InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Heaven and Hell ❯ This could be interesting... ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not my property...but if he was I wouldn't share.

Chapter 7

Inuyasha paced uneasily outside of the closed door. Damnit what was taking Kaede so long? He could still smell the stench of poison coming from Kagome and his ears picked up the faint irregular beats of her heart even from his position on the other side of the door. He heard the shuffling feet of the old miko and had to restrain himself from pouncing on her as she opened the door. She was silent as she shuffled slowly out the door. Normally, he would of made some rude comment about her slow moving as a way to cover his concern for the old woman, but it was a testament to his worry over Kagome that he merely said, “Well?!”

“She will make it although she will be very weak and sore for the next week or so. Her latent miko abilities are purifying her blood albeit slowly,” Kaede said watching him closely with her one good eye. The other eye despite looking quite real was merely a glass imitation. The old miko had said that she lost her eye long ago battling a crazed youkai who could no longer cope with the reality that the age of the youkai had come and gone. Inuyasha could see the calculation going on behind the miko eyes. She wanted to ask something.

“Spit it out, Kaede-baba.” Inuyasha growled at her not really wanting to be under her scrutinizing stare for long. Plus, his inner demon the more animalistic part of it wanted desperately, to check for himself that Kaede spoke the truth, but Inuyasha refused to be ruled by animal instinct.

“Tell me of this girl, Inuyasha.” Inuyasha raised his eyebrows at her statement.

“Why?” he asked quickly assessing that Kaede was keeping something to herself.

”I wish to know how a miko of her power has gone unnoticed by the rest of us for such a long time.” Inuyasha had wondered that himself as he had waited for Kaede to give him the okay.

“I don’t know.” Inuyasha muttered angrily to himself as he scratched head while sticking the other hand in his pocket. He looked like a lost teenager, something Inuyasha hardly was. Feeling an uncharacteristic urge to pour out his thoughts, he turned his back on Kaede as he said, “I met her few days ago at that new club downtown. I mistook her for Kikyo and was afraid that it might be some plot of Naraku’s to get at the Takeda clan. Miroku did some digging on her and her friends. Hell, some of the shit missing in their files was suspicious except for Kagome’s. Her life reads like an open book. No secrets, nothing. I guess I should have realized she was more than the normal girl she seemed.”

Kaede weighed the situation carefully, but decided to impart her suspicions to the hanyou in front of her. However, he prevented her by his next words and actions, “I’ve got to get my car from the park, Kaede-baba.” With that he walked out of the room. Leaving the old miko to dwell on her worried belief that the girl in the next room represented a terrible danger and protection to the world.

~

Inuyasha took his time going back to get his car. His thoughts were unnaturally calm despite their earlier buzzing. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was already three am. Most humans were sound asleep at this time, which was why the underworld of the youkai was in full swing.

The balance of power had shifted in the favor of humans over the passing of the years. Now, where once the youkai ruled supreme, the humans flourished unbelieving in the supernatural powers of demons or other creatures. Most of the younger youkai blended into the human society without any desire for things to change. But the older youkai, the ones who had once ruled the humans, still chafed at the bit that restrained them from bringing back their full power. They still cursed the name of the miko who had managed to seal away the majority of their youki and end their reign of terror. The name of Midoriko was used to describe the vilest of things and considering what demons thought was vile that probably wasn’t too bad at all. But Midoriko did not go unscathed from her battle against the youkai. She paid a terrible price for creating the Shikon no Tama, the elusive jewel that sealed away the power of the demons. In order to create the jewel, she sacrificed her immortal soul by forcing it into a crystal form that absorbed the youki of all the demons in the world. Midoriko had torn herself out the circle of life. She would never be reborn as long as her soul was crystallized as the Shikon no Tama.

Inuyasha made it back to his car and stepped into it. He grabbed his cell phone quickly dialing Miroku. The phone rang three times and was about to switch to voice mail when Miroku’s voice came on the line. “Shit…hello.”

“Miroku, we have a problem. Kagome’s a miko.” A woman’s voice sounded in the background asking what Miroku was doing.

“What?” came the incredulous response of the monk. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I don’t want to give you the details over the phone. Meet me at Kaede’s in 20 minutes.”

“No problem,” Miroku said and hung up the phone.

~

At Kaede’s, Kagome was beginning to wake up, an intense pain flooding her entire body. She tried to scream when the face of a strange woman appeared in front of hers. “I’m glad to see you are awake, child. You are lucky. Few survive the poison of the snake demons, especially the young ones.”

Kagome’s memories of what had happened tonight were disjointed, but when they finally clicked into place, she jerked upright.

“Easy, child. You need to rest. Inuyasha will return soon to take you home.” The older lady pushed her gently back onto the pillows. Kagome did not want to wait until Inuyasha returned. She needed the safety and protection of her friends.

”What…cough” Kagome tried to begin, but the poison had dried out her throat. Kaede saw the girl’s distress left and returned with a glass of water.

“Here drink this.” Kagome gratefully swallowed the water sighing in relief as it soothed her parched throat and freed her vocal chords.

”What time is it? Who are you?” she asked when she felt she could talk somewhat normally. “Where am I?”

“I would say it close to three thirty in the morning, child. I am Kaede and you are in my home. Inuyasha brought you hear after your attack. I am a miko and skilled in dealing with youkai attacks.” Kaede lost Kagome when she said that it was three thirty in the morning. Kagome immediately tried to sit up again.

“I have to go. My roommates will be worried if I don’t come home, ma’am.” Kagome tried to stand up and nearly fell as her legs refused to work properly.

“Call me, Kaede,” the older lady said as she caught Kagome and helped her back onto the bed. “Your muscles will not work properly for a few more hours. The next few days will be very painful until the poison is completely cleaned from your system. You must wait for Inuyasha to return before you try to leave. If you are worried about your roommates, I will bring you a phone so that you may call them and talk to them.”

Kagome smiled gratefully as she lay gently back onto to the bed. Her muscles were beginning to protest even this small movement. “I would appreciate that very much, Kaede-sama. Please, call me, Kagome.”

Kaede smiled at Kagome’s respectful title for her. She was a refreshing change from Inuyasha’s disdain for traditions and respect. Kaede walked to the kitchen and retrieved the cordless phone from the wall before returning to the bedroom that Kagome was in. Kagome’s eyes were closed, but popped open the minute that Kaede crossed the doorway. Good, thought Kaede, her miko senses are still working. “Please, feel free to talk as long as you need. I will wait in the kitchen and you may call for me if you need anything.”

“Thank you for your kindness and help, Kaede-sama.” Kagome said a genuine smile gracing her worn face. She began dialing the number.

Kagome watched Kaede leave the room as she dialed the number to the private line in the club’s office. It was an emergency number that sent out a silent 911 page to her friends with the number of the phone she was calling from. They had installed incase the person on the other line did not have the time to talk. It wouldn’t take her friends long to find her. Legion was a computer guru. She would have the address in minutes and be on her way. With that thought on her mind, she hung up the phone and lay down quickly falling into a troubled sleep.

~

Sango watched Legion pace across the floor for the millionth time. She had been uptight all night. Earlier she had cut her hand open on a broken glass at the bar although it was a shallow cut that was nearly healed. They were both worried and had gotten more so when closing time rolled around and Kagome had not returned to the loft. Sango nearly leapt out of her chair when her hip started vibrating. A 911 page! Sango was about to tell Legion, but she saw that the demonness already had the computer up and was doing a search of the phone number by hacking the local phone company.

A full minute later, Legion was on her feet. “Got it! Residential, in an old neighborhood out in the burghs. Let’s go!”

Sango had her coat and keys and was out of the door followed by an antsy demon in seconds. Ten minutes later they were stopping a few blocks from the address. They parked the car and walked the rest of the way towards the house. A few lights were on despite the fact that it was three thirty in the morning. The girls ducked behind a bush in a nearby yard when a set of headlights turned the corner onto the street. The car pulled into the drive, parked, and cut the engine. A moment later a man with dark hair got out of the car. Legion whispered to Sango as she watched the man knock and then enter the house, “Isn’t that the friend that was at the club with Inuyasha?”

Sango nodded her head. She didn’t know what was going on, but someone was going to have a hell of lot of explaining to do. The two young women were about to continue to the house when a second car turned onto the street. It was a Fiat like the one that Inuyasha had driven when he picked up Kagome. As soon as the car’s engine died the driver’s door opened and out popped a gleaming head of silvery-white hair, but no Kagome. He entered the house without knocking.

The two girls squatted behind the bush began debating their course of action. Sango said, “We should sneak around back and try to find our way in.”

“That won’t work, Sango. You know that he’s an inu-hanyou. That close to him and he will hear everything that we do and probably smell us too. The only reason he hasn’t noticed our smell out here is the fact that the air pollution and ambient sounds make it hard to distinguish between us and everything else. We should just knock on the door and make up some cover story about Kagome calling us and we had the phone company trace the address for us. Not too unbelievable.”

Sango nodded her head. Legion was generally right about these things. Standing up the two brushed off the dirt and walked over to the front door of the house.

The two were having similar thoughts. 'This is going to be "interesting."'