InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Finding Kagome ❯ Chapter Fifteen ( Chapter 15 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

A/N: I do not own Inuyasha and company, but I am grateful to Takahashi-sama for the wonderfully creative storyline, and colorful characters, which I am manipulating for no profit. Just lots and lots of fun! I want to thank those who have reviewed for their kind and gentle comments. I know this is OC in a big way. However I have learned much while working on this project, and “to grow is to live”(and vise versa).
Please, if you haven't reviewed, please do! Over 2000 hits in less than two weeks tells me that more than 4 people are reading this... ;)

Metsuki-baba



The wind swept back his thick mane, flowing like a low, white flag among the cypress trees, as he sat cross legged on the cliff edge gazing out to the sea. It felt so glorious against his face, after so much time locked away in contained environments. Had it truly only been a week since he had jumped into the old well by Edo? He had finally gotten to have a decent run, though he had grown tired quickly, and that annoyed him. He wasn't accustomed to having to curtail his exercise, but the healer had warned him that it would take a few days to regain his full strength. The disease had run it's course, finally... and now he had to let his body finish mending. His arm had healed while he was unconscious, and for that he was grateful. He raised it, pulling back the sleeve of his haori to gaze on the flawless skin on the inside of his right forearm. The memory of dropping Tetsusaiga caused a shudder to run through him, as he brought his arm down again, folding them within his sleeves as he returned his gaze to the sea.

The jackass had been right, the view from this place was amazing. Depending on where one chose to sit, there were several scenic choices. One could see the bridge and the city from the south, or a stretch of woodlands from the north, and to the southwest was this spot, which had quickly become his favorite. The cypress trees, having been blown by the sea breeze as they grew, were a variety of angular shapes, and the trunks twisted slightly giving them an almost spiritual essence, a mysterious life. In the distance he could hear seals barking, and the low hum of city traffic. Was Kagome really there? Or had he been kidding himself this whole time?

He reached up to finger his rosary, which had not made itself obvious since he had finally come to from the fever. Surely if she was not here... then she was somewhere... and he would find her. Even if it meant falling into the depths of hell, he would find her.

“I had these trees planted here a few years after I acquired the property,” the voice was low, though he had no trouble hearing it. He looked again at the cypress trees, well grown and gnarled in the trunks. The jackass had been here a long time.

“I like the wind,” he remarked simply, sitting straight and unmoving, his ears turned to the sound of his brother's voice.

“The view nice, as well,” and he heard the rustling of Sesshoumaru's silk and felt the heat of his presence as the demon sat down next to him. “There are things we must speak about, little brother.”

“Hn,” came his only reply, as he closed his eyes to just feel the wind.

“Instructors have arrived, they await you to begin your introduction to this era.” Sesshoumaru glanced at the hanyou, who had not moved since his arrival. Though he had obviously been deep in thought, the demon could only guess as to subject matter. He had lowered his defensive countenance, truly for the first time as the hanyou had lay near death. It had not been a matter of choice, but an uncontrolled reaction. Now he could only wait for the man to either accept him, or reject him. He truly hoped for the former. Inuyasha remained motionless, only his ears changing direction, following the sounds of the peaceful morning.

“Did you run?” the demon inquired, knowing how important that was to the hanyou.

“Hn,” came the reply. “Got tired to damn fast.”

“It will improve.”

“What are those teachers going to... teach me, today?” He wanted to be prepared. So much had happened too quickly, without his being forewarned. He didn't care for surprises.

“A number of things, beginning with modern English, both spoken and written,” again he looked at the hanyou, who turned his head to face him, and their eyes met.

“I would rather practice my forms with Tetsusaiga,” and he scowled.

“Perhaps this Sesshoumaru can motivate you,” the demon reached into his pocket, and pulled out a slip of paper with writing on it. “This note... has the information I received regarding that car we nearly collided with the other day.”

Inuyasha's eyes grew wide as he grabbed for the paper, which the demon held up in the air just out of his grasp, waving it in the breeze. A small glint in his eyes, as he watched his brother's consternation.

“It is written in... English, halfbreed,” he rose gracefully, as he held the paper out to his brother.
“It will be the first item for you to translate, I think.”

“No shit, jackass!” And Inuyasha grabbed the slip of paper, as he jumped up. “So where are these teachers?”

“Follow me,” and Sesshoumaru led him back to the mansion.

“You know what it says, don't you??” The hanyou was accusatory, as he glared at the strange, blocky script, then back at the demon.

“I do,” was the only reply.

“Is it good news?” His tone was hopeful.

“It is... information. How good it is, depends on further investigation,” and the demon stopped, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder, looking into his eyes. “What you will learn from it, may seem more than it actually is. This Sesshoumaru asks only that you do not take any immediate action, once learning the information.” His gaze at the hanyou became more intense, as he emphasized the importance of his words. “I mean this, Inuyasha... don't... do... anything. Not until we have had time to talk about it. Promise me this.” He waited for what he had said to sink into his brothers mind.

“This is about Kagome, isn't it??” Inuyasha held the paper in both his hands, almost reverently.
“That was Kagome in that car!” His ears twitched wildly as his eyes widened with shock looking at the lines, which made no sense.

“It was... a Kagome...” came the demon's reluctant response. “The car was a rental...” and at the furrow in his brother's brow, he explained, “It was... borrowed... there were records kept on the one who.... borrowed it. That is what you have in your hands.” And he motioned him forward, and up the stairs of the mansion. Inuyasha clasped the paper as though it were a lifeline. His first piece of hard evidence in his search for the only person who made his life worth living.

As they entered a study area, the hanyou's eyes grew even wider as he glanced around. There were many rooms in this place that he had not seen. Here, walls were lined with shelves of books, bound in cowhide, he could smell the treated leather which was not all that unpleasant. The high ceilings made the room feel airy, and there was a large fireplace on one of the walls that hadn't been used in a long while, by the scent. A large cherry wood desk set on one side of the room, with strange boxes on it, and a screen that appeared to be like the one on the plane, only much smaller. There were three men and one woman, sitting in wide comfortable chairs, chatting amicably around a low table on the other side. These people were human, and suddenly Inuyasha wondered where his hat was, as he pulled his ears down as flat as he could.

“Sesshoumaru! I didn't hear you come in!” And a tall man rose quickly from his chair to greet them. “How are you?” He shook the demon's hand in greeting.

“I am well, Thomas...” and he returned the handshake then turned to his brother, “I wish for you to meet your student, Inuyasha.,” he placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, and... smiled.

“A pleasure, Inuyasha!!” And the man grabbed his hand, pumping it enthusiastically. “We have heard so much about you, young man!! It seems you gave your brother here quite the scare, disappearing like that!”

“Hn,” came the hanyou's only response, as he grabbed his hand back sticking it protectively back in his sleeves.

“Aren't you two the picture!! Laura, just look at these costumes!! They are so authentic!”

The woman, who was wearing a close fitting suit with glasses perched halfway down her nose, had risen and was slowly made her way to the group, eyes wide with fascination at the top of Inuyasha's head. Without a word, she reached up to run a finger through Inuyasha's hair, exposing his ears. She gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth, eyes full of glee.

“Oh HO!!” Thomas laughed as he observed her reaction, then motioned to the other two men to join them. “This is Laura,” he waved toward the woman, “she is the fashion consultant of our little team... and this is Clint,” he put his hand on the younger man's shoulder. “Clint is our western cultural specialist!” The younger man was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and medium blue shirt with pearl buttons. He nodded to Inuyasha, touching his brow as though dipping a hat. This made him appear subdued in comparison to Thomas' larger-than-life introductions, as he stood leaning with a hand arrogantly on one hip... chewing absently on something as he eyed the hanyou.

“And finally this is our technology expert...” he urged the man closer, “he's a little shy I think, get over here Eddie...” and he went to pulled the man closer by the upper arm. “Eddie is a specialist in a number of different areas, including computing and mobile communications, which is where our focus will be initially.” The small tech smiled shyly at the demon and the hanyou.

“It's going to take four people for me to learn what this note says?” Inuyasha questioned, looking to his brother.

“The note is just the beginning, halfbreed,” the demon replied, to the too quiet, shocked stares of the assembled team. “Do not worry yourselves, it is a pet name, I assure you...” his attempted explanation was followed by a moment of uncomfortable silence.

“Of course!! I call my brother dumbass on a regular basis!!” Thomas agreed, looking around at the others and nodding his head.

Laura had returned her gaze to the top of Inuyasha's head, then her eyes aglow, raised her hands up with her fingers rubbing together, face eager.

“Do you mind??” she asked him, as he raised a brow at her, hands still inside his haori sleeves.

“Here we go again...” he muttered, though it had been quite a long time since anyone had asked to touch his ears. Sesshoumaru's eyes sparkled with amusement as the hanyou tilted his head forward with a sigh of exasperation, “might as well get this part over with...” and the eager fingers of the fashion expert stroked his ears, as they twitched in annoyance.

“Oh my god!!” She exclaimed. “they are so soft!!” The three men looked on mildly shocked at her, as she withdrew her hands and put them behind her back, blushing.

“Anyone else??” He offered, showing the group the top of his head.

“Um... no thanks... Dude,” Clint waved his hands in front of him, passing. The other two men just looked at one another.

“Hn,” and Inuyasha brought his head up, looking at each one in the group.

“I will leave you to your lessons, little brother,” Sesshoumaru moved to the door, “Go gently on him today, he has been ill...” and he exited.

Inuyasha watched as the demon went through the door, not entirely certain he liked the idea of being alone with this odd assortment of people. He could understand most of their talk, though he wasn't sure about being called “Dude” by the arrogant younger male. He pulled his arms out of his haori, still holding the slip of paper in his left hand.

“So ... Inuyasha!! Where would you like to start??” Inquired Thomas, looking eager.

“This,” and he held out the slip. “I've need to know what this says.”

“Excellent!! Real world usage!! Much better than hypothetical, in my book!” And the tutor looked around to the collective nods of his colleagues.

Inuyasha wasn't certain what the boisterous man had meant, but at this point the lessons began, as Thomas led him to the desk, and flipped on the screen. It was full of same type of blocky text that was on the note, and the tutors surrounded the desk and began instructing him.



Inuyasha glided gracefully through one move, then another, practicing his technique with his untransformed sword. Sesshoumaru had been right, it was a Kagome, alright. Inuyasha's head swam with all the things he had been learning, or trying to learn.

There had been what they called an address... the location to this Kagome's home in the city. They also had said that the name was not a common one. It was the surname that hooked Inuyasha completely. Higurashi. She was related, somehow.

“The car has not been returned yet,” Sesshoumaru had found him in the dojo, working out with Tetsusaiga. “So one could safely assume she is not in the city.”Sesshoumaru appeared unmoved, an errantly misplaced statue by the door.

“She was sick, that guy said so...” He stopped with a scowl to look toward the demon, “I hope she's alright.” A moment passed as the reality seemed to sink in. “I have to go find her, right now!” He sheathed his sword with determination on his features.

“And how do you propose to do that, halfbreed?” The demon inquired, still unmoved.

“We can go to her home... you... can show me how to find it,” he proposed.

“The car has not been returned, halfbreed... she, most likely, is not there.”

“Even so... it's doing something!!” his ears twitching wildly with agitation.

“You haven't been... well for that long It is this Sesshoumaru's belief that you should rest now, rather than running off chasing... sparrows.” He was putting his foot down, the hanyou needed to heal completely.

“Kagome isn't a damn sparrow!! I should be with her, especially if she is sick,” he started pacing, his mind whirling.

“As I feared, you have decided that this person is your miko, simply because she shares the name. You know nothing about her, and she certainly knows nothing about you...”

“You sound more like a parent, than a brother...” Inuyasha scowled. “Or is it more like an old woman??” he taunted. “This Inuyasha, wants to go into the city,” and his eyes narrowed into a challenge. “You can go with me, or fuckin' stay here. I'm not gonna stand around and do nothing!”

“First of all, halfbreed,” and the demon's eyes widened slightly with surprise before narrowing, “This Sesshoumaru is old enough to be your father, and if need be, quite capable of spanking an errant PUP!” His voiced raised as he took a step toward the hanyou in emphasis.

“BUT... you aren't!!” Inuyasha rose to the challenge. “You can't tell me where I can and can't go, asshole! You aren't my father... Kami!! What am I saying?? I am a grown man!!” And he glanced around the dojo, then looked at the demon with a look of confusion. “I can do what I want...” he muttered, then glaring again he hissed, “Kutabare!”

“Keep it to English, halfbreed. Low class Japanese will get you nowhere in the city,” came the demon's response.

Inuyasha glared at his half-brother. “Alright then, Jackass... FUCK YOU!!” and he stormed passed the demon out the door, and into the gardens between the dojo and the mansion.

Sesshoumaru's reaction wasn't immediate, as he contemplated on how quickly the hanyou was learning. One afternoon of instruction and he was ready to hunt out locations in the city, and swearing at him in English. Yes, he was coming along quite nicely.

“Inuyasha, wait.”

Inuyasha stopped halfway to the mansion, ears twitching irritability. Now what?

“If it is so important for you to do this, then I will come with you,” he announced as it was not an offer. The man would be lost in the city, and could get himself into trouble too easily. A promise had been made to talk about it before taking any action, and this he had done . Why must we always fight?

But he knew the answer to that question before it had even completely formulated in his mind.