the cage bars with a claw, hoping to hear the telltale echo indicating that the shaft was hollow. It was not. Still, he thought he could bend the bars, though it might take too long with three armed men standing around. Glancing down to his side, he discovered that Tetsusaiga had been removed from his hip. Fortunately, Inuyasha knew of another way to affect his escape. Perhaps his bare claws would not be sufficient for the task, but he had not spent his youth training to utilize his youki for nothing. Backing up a few steps, he settled into a combat stance, and after a moment’s pause to steady his nerves, launched himself forward.
“Sankon Tetsusou!”
Two precise and visually dazzling swipes sent the middle sections of over a dozen cage bars clattering to the floor, leaving a gaping hole in the structure. Inuyasha leapt through the opening, immediately charging at the nearest man with a weapon. He needed to deal with them before confronting the leaders, lest he wind up with any more darts sticking out of him. He was upon his first victim before the man could aim properly, and quickly sent him flying with a jaw-cracking punch to the chin. The mercenary collapsed to the floor unconscious.
Inuyasha turned to the next man just in time to see the weapon in his hands go off. The hanyou dove to the floor, feeling the dart whiz through his hair instead of embedding in his neck. He did not give his adversary a chance to fire again. In four great strides he was upon him, smashing the weapon away and hoisting the man up by the collar. Now he turned to face the third enemy, rushing forward while holding the comrade in front of him as a meat shield. When he was close enough, Inuyasha hurled the second man into the third with all his might, watching in grim satisfaction as the two men tumbled over and over before finally coming to a stop in separate crumpled heaps a good thirty feet away. Neither would be on his feet for awhile.
Watching this debacle unfold from across the room, Kurou tried to move, but his legs were frozen in fear. Turning to his right, he saw Saburou sprinting toward the door leading to the back hallway as fast as his legs could carry him. Apparently all that bravado he’d exhibited a few moments earlier had been illusory.
“Yoshida! You fucking coward!” Kurou cried, the sudden rush of anger seemingly chasing the paralyzing chill from his limbs. As Saburou vanished from sight, Kurou took off, hoping to make the same escape. But his attempt to flee came far too late. Inuyasha leapt over the cage in a single bound, hitting Kurou from the side and slamming him by the throat into a wall. Kurou wheezed, his vision blurring for a moment from the impact. When it cleared, he was faced with the infuriated visage of the incensed hanyou, bright amber eyes glowing with unspoken threat.
“Where’s Kagome?” the terrifying voice rumbled, sending fresh waves of panic down Kurou’s spine. Again he found himself temporarily paralyzed, unable to muster a response. But Inuyasha was not in an especially patient move; he reared back and slammed Kurou into the wall again, hard enough to give the man a mild concussion.
“Listen, you piece of shit! If these claws can tear through that cage, what do you think they can do to you? Now, I’ll ask you again. Where. Is. Kagome?!”
Kurou never got a chance to answer. Scuffling footsteps drew Inuyasha’s attention to the side; he nearly gasped at what he saw. There was Kagome, and though he felt relief that she was alive, he experienced no elation at their reunion. For behind her stood the man with killer’s eyes, his right arm wrapped around her shoulder. In his hand was a long, wide-bladed knife, pressed against the delicate skin of her neck. His left arm hung by his side, likewise clutching a knife. Kagome’s eyes also shone with relief at seeing Inuyasha alive and well, but this emotion was overshadowed by fear. She clutched at the arm holding the blade to her neck, but it was clear her feeble struggles would amount to nothing. She simply lacked the physical strength or combat experience to escape from her captor’s grasp.
Inuyasha’s blood boiled, but he forcibly suppressed the desire to charge over and save her immediately. The mark on her cheek where someone had struck her made this urge even more compelling, but he could take no foolish chances with Kagome’s life. Instead, he decided to try negotiation.
“Let her go and he lives,” he proposed, nodding his head towards the man currently feeling the prick of sharp claws against his neck. The response was not what either of them hoped for.
“Ha!” Saburou barked. “Go ahead, kill him.”
Inuyasha studied Kagome’s captor, those murderous eyes which held no remorse or guilt, nor a care in the world for anyone. The spike of fear in the air from his abandoned ally confirmed it; this man truly did not care if Inuyasha’s hostage lived or died.
“Fucking bastard!” Inuyasha swore, tossing Kurou to the side like a rag doll. “How about this, then?” he growled, stalking menacingly toward the pair. “Let Kagome go, and I’ll let you live!”
“Hold it right there, half-breed,” Saburou ordered, pressing the knife into Kagome’s flesh, drawing a thin line of blood and a frightened moan from her throat. Inuyasha halted, his glare physically incapable of conveying all the loathing he felt for this man. Yet, if given the option, he would still gladly forego any retaliation in favor of Kagome’s release. He would make that deal in a heartbeat, and honor it. But unfortunately, Saburou had no intention of entering into such an arrangement.
“Good, you’ve got the right idea,” the mercenary declared, smirking cruelly. “You may be able to make helpless rabbits like him piss themselves, but you don’t scare me. If you take another step forward, I’ll slit this bitch’s throat. And when you come after me for revenge, I’ll slice you open down the middle and spill your guts onto the floor.”
The knife in Saburou’s left hand moved with his words, emphasizing perfectly the foretold actions. And for the first time since he awoke in this strange place, Inuyasha felt fear. Not for himself; he had no doubt he could easily dispatch this arrogant human. But said human appeared to honestly believe otherwise, and the sincerity of his threat weighed heavily on Inuyasha’s mind. He could not realistically hope to cross the distance between them before Kagome’s captor plunged his blade into her throat, spilling her lifeblood all over the floor. Our proud hanyou was forced to come to terms with an inescapable truth; if he took a single step forward, he would condemn Kagome to death. Beyond that, whether or not he could defeat the human holding her hostage was immaterial.
So then what could he do? He refused to abandon Kagome now that he had found her again. It seemed he and his fellow antagonist were locked in an intractable stalemate, neither willing to budge, both fully entrenched—
“Look out!” he heard Kagome croak. Too late he broke his all-consuming concentration and focused on his surroundings. The dart was already in his back. But that was okay; it was just one. He turned to face the shooter, only to have the world continue spinning before his eyes even as his body came to a stop. He wobbled, then collapsed, out cold.
“Inuyasha!” Kagome called, more out of reflex than anything else. He could not hear her now.
Kurou heaved a huge sigh of relief, setting down the rifle next to the unconscious mercenary. “Well, I see the new formula worked well,” he observed, glad he had urged Saburou’s men to arm themselves with more potent tranquilizers. Inuyasha certainly would not have allowed him to fire any additional darts. It was a miracle that he had managed to hit the hanyou as it was, with the way his hands had been shaking. Now he slumped against the wall, nursing his injuries and trying to slow his adrenaline-fueled heartbeat.
He looked up at the sound of footsteps, one set scuffling and the other purposeful. Saburou prodded Inuyasha with a boot, satisfying himself that the hanyou was still alive. Kagome was forced uncomfortably along the whole way.
“It looks like you were right, Sasaki-san,” Saburou declared. “We’ll have to get a better cage. Oh, and Sasaki-san?”
“Yes?”
*Thunk!*
Kurou’s eyes flew wide as saucers, as he slowly turned his head to the right. There, embedded in the wall about an inch from his ear, was one of Saburou’s knives.
“Don’t ever call me a coward,” the mercenary growled, his expression a hardened mask of hate. Kurou could only nod dumbly and lock his knees to keep his vibrating legs from giving way. His message delivered, Saburou marched Kagome toward her room, rearing back and planting a vicious kick in the prone hanyou’s side as they passed. For Kagome, who had decided to remain quiet to avoid any further trouble, that was the final straw.
“You bastard! You rotten son of a bitch! When Inuyasha comes to, he’s going to kick your a—ack!”
She was silenced by her captor’s arm tightening around her neck. But he didn’t completely cut off her air, instead applying ‘merely’ enough pressure so she appreciated the fact that he could choke the life out of her at any time. Kagome rasped, coughing at the strain of obtaining enough oxygen to fuel her agitated body. Saburou laughed, enjoying her distress.
“Come on, sweetie,” he announced sinisterly, “let’s go for a nice drive.” Then he turned and resumed leading Kagome away, chuckling wickedly as he went.
“W-wait!”
Saburou stopped, glaring over his shoulder at Kurou, surprised and enraged that the academic had the gall to challenge him on this again. Perhaps a more abject lesson was needed.
“We can’t kill her,” Kurou continued, allowing his conviction to fuel his defiance. Inside, however, he was quaking.
“And why the hell not?”
“Because she might be the only way we have to control him,” he answered, motioning to Inuyasha. “Your thugs certainly couldn’t do it!”
Saburou thought about it. Yes, he was confident in his ability to slaughter the half-breed if necessary, but that would lead to a substantially reduced payday. A live hanyou specimen was surely worth a lot more than a dead one. That was the reason he had run to collect Kagome in the first place, after all. So perhaps Kurou was right; maybe the best way to control Inuyasha was to hold Kagome hostage.
“Alright, she lives,” he told the academic. “But she’s your problem now. She pisses me off; I want to choke her too badly.”
“Fine,” Kurou agreed, relieved that his objection had gone over so well. Now to sweeten the deal so Saburou wasn’t tempted to take out his homicidal lust on him. “She’ll stay at my home in Morioka. We can’t keep the two of them too close together in case he breaks out again. But I don’t want them too far apart either. Why don’t we move Inuyasha to Morioka as well? I’ll rent a warehouse near the city, and if you know someone you can buy a better cage from, I’ll pay for it.”
Saburou smirked, recognizing the effects of his intimidation when he saw them. “That’s very generous of you, Sasaki-san.”
Kurou nodded, brushing off Saburou’s mocking gratitude. Better my wallet than my life. It dawned on him that the power in this relationship had shifted, or perhaps it had never been his to begin with. Either way, he couldn’t do anything about it now. For better or worse, Saburou had taken over this project. At least he was still willing to listen to reason. Kurou would look for opportunities to assert himself in the future, but realistically, all he could do was play along and hope the mercenary didn’t screw him too badly in the end.
* * *
Kagome lay flat on the bed, staring unblinkingly up at the ceiling. She was still in shock. Th-they were really going to kill me. How close did I come to being murdered?! Ten minutes? An hour? However long the ‘drive’ was, that bastard had obviously intended it to be her last. She felt a surge of gratitude toward the man called Sasaki, not completely tempered by his part in her near-execution. But still, she knew that Sasaki was not her savior. That distinction went to Inuyasha alone. He had saved her life yet again, though not in a way that either of them anticipated. By proving how difficult he was to contain, he had demonstrated a need for her continued survival, without which she would have been done for.
But that was where Inuyasha’s heroism would end. Now that they could threaten him with her life, he was paralyzed. She knew him; he would not do anything to place her in danger. He wouldn’t take the chance that their captors were not bluffing.
So the responsibility for their escape fell on her; she felt the heavy burden on her shoulders. If she could liberate herself from their clutches, and somehow communicate that state of affairs to Inuyasha, then he could free himself in turn. There was the plan. Now to figure out how to set that design in motion. The sooner a revelation came to her, the better. For who knew when her abductors would change their minds.
Converting /tmp/php3uC24V to /dev/stdout