InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hollow Eyes ❯ The Tarot's Hand ( Chapter 3 )

Annoying Author Blurb: Aie, only 23 more days for me until school. Back-to-school shopping is a must, will be conducted as soon as I get this chapter out. Betas still needed, email me if interested. Sorry about long stretch in updating. So many people want me to work on other stories, lol. Got nominated with Hollow Eyes at:

http: //protege. just-in-dreams. com/

Disclaimer: All products of imagination hereby mentioned in the chapter below are from the author's mind. All characters are owned exclusively by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Publishing, etc.

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Hollow Eyes

By Elementsofmine/elementalspirit125

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The Tarot's Hand

(The Hanged Man)

This story is rated R. The ratings vary from chapter to chapter. This chapter is rated PG-13 for language and adult situations. I must add, due to Fanfiction.net's strict rating system, I have to up most of my story ratings.

Tarot Card Portrayed: The High Priestess

Upright- Wisdom, knowledge, learning, intuition, purity, virtue.

Reverse- Ignorance, selfishness, shallowness, suppression of feelings.

August 18, 2004. Mayor's estate. Top left turret, two windows to the right. Inside Main Office.

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"Maybe you don't understand."

"B-but master, I do! I swear! I'm innocent! I swear, believe me! Please, master, I'm telling the truth!"

"If you don't find the escapees, there is no credibility in whatever you choose to say. Your job was to find the slaves, and you failed. You are dismissed."

The long-fingered hand of the master beckoned idly to the nearest patrolling guard. With a bow, the guard yanked the pleading man to his feet and pulled him roughly out of the office, closing the door with a 'click' as he left.

Opening a file cabinet to his right, Sesshomaru's eyes flickered over the files contained within, and selecting the jutting out corner of a single piece of paper, he threw it into the shredder.

Whirls and clicks hummed as the shredder automatically turned on, making brief work of the single sheet.

Closing the cabinet and opening another, Sesshomaru pulled out a heavy file, much larger than the others by thickness. He had to juggle it slightly to prevent papers from flying everywhere.

Setting it down flat upon his rich mahogany desk, he scanned each paper inside quickly, before finding the one he wanted. Reading it thoroughly, he placed it into his scanner. Watching as the image appeared onto his computer screen, he carefully used the computer tools to erase the entire bottom paragraph on the sheet. Printing it out, he replaced the original sheet with the edited copy of the paper. Taking the original, he placed it into his shredder, watching the words Kagome Higurashi appear before turning into mere scraps.

A knock on the door followed.

Using his heightened sense of smell, Sesshomaru immediately identified the one slave that had probably, the strangest scent ever. The 'nothing' demon, Kanna. Not completely void of a scent, just empty with one. One of his more loyal slaves, always assured to be on hand and never ask questions. Gesturing to the full shredder bin, Sesshomaru watch, eyes hooded, as the silent girl unhooked the bin and dumped the entire contents of the bin into the fireplace. The fire flamed over suddenly, sending trillions of tiny sparks to rampage over the shreds.

Bowing slightly, the girl rehooked the bin and left the room.

Sesshomaru crossed his fingers, interlacing the right with the left, and rested his chin on the interlocked digits. Helpful slaves were hard to obtain these days. The good ones were always sold, making a huge profit for their owner. He could trust on Kanna not to reveal anything she saw, even if she did see it. He was sure she was loyal.

The runaway slaves, however, were held with more than just easy doubt in his eyes. Especially the ringleader in the little rebellion, Kagome. He had yet to figure out what went behind those carefully guarded eyes of hers. She was but a few years younger than him. He remembered her from when he was still young, barely nine then. She was obtained as the slaves usually were, picked off the streets. Nothing had been done much about her, except for making her a slave and giving her whatever little freedoms a slave had. Kaede, the old cook, had been recruited in looking after the girl and teaching her the ways of the castle.

His brows furrowed, meeting in an elegant V-shaped crease. The old hag had probably assisted in the escaping, but she was too wily to be caught. She knew that if he arrested or executed her under the pretense of something about helping other slaves escape, he would be facing a rebellion from the eighty-something slaves he held. She held too much power in her grasp for her to marked as any regular slave. The others looked up to her, and even as much as he hated to admit, he knew that if she was taken out of the picture, the house would be in chaos.

As if his father hadn't left it in enough. Sesshomaru rubbed his prosthetic arm tiredly. The blasted hunk of plastic always began to rub at his skin if he wasn't careful, resulting in dreadful patches of burned skin. Not for the first time or the last, Sesshomaru wished he still had his good right hand.

Sealing the letter he had been finishing off before he had to deal with the fruitless search attempts of one of his trackers, Sesshomaru felt the presence of one his other trackers enter the room.

"You called?"

Of course, Sesshomaru had said nothing. The brief talk before had already hurt his voice; the scar there did nothing to help his speech. The particular tracker just had the uncanny notion of when his master needed him.

Picking up the edited version of the escaped slave Kagome Higurashi's biography and the blank envelope, Sesshomaru handed them over to the tracker.

"Find my brother, Ginta," Sesshoumaru whispered. "And deliver. The letter will explain. Prove to be more experienced in your field than the man sent before, and you'll be rewarded. Fail, and you'll report to me."

Ginta shivered; he had heard the pathetic screams of the man who had 'reported' back while coming down the hall.

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August 18, 2004. Near-by local diner. Inside dining booth.

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Maybe it wasn't the -kindest- thing to do to a blind person, even if it was temporary, but Naraku couldn't resist.

He felt like a tiger sneaking up on its prey on the Safari Channel.

Crouching, hidden behind the girl that was nervously drumming her fingers on the coffee table while shooting anxious glances behind her every few seconds, Naraku watched the clock.

Three…two…one…

Bending closer, Naraku commented casually, "I got the sandwiches."

Kagome shrieked in surprise, emitting tiny panicked sounds while snaring the frightened glances from many of the other customers. Scrambling to regain her balance after having toppled over the table, she reached out with her hands, attempting to find him. "Don't do that," she whimpered. "It's friggin scary when I don't know where you are". Waving her hands uselessly around, she stopped when she felt a face.

"Just because I can't see doesn't mean I can't slap you," she warned.

Naraku slid into the cushioned seats of the booth directly in front of her, laughing. "Slap away," he threw back coyly. "Just don't hit the wrong person."

Kagome froze. Patting the face in front of her, she felt the stubborn point of a still decidedly pretty nose, feeling the curving jawbone of a very confused female waitress. Face burning with shame, she slumped back into her seat and slid down back against the slippery material, Naraku's laughs ringing in her ears.

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The rest of the day went much more to Kagome's liking. She drifted around on the streets between passing conversations held by passersby's, learning that the date was . Keeping a firm hold on her keeper's arm, she was able to learn which way to turn to avoid people. She learned that the city actually had many programs that assisted with the blind. She learned to listen carefully before crossing the streets for a 'chirruping' sound that alerted her of times to walk. Avoiding shorter things in her path were harder; many shopkeepers had shops that extended outside of their rooms, sometimes placing pots and toys all along the sidewalk for sale.

After noticing her tripping over her third trashcan that day, her partner suggested a break. Grateful for the offer, she held on tighter to his jacket and followed him through the crowd once more.

"It's just a bit a ways," he replied hazily, voice obscured by the conversing people coursing their way down the packed streets. Guiding her easily down a less-crowded string of shoppers, he led her down a street that seemed different to Kagome. After passing through a couple of more equally strange streets, she realized why. They were completely empty.

Still not speaking, she followed him down a flight of stairs, and felt a wall in front of her. A door opened, and a hand touched hers, unraveling the tangled web of fingers and fabric. Feeling her support being taken away from her, she panicked, kicking whoever was attempting to snatch away the only person who she could semi-trust.

She was rewarded with a sharp scratch and a pull that felt as if it ripped off her fingers. Yanked away from the door and into a smoky hallway, Kagome screamed and clawed the hand pulling her along.

"Argh, bitch!"

She stopped, nails gingerly tapping the voice's source. "I-Inu-chan?" Even she could hear the shudder of disbelief in her voice, not overlooked by her rasping.

The voice's reply was just as she always remembered him; constantly impatient and restless. "What, dammit?"

Stifling sobs for around two seconds before bursting open the long-held dam of restrained tears, Kagome gurgled a mixed cry of joy and confusion before weeping noisily and messily into his jacket.

Muttering curses about women that cried too much, Inuyasha pried her away from his chest and held her at arms length as if she held some sort of nasty disease. "Good grief!" he exclaimed, noticing her milky-hued eyes glowing slightly in the dark. "What the hell happened to you?"

A round of snuffles and babble greeted him.

Sighing, he patted her lightly on the back and pushed her in front of him. "The Ku-man's tired. He'll be working off the night here and than both of you will get a room in the upper levels."

"Ku-man?" Kagome managed to question.

"Naraku, the man who brought you in," Inuyasha replied absently. On a second thought, he growled slightly and, although Kagome couldn't see it, tugged on his silvery hair angrily. "When I'm done with him, there won't be much left to work anyways."

Kagome snuffled slightly, walking awkwardly down the long hallway. Far-off yells and music resounded down one section of the hall, but Inuyasha prodded her down the opposite direction. Clearing her throat, she asked, "What did…Naraku do?"

"Stupid bastard almost got us all killed, and then ran off a year ago," Inuyasha recalled angrily. "Haven't seen him in a year until just now. Huh. Wonder what he wants." Voice softening almost indiscernibly, Kagome caught the lowering lilt and wondered if the two men were friends before. If so, she didn't remember Naraku from anything Inuyasha ever said to her.

"So," Inuyasha said, voice breaking the silence that had set her thinking. "What happened to you after you ran away?"

Kagome stayed silent. Behind her stiffening shoulders, Inuyasha scratched his head. She had always been quiet around certain outstandingly touchy subjects; this would be one of the newer ones. Remembering how she used to be set off by the slightest comment into long soundless weeks, Inuyasha changed the subject.

"You can stay here for the day and the night. Only when tomorrow comes will we work out what comes next."

Kagome barely heard the last sentence. Her foot was gingerly poking a particularly squashy object. Ever jab brought a half-snort, half-snore to her ears. Behind her, she heard Inuyasha exasperated sniff of annoyance as he crouched down. Seconds later, a loud -slap- and the sounds of someone's hand on her backside sent her jumping backwards.

"Miroku," bellowed Inuyasha, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The accused smiled sheepishly up at the angry hanyou, long lashes fluttering innocently over two contrastingly devilish eyes. "You could call it lying in wait," he purred. "And it seems my bait has worked." Shifting his attention to the startled girl backing away slowly, he smiled. "Hello, what a pretty little fish I've caught."

"Touch her and you'll be bait for Naraku," Inuyasha replied flatly. "Besides, she's blind. Can't see."

"He already has," Kagome bristled angrily, recalling the hand that had slyly slipped up her skirt. Which then reminded her she still needed new clothes…her only uniform was beginning to show signs of tear.

None of the two men seemed to hear. Miroku's easygoing manner immediately darkened, the aura around him growing tense. "Naraku? What's he doing back?"

"That's what I was about to find out before you interrupted," retorted Inuyasha. "I'm going to have a word with him right now. You take the girl and find her a room." Stomping off in yet another direction, he disappeared, hair waving behind him, into the deep catacombs of the building.

Bowing lavishly, besides the fact that Kagome was looking around bewilderedly, Miroku offered an arm to her. "May I offer my hand as the escort that will bring this young lady to her estate?" he drawled decadently.

Finding his hand, she gripped it tightly. Miroku winced. "And may I offer that if my fingers fall off from the pressure, I'll have to offer other parts of my body for the service of this lady?"

Kagome's grip immediately loosened.

Grinning like a young schoolboy with cheeks alive with rosy heartiness, he strode off down a corridor quickly with her in tow. "Then off we go!"

Inuyasha's voice echoed down the hall angrily. "To a room of her own, not yours!"

Miroku scowled briefly, but brightened again, twisting Kagome in an impossible curve as he swept her around into yet another hallway. "Pish-posh, he's no fun," Miroku confided in the blind Kagome. "Doesn't believe in it. No humor at all."

"The Inu-chan I knew had humor," Kagome defended lamely.

Miroku gaped, and then doubled over in laughter, clutching his sides. "Inu-chan?" he chortled. "That's one for the books. I'll be sure to remember that."

Trying vainly to rescue what little dignity her 'Inu-chan' had left, she tried changing the topics.

"What is it with you guys and Naraku?" she asked, keeping her voice innocent and indifferent. "Seems as though you all were friends, but not any more."

Finding a door in the vast wall, Miroku unlooked it and thrust a key on a string into Kagome's hands. "Here's your room, settle in as comfortably as you like," he said, a little too quickly for Kagome's liking. "A maid will be in shortly to help you."

Pushing her in, Kagome heard the -click- of a shut door behind her.

She stood for a moment, baffled. He had definitely sounded perturbed. What was it with the people here? Better, where was she? She no longer had Naraku around to rely on, and felt strangely smaller and less important.

And Inuyasha…he was supposed to be dead! She rubbed her temples soothingly, alleviating herself of some of her headache. Her vision was already gradually floating back in large lumps of black and grey. One individual lump towered over the others in size and dimension, most likely the bed. Finding her way there with her arms still stretched out in front of her, not trusting her newly regained vision, Kagome slumped over the side of the bed.

She'd have to think through Inuyasha. He sure didn't seem pleased to see her after so long. Then again, maybe he was thinking the same things she was and also thought her to be supposedly dead.

A camera tucked away into the dark corners of one side of the room swerved curiously towards her tired form curiously. The frames glimmered, and than stretched out, seeking more detail from the dejected girl.

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Main Underground Tunnel Intersection, known as MUTI for short.

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Kouga gingerly rubbed his bruised knees. Shippo never did decide to enlarge the deep maze of tunnels that spiraled all underground the city. The tubes were just wide enough to be entered comfortably from the sewer by a short child; namely Shippo. Any other adult had to settle with crawling for miles on end, torture on both the knees and the topmost of the skull, which constantly collided with above protruding nails.

He wrinkled his nose, trying to block out the unpleasant odor of the sewers behind him. Even miles away, the smell still permeated throughout the tunnels. Crawling forward a few more feet, he managed to reach a large, rounded out room that once again branched into more tunnels leading off on all polar sides. Reinforced steel prevented the tunnels from collapsing on each other, but didn't conduct heat well underground, leaving the wolf demon shivering. Jumping to the middle of the room, he stomped angrily on the floor.

"Up, stupid machine!" he berated, stamping the floor. Groaning irritably, the floor where he was standing on raised slowly and lifted up into the hollow cavities of the intersectional room. As though angry with its impatient rider, it purposely jerked and wobbled, sending Kouga scrambling for a good grip to avoid being thrown off the still-rising platform.

The rising stopped slowly, after having gradually been reducing its speed of accent. A speaker box protruded from the wall.

"Please state you name and purpose, intruder!" a chipper voice cried joyously. The voice had a tinny under front, revealing its machinery origins.

Kouga raised an eyebrow. "Kouga. Let me in."

The voice continued to sound ridiculously happy. "I'm sorry. That's not an acceptable purpose!" It giggled insanely. "Please state another purpose, and you'll be off on your way!"

A tic appeared over the wolf demon's left eye.

The speaker box stayed silent for an eye-blink, than started again. "Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Still there? Hello? State your purpose. Hello? Hello? Hello?"

"I need…to see….Shippo…" Kouga pronounced slowly, willing his annoyance down. "Let me in….or I will get…very angry…"

The speaker box seemed to contemplate that. "Really? But being angry isn't good for one's temperance. And neither is it a good purpose, One-who-is-named-Kouga. Please state your purpose!"

Another voice sounded out, shriller and annoyed. "Blast it!" The lever above Kouga's head opened, and he crawled in. Inside, Shippo sat a heavily pillowed chair, looking apologetic.

"It's the personality program I told you about," the child squeaked, voice oddly bobbing from high to low. "I tried many different ones, but none of them worked out to my satisfaction."

Kouga scratched his head. "Eh, really? Why try in the first place?"

The kid shrugged. "Bored."

The same metallically fake voice sounded behind Kouga, giving him a start. "Welcome to the lab!" it giggled, gasping between laughs as if running a marathon. "This is where technology is fulfilled to its fullest, records are made daily, and the city is managed…secretively of course!" the voice trilled, as thought the secret was less a secret than a game. "Welcome…to the lab!"

"You said that twice," Kouga stated.

The voice sounded worried. "Oh dear…did I? My circuits must be getting fried. Or maybe it's the batteries. Or maybe a power outlet ran out of energy. Or maybe one of the voice threads burned out. Or maybe…" The voice was starting to get panicky. "Maybe it's an omen. Maybe the world is ending. Maybe an asteroid is approaching! Maybe! Maybe!" The voice ran shriller, and shriller.

"Shut it off!" Kouga roared, jamming two fingers into his ears.

Shippo scrambled up and pulled the nearest levers. "I'm trying!" he squeaked.

Suddenly, the yells stopped, and the voice stopped crying out. Shippo sighed, and plopped down again into the large, squashy lime-green pillows, his own personal working chair. "It's off," he told the wolf-demon, "At least, temporarily."

Sinking slowly into the chair until only his bright green eyes were showing, Shippo blinked slowly and stared at the wolf. Kouga, who had already tentatively pulled out the fingers from his ears long ago, went from one foot to the other as he nervously jumped back and forth. He hated how one 11 year-old boy could make him so nervous, even one as shrimpy-looking as Shippo.

Looking around the room to avoid the unnaturally bright eyes, Kouga gazed at the various types of machinery operating in the room. Piles of seemingly useless junk from old bicycle handles to keyboards missing keys obliterated one corner. The other three were covered in 52"screens that dominated the room with their glowing pictures that constantly changed from time to time. One showed an empty street, where no one walked. Another showed a close-up of some random passer by's hair. Yet another showed something bright yellow, zooming out on its own to reveal a orange-beaked rubber duck, clutched in a toddler's hand as he ran around a tree in a park.

Below the giant screens were endless rows of computers, all tangled in countless wires. Only various glowing buttons and of course, the giants screen themselves illuminated the dark room, giving off an eerie glow that didn't quite seep into every corner of the room.

"Inuyasha sent news," Kouga finally said. The pair of green eyes continued staring at him, and then looked away, interested by one of the screens in his vast laboratory that was currently showing a girl slumped over a bed. Kouga noticed. "Don't you know better than to spy on girls in their bedrooms?" he asked playfully. Shippo didn't reply immediately, but only stared at the screen.

"She's not just any girl," Shippo replied defensively. "She's the one Inuyasha used to know, the one he always talked about when the mayor still lived. Mei, or something like that. Miroku said something about how they were able to find her."

"Oh," replied Kouga lamely. "Well, Inuyasha said the heist went off. We got away with about a six thousand in cash and more in silver. One man got shot in the leg, but Kikyo's putting him right."

If Shippo heard him at all, he didn't give any indication. He continued staring at the screen. "She's one of the runaways that had their faces posted everywhere last year," he continued, as though Kouga never spoke.

Kouga did a double-take. "What?" he exclaimed. The screen's showing of the girl didn't show her face, so he didn't recognize her. "No foolin'? Well, than we have us a fighter with a story to tell. I remember the Slave Police had combed through the entire city for that particular group of runaways. What'd Sesshomaru want with her anyways? She doesn't look that special."

Shippo's eyes flashed angrily. "Don't you dare say that name in my hearing. He killed my parents, took away my freedom, and I intend to get back at him for it!"

Kouga stayed silent. He knew how Shippo felt, even if he didn't offer any of his condolences. All of them had some sort of private score to settle with the government. Shippo had gone back to staring at the screen as though his sudden outburst hadn't come.

Finally, Kouga couldn't take it any longer. "Inuyasha says that Naraku's back," he burst out. "I didn't believe dog-turd at first, but now…"

Shippo crawled out of his hidey-hole that had formed in the beanbag. "Yep," he confirmed, mouth set tightly although his eyes were still sparkling. "Things are going to be different now that he's back. And I say let him come back. Things have been pretty boring without him here."

His tiny mouth widened into an infectious smile, so catching, that Kouga had to quickly scowl before he himself started grinning like a manic. He was starting to realize who the speaker's personality had been based off.

"Hey, Kouga," Shippo called, interrupting his musings. "Will you let me come with you back to the club? I wanna talk to this Mei girl."

Kouga was mystified by the odd question, but nodded. "Sure, why not?"

Hefting the boy out from the chair, Kouga carefully set the boy on his back. Shippo gripped his tiny hands in the man's hair, small legs hanging down uselessly, useless since the accident that took away his parents.

"You know," Shippo suddenly spoke, softer than ever with his face buried in Kouga's shirt. "She looks a lot like my mom."

Kouga was too busy flexing out the muscles in his legs to hear. Bending down once, he steadied himself. "Here we go!"

Jumping down the hatch where he had originally come up from, Kouga ignored the platform and plummeted straight down to the lower ground, Shippo's cries of delight in his ears. Fading fast behind him, the speaker crackled to life.

"Bye-bye! Bye-bye!" it chorused happily. "Bye-bye! Bye-bye! State your purpose! Bye-bye!"

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Annoying Author Blurb: Eek! Lots of apologies to make today! ::wink:: First off, an apology to K, administrator of http:// www. fictionised.net/. See K, back then I didn't know about Fictionised yet. Now I'm glad I do! Everyone, fictionised.net is one of the newest growing fanfiction spots. I myself have an account there, feel free to search for me under 'elementalspirit125'. Next, sorry about the delay in posting. I'll put up a new chapter maybe once every week or two. Yes, I'm slow. I'm a victim of sloth and procrastination. Another sorry goes to the fans of Yume no Naka. I'm really annoyed at how badly the first chapter came out. The plot will be fun to dance around, but I'm trying my hand at devoting more time to just one story for now. Sorry! Okay, and the last apology is for my horrendous spelling errors. If you ever catch one, I have no trouble at all with you telling me. I can simply fix the problem and edit the chapter, easy!

Some of you wanted to know what I mean last time when I said 'Inserted a couple of hints and hidden plots, wonder if anyone will find them?'

Things found in last chapter:

Important background for one main character

Name of deceased man

Deceased man's relation to characters (Oh, it's -real- close ^_^)

-Seemingly- random character in bar (Hint: Star-shaped scar on forehead)

There was another really important one, but I've forgotten. ::crashes to floor::

Ack! One more apology! I got the years mixed up HORRENDOUSLY. No one seemed to catch it, through…^_^. It was something along the lines of it said 6 years passed in one paragraph, and then 1 year passed in another. @_@ Time sure does fly…

If there's any question with grammar, spelling, etc. please feel free to contact me. Also, I've recently been going searching for betas. Anyone want to give it a try…? My email is elementalspirit125@comcast.net. I've recently just acquired a beta, but would love to have more (I think I'll take up to five)!

Word To The Wise (elementalspirit125): In honor of fiction writers everywhere: "The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense."
Tom Clancy.

Feel free to send any funny 'life' comments you have yourself. They always make my day! I'll post some of the funnier ones. ^_^