InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ I Won't Trust Myself With You ❯ Ransom ( Chapter 17 )

17 - Ransom

 

Mujinku and Shippo were ignoring their dinner in favor of tormenting the extremely grounded twins when someone knocked on the door. “What? There was no car.” Kagome went to answer the door. “Sesshoumaru?”

 

“What do you want, bastard?” Inuyasha yelled to his brother, not bothering to look up from his plate.

 

The regale demon swept into the kitchen and dropped a manila envelope on the table. “Would someone care to explain this?” Inuyasha opened the envelope and pulled out a few crumpled pieces of paper. “These were left on my porch earlier tonight.”

 

“Not a bad picture of you,” Inuyasha said, tossing the first paper onto the table for all to see. “What the?” He quickly looked up from the second paper and placed it on the table as well. It was a quick sketch, ripped out hastily, but it was undoubtedly Mujinku.

 

The boy stared at the drawing, blood pounding in his ears. It was from the park, showing a shirtless teen jumping into the air, about to snatch up the frisbee. Mujinku's eyes took in the jeans, the bandana, the silver ponytail. “It's me.” He voice seemed to come from a very distant place. The others turned to look at the boy, who had frozen, eyes glued to the scrap on the table.

 

“Mujinku?” Kagome asked, placing a gentle hand on her son's shoulder. “Dear, what is it?”

 

“The park, on Saturday, after we busted the girls.” He swallowed past the large lump growing in his throat. “Shitenshi drew that.” Shitenshi… what happened? Where is she? How could someone have gotten their hands on that sketch unless… Wordlessly, he reached across and grabbed the last two items from his father. The first was a note, scribbled on a piece of notebook paper.

 

“Seems like we have a certain mutual acquaintance, you might say.” He read, “And I'm sure the boy in the picture would like to see her again, if you know what I mean. But that won't happen unless he comes, alone, to the place on the map, tomorrow at noon. Cause it'd be a shame if those pretty little hands couldn't draw no more pictures, as it were. Come ALONE to the meeting place, and we can talk about her newest commission. Signed, The Zard.”

 

He glanced at the second paper and saw a crude map of the outskirts of town on the way to Shitenshi's house. Mujinku finally looked up to see six pairs of eyes trained on him.

 

“Who is the girl this note refers to?” Sesshoumaru demanded, a frown etched on his usually stoic features.

 

“Shitenshi?” Kagome asked, tears swelling in her blue eyes. Mujinku nodded.

 

“Your girlfriend was kidnapped?” Kuro asked, serious for once. Another nod.

 

“Who is this Zard person?” Shippo demanded, scanning the note. “And where is this place on the map?”

 

Sesshoumaru spoke up. “Zard is a lizard youkai who started a gang of human thugs many years ago. He and his younger brother run it, but let the humans do all the dirty work and go to jail if they are ever caught. They prey on human females and have had run-ins with the police a few times over the years. I sent one of the ookami brothers after him a few years ago and he skipped town after killing the boy. I was unaware that he had returned. As for the map…”

 

“It's this run down part of town on the way to Shitenshi's house.” Mujinku filled in when the older demon paused. “It's where her mother was attacked and killed when Shi was just a child.”

 

“So why did he attack Shitenshi?” Taiyuri spoke up.

 

“She is a hanyou.” Sesshoumaru replied impassively.

 

“She is a young pretty female who has to walk a mile home alone every night.” Mujinku said at the same time.

 

“A mile?” one of the girls gasped. He nodded.

 

“But what will we do?” Shippo asked.

 

“I swore to protect her.” Mujinku ignored the shocked expressions on every face but Kagome's. “I swore to protect her and I'm going after her.”

 

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Thanks to Lokelani04 on MMorg and Zoderella on FFnet. To Zelix on AFF, wow, thank you so much!!! *blushes* I'll read that story right now, Koinu says it rocks!

~Chokolatte ;)

 

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Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha *pouts* or any of the other characters. I want to thank Rumiko Takahashi and company for creating such awesome characters for me to write about as I drool with envy at her skillz. ;)