InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Foundations of Neo Genesis ❯ Chapter 10 ( Chapter 10 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: Another chapter done, and chapter 11 already in the works. It seems it’s all I can work on lately. First things first. Kudos to AEnimus, for making me look up the word Pendejo. Great word choise! On that thought, the first Question.

Q. What is with Inuyasha? He’s being a ass!
A. I admit, this is somewhat my fault. My beta reader, Kat, also pointed this out to me. I was so focused on making the story serious, I forgot that from time to time the readers need a small joke to break the tension. I shall do my best to rectify this.

Q. How many people will die?
A. A lot.

Q. What’s with the dagger and why does it matter?
A. The dagger is the ONLY weapon the group as a whole has right now.

Q. Why didn’t the demons just spring out at the deer and kill them with their claws and fangs? Where is the super speed and strength?
A. Because they don’t know how. The demons in this story are all city dwellers, all of them. The Earth is one continuous city. Also, the demons in this story aren’t the same as from the series. They are stronger and faster then humans, but not magically so. They are bio-engineered creatures, so they are restrained by the laws of physics to a great extent. That also means ruptured organs are fatal.

Q. What about Shelters?
A. I have something in mind, fear not.

Q. Is the political issue being stressed in the story, environmental protection?
A. Yes it is. *gives Enchanted_Nymph a cookie*



Inuyasha opened his eyes to find the sun already high in the sky, the morning mist long burned away. He pushed himself up with a groan; every muscle in his body was sore and protested the movement. Joints popped as he sat up and stretched.

Next to him, Shippou was taking his time uncurling and stretching. But it was the boy’s loud yawn that brought the unnatural silence to his attention. Normally, the humans and demons were talking among themselves, but now no one spoke a word. Looking up, he saw many of the people staring at him and many others trying to look at anything but.

“What’s going on?” Shippou whispered next to him.
Inuyasha frowned, “I don’t know.”

“It’s about time,” Sango stepped into their line of sight, her hands firmly placed on her hips. “If you think sleeping all day is going to garner you sympathy from me, you’ve both got another thing coming.”

Inuyasha’s ears lay back against his skull as he stood up. “What crawled up your ass this morning?” He was at least a head taller than her, but the girl seemed unimpressed.

“Don’t feed me that bullshit! I want to know what possessed the four of you to think that stunt yesterday was a good idea.”

“I don’t have to tell you shit,” Inuyasha replied as he turned his back and walked away. The dried blood and sweat clinging to his skin and clothes were making his flesh crawl and his nose protest. A bath was sounding very tempting at the moment. The cold stone underfoot also begged the return of his shoes.

“Yes, you do.” Sango grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him around with surprising strength. “I am the military authority on this mission. Everyone answers to me.”

“I don’t.” Inuyasha shrugged her off and kept walking in the direction of the river. “You coming, Shippou? I need someone to watch my back.”

“Uh, sure,” he answered as he brushed past Sango. “Where to?”

“Bath,” Inuyasha grunted, holding up his still bloodstained hand.

Shippou looked down at his own hands and screwed up his face. “Good idea. Yuck!”

A moment later, Shippou let out a choked yelp when Sango grabbed the remains of his shirt collar and yanked him back. Inuyasha looked back with a raised eyebrow and a frown, only to be met with Sango’s fierce chocolate eyes. “Neither of you are going anywhere until I’m done with you.” Inuyasha scowled at her and crossed his arms while Shippou twisted and pulled his shirt free of her grasp. “That little exploit of yours left one man dead and another severely injured.”

“It was an accident,” Shippou huffed as he examined the newly stretched collar of his shirt.

“We could have left them there,” Inuyasha retorted.

“Ahem,” Miroku coughed lightly. “I must agree with Inuyasha. If they had intended harm, then returning Xun and the late Furmin would have been counterproductive.” The young military woman glared at him for a moment, but Miroku remained impassive.
“Regardless, they broke rank and we lost two able bodies because of their foolish actions.” She turned back so she could glare at the two canine demons at once. “You will be marked of your crime and then we’ll hold trial to decide your punishment.” Her eyes shifted to where Krishna and Aodh were stretched out on the floor. “All of you.”

“What?!” Aodh levered himself up from his prone position on the cave floor.

“You can’t do that!” Krishna added, his green eyes wide with horror.

“I can, and I will.”

Inuyasha snorted, unimpressed. “You and what army?” Sango narrowed her eyes at him. “You military types always work together. By yourself, you’re helpless.” He strode across the cave, past Shippou, until he was nose to nose with her. “You talk big, so let’s see you put your money where your mouth is, little girl. All or nothing. If you can mark me, I’ll take all four. If not, you cram your military bullshit.”

He turned abruptly on his heel and walked away, leaving Shippou to follow or be left behind. One look at Sango, and the younger demon hurried to catch up. No one spoke as they disappeared into the trees, but Shippou noticed Krishna and Aodh seemed to be debating following as well.

Inuyasha did not speak as he stormed towards the river, and Shippou had to jog to keep pace. It was no secret that the military and the street dwellers did not get along. With a single world government, the military’s sole purpose was peace keeping and the street dwellers were the main disturbers of said peace. It was not that most of them meant to be a menace to society; they just needed to survive by any means necessary. The military rarely agreed.

At the water’s edge Inuyasha stopped and started to shed his clothes. Shippou looked casually in another direction, giving him his privacy, as he pulled off the remains of his shirt and tossed it aside as well. The rest of the clothes followed in short order, and they waded in.

At its deepest point, the water came up to Inuyasha’s rib cage, so he ducked under to wet his hair. They did not have any soap, and even if someone did, he was not going back for it. Instead he concentrated on working the blood from his hair and nails, and enjoying the nice cool water as the heat of the day rose. He could hear Shippou in the water behind him and knew, even without looking, that they were standing back to back so they could watch in different directions.

For his part, Shippou tried to concentrate on keeping watch as he rinsed the grime from his body, but a question kept prodding the back of his mind. One he had to know the answer to.

“Hey, Inuya– ” Whatever question he was going to ask went flying out of his mind as he half turned to look over his shoulder. With his hair pulled over his shoulder, Inuyasha’s back was in plain view. While he had muscle tone the younger demon could envy, it was the marks that captivated him.

The fancy curves of Greek letters made a trail down the middle of his back. Each was slightly pink, compared to the surrounding skin, where the burns had scarred over. Shippou recognized most of them; Epsilon marked him as a street dweller, Tau showed he had been picked up for stealing, Delta denoted him for fighting, and a dozen others for various other crimes. But the one that held his attention was not in line with the others, this mark was placed directly at the base of his neck; Omega.

“What?” Inuyasha groused, still in a bad mood. Shippou turned back around quickly as he realized he had been staring.

“Um... I...” He stuttered as he grasped for his lost question.

“Spit it out already!”

“Did you mean it?” The question blurted from his mouth before he could stop it. Shippou swallowed hard. “I mean about taking all four marks. You don’t really want to take one for Aodh, do you?”

“Keh,” Inuyasha replied. “That girl is out of her mind if she thinks she can mark me.” It was not really an answer, but Shippou decided not to pursue it. Silence stretched between them, and Inuyasha got out of the water to search he opposite bank for their shoes. Shippou went back and grabbed their clothes to rinse as best he could.

&&&

Kagome watched uncomfortably as Sango played with a small silver cylinder about as long as her finger. She pushed a small button on one end, then one along the side. A small beam of red light would come out and hit the piece of wood in Sango’s other hand; causing it to smoke slightly. Each time, the red light showed a different symbol, but nothing that meant anything to Kagome. Sango must have found the one she was looking for, because she stopped when the light made a horseshoe shape.

“Sango?” Kagome swallowed the lump in her throat. “What are you going to do with that?”

“My job.” she answered curtly, then her face softened a bit. “You probably shouldn’t stay for this, it won’t be pretty.”

Kagome swallowed again as the lump turned into a lead brick. “What are you going to do?” Her voice cracked a little.

“I have to maintain order,” Sango gently placed a hand on her shoulder and flashed a disarming smile. “Whatever it takes.”

“But-”

“Don’t worry, Kag. I’m going to take care of this. I promise.”

“But I don’t want you to take care of it!” Kagome pleaded.

“You what?” Sango asked, her eyes narrowing in confusion. “Kagome, don’t tell me you agree with him! He went off on some foolish excursion, got one man killed and another seriously injured, and brought back nothing to show for it.”

“So his method was flawed, at least he tried!” Kagome came back, her voice cracking noticeably.

“To what end?” Sango snapped back. “You know as well as I do that the rest of our group will be arriving at the end of the month with all the supplies we need. All he’s done is lose us two valuable members.” She turned away and began to walk towards the front of the cave.

“And what if they don’t come?” Kagome grabbed her arm and forced her to turn back. “What if something goes wrong and they don’t make it? We only have a few more weeks’ worth of food. We could starve before they make it.”

Sango yanked her arm away with a fierce jerk and a frown. “If they don’t, then I will cross that bridge when we come to it. Any hunting we may have to do will be well planned and under my direction. Regardless, until the others arrive or I am no longer capable of leading this group, it is my job to enforce the laws in whatever form that may take. For without them, we are little better than the beasts around us.”

“But-” Sango was walking away before she could protest further. Kagome sat down and sighed, drawing her legs up to her chest. She shivered slightly, but not from cold, and the lump in her stomach threatened to make a return trip. She had heard about marking, it was a common way to keep track of past crimes, and she had seen the scars it left. An old boyfriend had recounted nothing short of a horror story about the mark he received for his involvement in a bar fight, but this would be the first time she would ever see it up close.

“Lady Kagome?” She looked up at the sound of a male voice to see the priest Miroku kneeling down in front of her. “Are you all right? You look unwell.”

“I...” She just shook her head and squeezed her legs tighter.

He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a calming smile. “Fear not. The Gods work in mysterious ways. All things shall work out for the best.”

“I hope so...” Kagome answered softly.

As if on cue, Inuyasha emerged from the trees, head held high and scowl firmly set. Shippou trailed behind him carrying two right shoes – one of which he gave to an incredulous-looking Krishna. The knot in Kagome’s stomach tightened. Inuyasha stopped at the very edge of the overhang, a few feet in front of a stern looking Sango.

“I do hope you are as tough as you pretend to be,” Sango stated firmly. “Because I don’t have any numbing agent.”

“Keh. Just put your money where your mouth is, bitch.” Inuyasha answered.

Sango glanced around quickly, her eyes falling on Charon and a large bull demon by the name of Aonghus. “You two, hold him.” Inuyasha turned to look at them and flashed his fangs. The human shook his head and backed away, while Aonghus snorted and moved into the crowd. Ricky let out a small sound like a frightened rat, turned pale, and fainted dead away.

“Looks like you’re on your own,” Inuyasha gave her a patronizing smile and pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it aside. He did not notice Shippou let out a breath when his hair covered most of the marks he already had. “I’ll even help you out with the first step.”

Sango huffed. “Fine! I don’t need the help of a bunch of cowards.” With the silver tube firmly in hand, Sango marched forward. Inuyasha looked unimpressed.

“Sango, please! Don’t do this!” With barely two feet of space between the combatants, Kagome all but threw herself in the middle.

Inuyasha growled. “I don’t need your protection, little girl! Get the fuck out of the way!”

“I’m not protecting you.” Kagome said, looking over her shoulder. Inuyasha was surprised to see the tears collecting in the corners of her eyes. “I’m agreeing with you.” His eyes widened.

“Kagome...” Sango growled.

“No, Sango. This is wrong.” Kagome squared her shoulders and swallowed hard. “As a co-leader of this group, I give my approval for what Inuyasha did; so I’m as much at fault as he is. If you mark him, you have to mark me as well.” Inuyasha sputtered and Sango gaped.

“Little girl, you have lost your fucking mind?” Inuyasha shoved her out of the way and grabbed at Sango. Caught off guard, she jumped back to give herself more room. In a flash her foot shot out, aimed at his chin. Inuyasha jerked his head back sharply to avoid the kick, then caught her leg as it came down. With a rough jerk, Sango found herself flat on her back with a foot firmly on her throat and her leg stretched painfully over her head.

With a frustrated growl, she swung her free leg and thumped against Inuyasha’s calf. From her tucked position she neither had the reach nor the flexibility to cause him any damage. With a satisfied chuckle, Inuyasha reached down and grabbed her wrist. Sango clenched her fist around the cylinder in her hand, even as the stretched muscles began to ache. Inuyasha pressed his foot more firmly on her throat, causing her to gasp for air. He lifted an eyebrow suggestively. The silver object clattered to the floor and his foot relaxed its pressure.

Dropping Sango’s wrist, he scooped up the lost item. “You military people are all the same.” he repeated, sounding mildly amused. Sango sneered up at him.

“Let me go, damn it!” Sango seethed. He obliged her somewhat by removing his foot from her throat, but only so he could take a step and throw the cylinder across the cave. Sango let out a screech, both from the sudden and further stretching of her leg and the sight of her tiny instrument smashing to bits against the stone wall.

With a bored grunt, he let her leg drop; her boot hitting the stone with a dull thud. Sango groaned as the muscles protested the sudden movement. Inuyasha turned around to face Kagome, who was still half sprawled on the ground. She looked up at him and gulped.

“I don’t know if you are very brave or very stupid, little girl. But I suggest you never do that again.” He walked away, catching the shirt Shippou threw to him as he passed.

“This is not over!” Sango shouted. He looked over his shoulder to find her on her feet. Inuyasha’s only response was a disinterested snort as he walked away. Sango growled, but seemed to think better of following and stormed off in the other direction.

“Ahem,” Miroku cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the crowd. “Now that the excitement is over, let us attend to more important matters.” He motioned off to the right. Farther down the cave Furmin’s body lay, covered from view by some mats. Krishna and Aodh looked away.

“What about Xun?” the Jaguar asked, “Is he okay?”

“He’ll be fine, as long as he gets plenty of rest,” Kirara answered. She was seated next to the cheetah demon who was drifting in and out of sleep. “I gave him a sedative to help him.”

“And his leg?” Shippou leaned forward a bit, trying to see around the nurse.

Kirara frowned. “I’m not sure yet. It seemed pretty badly broken, though without any sort of x-ray device I can’t tell for sure. Plus, we don’t really have any surgical supplies to set it properly with. It’s best if he stays off of it until the rest of the supplies arrive.”

“I think you three should tell us exactly what happened,” Sango snapped from her place against the wall. She pushed off and marched back into the group so she could glare at the three demons. “So far all we have is bits and pieces.” All eyes turned on the three remaining demons. With Furmin dead, Xun indisposed, and Inuyasha on his own, they were left in the hot seat. Sango raised an impatient eyebrow. Aodh elbowed Shippou in the ribs and Krishna glanced at him from the corner of his eye. Shippou frowned, but got to his feet and cleared his throat.

“Let me see, it began when Inuyasha tapped me on the shoulder...” The young fox demon began to spin the tale, each sentence coming easier as he became more confident. Soon he was moving his hands and arms in wide motions as he described the action, his voice dropping dramatically when he told of the outcome. By the time he was done, most of the people were staring at him, leaning forward where they sat to catch every word. Shippou blushed and ducked behind Aodh, out of view, muttering incoherently.

Sango rolled her eyes. “I knew it was his fault.”

“It does no good to continue to press blame,” Miroku said placatingly. “And the gods frown on unproductiveness. As I said before, we have more important matters at hand.”

Krishna pushed himself to his feet with a stiff groan. “I guess we should gather some more wood.”

“There is no more,” Emer answered, moving a few strands of red hair behind her ear.

“We’ve picked up everything we could find as far as the river.” Aonghus clarified.

“And we lack sufficient amount for a proper pyre.” Miroku finished. “And that is not advisable.” This was followed by a long silence, each person lost in thought or looking to others for answers.

“Couldn’t we...” Ricky began, then cut off with a squeak when everyone turned to look at him. For a moment he flushed and looked like he might faint again.

“Please, go on.” Miroku encouraged with a warm smile.

“Well, couldn’t we just – I mean – if it’s okay, couldn’t we... you know – like you did for Sean?” He stuttered and stumbled before finishing in a rush.

“Even if that would work,” Branwen chimed in, tugging absently on a curl of hair, “it doesn’t solve what to do with the body.”

“We could float it down the river.” Charon suggested.

“To have it eaten by something?” Aodh asked, aghast.

“Do you have any better suggestions?” Sango asked with a dark frown. Aodh scowled back.

“What if...” Shippou began, and then swallowed hard when Sango turned to look at him instead. “What if we bury him?”

“Bury him?” Krishna asked in bewilderment. “What do you mean? Like put him in the ground?”

“Yeah, sort of.” Shippou answered. “When somebody died back home, none of us had the money for a proper cremation, so we put them in the remains of those small twentieth century buildings. Occasionally a priest would come by and bless the whole place and make it holy so the souls could ascend. It’s the same concept, except we dig a hole in the ground.”

“And how, pray tell, do we dig this hole?” Sango asked skeptically.

“With our hands?” Shippou shrugged weakly.

“I think I have the answer to that.” Kagome announced as she dove into her bag. A moment later she emerged with a handful of concave, hand-sized, bronze objects. “These scales are from the fish Inuyasha caught a while back. When they dry, they get pretty hard.”

“Great!” Sango said, giving Shippou, Aodh, and Krishna a too bright smile. “You three can do it. If you need help, ask Inuyasha. He’s the one who got you into this.”

“Assuming Miroku agrees to this,” Aodh amended flatly. Sango blushed and looked over her shoulder at the priest.

Miroku gave her an amused smile. “It is, thus far, the most plausible suggestion. But I do not think it fair for only three to do all the work.”

“They earned it.” Sango snorted.

&&&

“You think you’re really something, don’t ya?” Inuyasha cracked an eye open at the sound of the snide voice. Kouga stood over him, his arms folded and a mirthless grin on his lips. Inuyasha snorted and closed his eyes again, hoping the wolf demon would go away and leave him to doze. No such luck. “Hey! I’m talking to you, halfling!” Kouga snapped.

“Like I give a damn,” Inuyasha snarled back, opening his eyes just enough to watch the wolf demon. Kouga scowled.
“I hope next time, it’s you that bites it. Half-breeds like you should have been killed before–” Kouga was cut short by a clawed hand suddenly at his throat.

“Before what?”

“...Excuse me?” Kagome squeaked slightly. Inuyasha looked at her with a scowl and Kouga took the moment of distraction to twist out of his hold. With a growl and a snort the wolf demon walked away, rubbing his abused throat. Inuyasha watched him go, snarling when he purposely bumped into Kagome. The girl rubbed her shoulder and looked after him, confused. “Did I... interrupt something?” she asked Inuyasha even though she was still looking after Kouga.

“Just him being an ass. What do you want?”

Kagome looked back at him and took a deep breath, setting her face into a firm frown. She squared her shoulders and clenched her fists once. Then, slowly, she let the breath out. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. “I want to talk to you.”

Inuyasha leaned back against the stone with an annoyed groan. “When did I get so popular anyway?”

“When you started being a jerk. What’s your problem?”

“What are you talking about?” Inuyasha groused and closed his eyes, hoping she would drop it and leave him in peace. The sound of footsteps rang in his ears, then she jabbed him roughly in the chest. His eyes snapped open and he growled.

“You don’t frighten me,” Kagome replied.

Inuyasha gave her a very hard look. “Then you are stupider or braver than you look.”

“And you are a jackass. Now, what is your problem?” She jabbed him again for emphasis.

Inuyasha slapped her hand away. “Even if I had one, it wouldn’t be any of your goddamn business.”

“I’m making it my business,” Kagome crossed her arms and glared at him. “So talk.”

“About what?” Inuyasha snorted.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Kagome threw her hands up melodramatically. “How about why you’ve saved me twice, but when I try to help you in return – not even because you need it but because I truly, honestly, agree with you – you bite my head off. That seems like a good place to start.” Inuyasha snorted and looked away. Kagome gave him a flat stare. “What, do you have a crush on me or something?”

“Wh-what?” Inuyasha’s head snapped back around as he sputtered. “Hell no!”

“Then what?”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you!”

Kagome grit her teeth and let out a soft human growl of frustration. “You know what? I don’t care. I don’t care if you continue to scare everyone, just because you’re too full of yourself to say what you really think. I don’t care if you growl or snarl or lay those ears of yours back. And I don’t care if you ever save me again or not. Because in the end, you will be alone and friendless, and you will have no one to blame but yourself.”

“I’m so scared,” Inuyasha drawled, his expression bored. “But since we are playing twenty questions, I’ve got a few for you.” He pushed away from the wall and drew himself up to his full height. Kagome frowned.

“Like what?”

“Like, what’s really going on here? We are scraping by on a month’s worth of food and Aodh said all weapons were confiscated. Are we just supposed to starve here?”

Kagome’s frown twisted with confusion for a moment, then she snapped her fingers. “I’d forgotten you joined at the last minute and then walked out of your briefing,” She gave him a superior smile.

“Just answer the question, bitch,” he grumbled in annoyance.

Kagome rolled her eyes. “If you had stuck around long enough to listen to me, you would have known that the rest of the group will be joining us at the end of the month. They will be bringing the rest of the supplies. We only brought what we needed so we could travel light, since we have to carry everything we bring. As for the weapons, they were afraid someone might panic and people could die.”

“So they dropped us on an alien planet with no way to defend ourselves?” Inuyasha asked skeptically.

“It’s a government project,” Kagome shrugged with a half grin on her lips. Inuyasha snorted in amusement. Silence stretched out between them. Finally Kagome sighed and relaxed her stance. “Look, I don’t want to fight with you, it accomplishes nothing. Let’s just bury the hatchet and be friends.”

“I don’t need friends,” Inuyasha grunted.

“What about Shippou? You’re friends with him,” she pointed out.

“He’s different.”

“Fine,” Kagome waved her hands, dismissing the topic. “But I need someone to help me. I need to collect samples and find a way to construct shelters.” She gave him a smile that made him shift uncomfortably. “You’re obviously braver than anyone else here. All I want is someone to watch my back.”

Inuyasha frowned, there was something wrong with this, but he could not put his finger on it. “What do I get out of this?”

Kagome hesitated. “What do you want?”

A small smile curled his lips and Kagome swallowed. “Let’s just say you owe me.”