InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Infatuation ❯ This is How We Roll ( Chapter 13 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Lizzie Welling 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.31.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 888 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.31.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 888 | Status: Work In Progress
Congrats to fire-Angel-of-death322 for being the 100th reviewer!
I’m leaving on vacation for two weeks, so I wanted to get this chapter out before leaving tomorrow.
Thanks to my friend Gabi for betaing!
Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Dedicated in memory of my brother.
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Infatuation
Rated M/R for language
----------------------------------------------------------
Recap:
“They killed her parents because they were in the way of their goal. Look at Kagome’s medical file: at the age of 15, around the time of the attack, a small, spherical-shaped wound was stitched up, just below her ribs on her right side.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Rin was getting angry now.
“In the story of Midoriko, the wound in which the Shikon escaped was small and spherical.”
Rin gaped at him. “Are you saying…”
“I believe that attack on the Higurashi shrine was to extract the Shikon no Tama from its hiding place in Kagome’s body. That girl is more intricately twined into all of this than any of us could ever know.”
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Chapter 13: This is How We Roll
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~11:20 p.m. Roppongi District~
Crossbow resting on her right shoulder, Kagome crept through the shadows of the Roppongi* district. Night was playtime for most lowlifes, and these streets were crawling with them. Roppongi was rumored to have a high presence of the yakuza, drawn by the cabarets and nightclubs in the area. Kagome had one particular yakuza leader in mind, the last on her hit list.
Gatenmaru.
‘I just have to find this moron, “convince” him to give me the jewel shard or shards he has in his possession, and do this all without getting all his little gang buddies on my tail. Time to do some undercover.’
She folded up her crossbow and stowed it in her red, sequined bag. She felt the five newly acquired shards--from the other youkai and oni she had defeated earlier that night--humming against her collarbone with the other portion of the jewel, beneath her sleeveless black turtleneck. Straightening her short, ruby-red wig and smoothing down her hot pink mini skirt, Kagome sauntered over to the nearest sleazy looking male in her knee high lace up boots.
“Hiya fella,” she cooed. The man’s jaw dropped. The Slayer smiled. ‘Bingo.’ Trailing her finger slowly up his arm, she said, “I’m looking for someone named Gatenma-something. My girl Nyoko told me he throws some great parties.”
The man was shivering in excitement. Kagome fought the urge to knock him into the nearest wall. ‘I think InuYasha’s violent tendencies have rubbed off on me…That frickin’ dog boy, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be sneaking around like this! Grr, focus, girl!’
“You-you mean Ga-Gatenmaru?” he stuttered out.
“Yeeah, that’s the name. Know where I can find him?”
“He’s us-usually at the Red Lotus, the cl-club he owns.”
Kagome did a little victory dance in her head. She caressed the man’s cheek. “Could ya point a girl in the right direction?”
The man raised a shaky hand, pointing down a road to her left.
“Thanks, sugar!” she winked over her shoulder, then sauntered away as quickly as she could without being conspicuous.
Kagome found the club easily enough. The red neon sign was a blaring clue. Getting in was a little tougher. Good thing her crossbow folded up to appear like a folded fan. The bouncer still didn’t seem convinced. She had to win him over with her good charm, a.k.a a little well-placed light caresses in the right places. Kagome fought off a shudder. She detested having to grope her way through a mission. She could not fathom why Miroku enjoyed the activity so much. The bouncer still had to receive the go-ahead from someone deep within the bowels of the club to let her in, however. She couldn’t make out a face, but gauged the man was up in VIP.
Gatenmaru.
She sashayed over to the bar and ordered a dirty martini, flirting strategically with the bartender, leaning over to raise the back of her mini skirt enough to give the folks in VIP a nice show. In less than five minutes, she was approached by a lackey.
“Gatenmaru-sama would like you to join him in the upper levels.”
Kagome smiled seductively and followed the man through the pulsing crowd and up the winding staircase, directly to a slightly effeminate looking man. From his aura, Kagome knew him to be a youkai.
The lackey bowed. “Gatenmaru-sama, the woman you requested.”
Kagome wanted to snort. ‘Requested? I ought to smack this idiot upside his head.’
Gatenmaru dismissed the lackey with a wave of his hand, then proceeded to take an agonizingly slow perusal of Kagome from his much closer vantage point. A smirk gradually grew as his eyes stopped to meet her gaze.
“Yes, you’ll do.”
Kagome raised an eyebrow. “I’ll do?”
Gatenmaru stood up suddenly, then snatched up Kagome’s wrist. Fangs peeped from beneath his upper lip.
“You may mask your aura pretty well, miko, but I have my ways of detecting your true nature,” he whispered malevolently. He reached for the shards under her shirt, but got zapped. Glaring, he forced her closer. “And I want those shards!” he growled.
Kagome’s eyes widened. ‘Oh shit.’
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~9:50p.m. Red light District~
“Man, is this woman a freak, or what?” Kouga whistled as he and Ayame crept into Urasuae’s lab.
“Shut up!” Ayame hissed. “She’s probably down here somewhere!”
However, Ayame did have to admit, rather reluctantly, Kouga had a point. The chains, cages, and inexplicable affinity for red pleather furnishings creeped her hell out. There were a few glass cabinets filled with bottles of all shapes and forms, but what they were searching for was a little larger and…fresh.
“There’s got to be another door in here that leads to her real lab,” Ayame muttered, walking towards the nearest wall. “Get your useless ass over to slab of stone and start looking for a trap door, revolving wall, something.”
Both began rapidly patting down the walls, searching for levers, buttons or movable bricks, but found nothing. They looked around at the ceiling for any evidence of drop down doors. Lots of creepy Frankenstein-esque movie lab chandeliers, but nothing else.
“Fuck!” Kouga swore, kicking a rug.
CLANK.
“What the heck did you kick, a metal rug?” Ayame wondered, dropping to her knees and pushing the rug further back.
“Metal trap door. How classic,” Ayame quipped, tugging eagerly at the latch. Kouga reached down, and together they effortlessly lifted the trap door. The opening showed a stone staircase, sparsely lit.
CREEAK.
“Hey!” someone shouted from outside the doorway. “Who’s down there?”
Both ookami jumped. Kouga quickly pushed Ayame into the opening, then grabbed the rug and door, closing it and replacing the rug (so that nothing looked out of place) all in one swoop.
They swiftly descended the staircase. Ayame had unwound her chain from her waist, gripping it readily in her hands. Kouga slipped his katana from his pant leg. Kouga gave the signal. The partners took the final steps into the room they hoped housed Urasuae’s dreadful concoction.
They couldn’t have missed it if they were blind. The smell itself was awful enough to draw the dead. Sitting on a long chipped wooden table were two metal containers about the size of washing bins used for bobbing apples. Kouga and Ayame crept closer, hands pressed over their delicate noses in attempts to stifle the smell, as they peered over the edge.
“It’s green and goopy,” observed Kouga.
“Kami, I think the smell alone would kill Kagome. No need for the nasty soul-sucking part,” Ayame muttered darkly.
“Well, what do we have here?” a voice drawled from the shadows.
Kouga and Ayame snapped their heads up to see a heavily wrinkled woman with deep set eyes, dressed as a madame. Urasuae. She was accompanied by two people the ookami had only seen in file photos. Kagura and Kanna.
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~8:12p.m. Headquarters~
“Where the hell is she?” InuYasha grumbled, stalking down another Headquarters’ hallway in search of his MIA partner.
He’d checked her usual retreats. He knew exactly where she snuck off to when they where avoiding each other, he just chose not to follow. Hence avoiding. He’d looked in the mediation room, the Library, the Research room and the Dojo. Hell, he’d even checked the Infirmary in the off chance that she had landed her ass in there from some training injury.
No such luck.
‘Damnit, Kagome! You better not have run off and done something stupid!’
He spotted Sango and Miroku walking together up ahead of him.
‘If that itself ain’t weird…’
“Oi! Miroku!”
The monk spun around and raised a hand in greeting to his fellow Hunter. “What may I do for you on this fine day, InuYasha?”
InuYasha eyed him wearily, then raised an inquiring eyebrow at Sango. “Did you finally smack him silly?”
Sango reddened. “I wish,” she growled.
“Kami, I don’t wanna know,” InuYasha muttered under his breath. “Have either one of you seen Kagome?”
“Why?” Sango narrowed her eyes at the hanyou. “Are you going to scream at her some more? Heaven knows you two haven’t done enough of that lately.”
“No, I don’t wanna pick a fight,” he replied petulantly. “I can’t find her anywhere. I think she’s left the building.”
“What? Alone?” Sango snapped worriedly.
“That is a troublesome thought. Perhaps Rin-chan and Sesshomaru have seen her recently?” Miroku offered.
Sango and Miroku followed InuYasha as he sniffed the other set of partners out, ensconced in the dusty part of Records.
“What the hell are you doing with Kagome’s medical records?” Sango shrieked, snatching the file out of Sesshomaru’s hand. She quickly scanned the year and the contents. InuYasha peered over her shoulder, his eyes widening.
‘It’s that scar I saw the other day, the one she got pissed off about. It’s the reason we began fighting non-stop again.’
“Why are you looking at this particular day?” Sango asked quietly. “Kagome would be so upset if she knew. Please stop this now.”
“Sango,” Rin began gently. “We need to ask her a few things about this particular injury and the events that day. We believe it may be of particular importance. It may help explain a little more why exactly Naraku chose Kagome.”
“You can’t,” Sango whispered.
“Why?” Sesshomaru demanded.
“She doesn’t remember anything about that day.”
“What?” Rin and InuYasha gasped.
“All she knows is what she’s been told by Kaede and me, which isn’t much, because even we don’t really know what happened.”
“I need to get to my mainframe,” Rin announced, closing her laptop, collecting a few of the records and making her way out of the stacks of shelves.
“Oi! Have you seen Kagome? Nobody else has seen her recently,” InuYasha shouted after her.
“She mentioned going to see Kaede a few hours ago,” Rin called over her shoulder.
InuYasha growled, dashing out of Records.
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Rin was logging into the computer just as Sesshomaru stepped inside and carried his stack of Kagome’s medical files to his desk. Sango and Miroku appeared at the doorway, looking apprehensive.
Rin reached absently for her pen on her desk, and looked over when she realized it wasn’t in its place.
“Someone’s been tampering with my belongings.”
The youngest Slayer sifted through some papers, taking a mental inventory, then shot out of her chair.
“Oh no! “
She ran out of the room and down the hallway, toward Kaede’s office. As she turned a corner, she nearly smacked into InuYasha.
“Kaede said Kagome met with her an hour ago, begging for a mission. But she was denied due to safety reasons,” InuYasha said gruffly.
“Oh Kami, I think she made herself her own assignment,” Rin gasped, just as Miroku and Sango slid around the corner behind her. “The list of confirmed shard holders is missing!”
“That stupid wench!” InuYasha growled. “We have to go after her! She’s a fucking target herself!”
“Rin-chan, do you have a copy of the list?” Miroku inquired calmly.
“In my head,” Rin smiled, tapping her temple. “But there were half a dozen on that list, all over Tokyo. Kagome’s got a few hours on us.”
“She wouldn’t just start with the first on the list,” Sango said. “She’d group them together geographically, hitting the ones the farthest away then working her way back to Headquarters.”
“Ok, Rin, we need those names and their known locations,” InuYasha ordered. “Then we’re going to have to split up. There’s no telling how quickly she’s eliminated her list. She could be on number three or number six by now. It all depends on who she’s up against.”
“Right,” Rin nodded. “Back to my computer. We’ll have to fill Sesshomaru in while someone goes and collects our weapons.”
“I’m on weapons!” Sango shouted over her shoulder, already vanishing down the hallway toward the Weaponry.
“I ain’t explaining anything to the Asshole!” InuYasha shouted, taking off after Rin.
Miroku sighed. ‘May Buddha give me the strength…’
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~10:17 p.m. Red Light District~
“Isn’t that the witch bitch and her void sister?” Kouga asked Ayame.
“Yes you dummy. It never ceases to amaze me how you became one of the ’revered’ Hunters. You catch on quick, don’t ’cha?”
“Hey now--”
“Would you focus on the threat for once instead of me? I know you have some infatuation with me, but seriously, now is not the time!” Ayame whispered harshly.
Kouga was caught between confusion, outrage and admitting she was right.
So, he settled for shutting up and leveling his fiercest glare at the bad guys.
“Here to stop my little concoction, are we?” Urasuae cackled sickeningly. “That’s why Naraku sent these two,” she gestured to the sisters, “to help me. You can’t stop what’s coming. It will be done. Your friend will die!”
Ayame gasped. Then she got angry.
“Not on my watch, to shriveled-up bitch!” she screamed, lashing her whip at the tubs.
Kagura stepped into the blow with her fan, using the air to send Ayame’s whip back at her. Ayame leapt out of the way, the arced the whip back to grab the wind youkai’s ankle and jerk it out from under her. Kagura crashed onto her backside.
Meanwhile, Kouga faced Kanna. She pulled an odd looking mirror out of nowhere and began to shoot objects at him from within it. Quick on his feet ,the ookami dodged them all expertly. However, suddenly ,the void youkai changed tactics. Kouga could no longer move his limbs. His vision became hazy.
While Kagura was down, Ayame glanced at Kouga to check his status. She saw him avoid a spear, then freeze. He began to turn pale.
“Idiot wolf!” she shouted, attempting to get his attention.
The old crone began to cackle loudly. “He can’t hear you, dearie! The little void girl’s got him!”
Suddenly, Ayame felt the steel edge of a fan at her throat.
“And I’ve got you,” Kagura whispered haughtily.
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~11:34 p.m. the Red Lotus, Roppongi District~
Kagome discovered the hard way which breed of youkai Gatenmaru was, when he spat cocooning substance at her without warning, tying her hands and legs to the wall. The clever moth youkai had done it perfectly so that she couldn’t use her hands to purify the substance.
‘I’m so screwed. How the heck am I going to get myself out of this one? Kami, think Kagome!’
Gatenmaru leered at her, steeping closer. “You’re just going to have to sit tight until he arrives. And I think I’ll take these,” he smirked, dipping his hand into her turtleneck. Kagome struggled, trying to twist out of the youkai’s reach, but with her movement limited it was useless. He pulled her collection of Shikon shards free.
“This is a lovely bit you have here. He’ll be pleased.”
“And just who is this ‘he?’” Kagome spat.
“A business partner of mine. I think you may know him.”
Kagome narrowed her eyes in anger and annoyance. Then she felt it. The darkest aura that had ever ebbed into her own. The malevolence seemed to cover the room, dimming the lights further and sucking any happiness out of the area.
Her head snapped around, searching for the aura’s source.
It was him. Naraku.
He was accompanied by Kikyo. Both she had seen briefly before on a joint mission with InuYasha and Sango and Miroku that day outside the diner. Except this time, he wasn’t suppressing his aura or hiding his identity. He was aiming to intimidate and frighten, impose his presence in the most daunting way possible.
“Ah, Naraku-sama, Kikyo-san,” Gatenmaru greeted reverently, bowing.
“Gatenmaru,” Naraku’s slick voice acknowledged. The evil being’s eye’s flicked to the wall where Kagome was detained. “I see you’ve captured the miko. Do you possess what I’ve requested?”
“Hai. Here they are,” Gatenmaru affirmed, handing over Kagome’s small collection of shards.
“No!” Kagome protested, struggling against her bindings.
Naraku smirked, looking her straight in the eye. “Where are your little comrades now, little miko? There’s no one to stop me. I have the shards now. And I have you.”
Kagome gulped.
“And soon, I shall have the concoction from Urasuae, as soon as Kagura and Kanna dispose of the minor annoyance there in her lab.”
Kagome began to mildly panic. “Ayame! Kouga! I hope they’re not in trouble.”
Naraku stepped closer to her, until she could feel his breath uncomfortably on her face.
“Soon, you will be under my control,” he gloated evilly.
“Never,” she hissed.
Naraku laughed at her, snapping his fingers to bring Kikyo over. “I think it’s time to place her in stasis.”
Kikyo nodded coldly, raising her glowing purple hands.
Kagome stared at her defiantly.
Suddenly, the sound of glass windows shattering caused everyone to raise their eyes to the ceiling. Three figures came crashing through, one with silver hair and wearing a red leather jacket landing first.
“InuYasha!” Kagome cried in relief. “Naraku has the shards!”
“What, no ‘I’m so glad to see you’?” he grunted, raising Tessaiga up and bringing it down on Naraku. The evil hanyou blocked it, spinning away.
Miroku and Sango ran over to Kagome. Sango sliced through the bindings, releasing the miko so she could retrieve her crossbow from her nearby discarded bag, and spun it to aim and shoot it at Gatenmaru, striking the moth youkai in his shoulder.
“I think Ayame and Kouga need some back up!” Kagome shouted to Sango. “Naraku mentioned sending the wind bitch and her void sis to help the witch.”
“I’m calling Rin and the Ice King now off their search for you and redirect them over to the Red Light district,” Sango hollered back as she grabbed for her walkie.
Miroku faced off against Kikyo as Sango and Kagome ran to help InuYasha. InuYasha swung the katana into Naraku’s middle as Kagome shot an arrow at his chest. She did a front tuck over head, snatching the shards out of Naraku’s hand. The moment she landed, Gatenmaru tackled her, using his cocoon spit to bind her to the floor. Sango thwarted him, using Hiraikotsu to knock the youkai into a wall. She quickly sliced Kagome free.
Naraku jumped away from InuYasha, tilting his head to the side as if listening to something. When InuYasha tried to attack, he bounced off a recently formed barrier.
“Kikyo, it is time for us to go. Kagura has it,” Naraku ordered.
Kikyo nodded, backing away from a slightly batter Miroku.
“I will be seeing you soon,” Naraku said to Kagome.
“You ain’t going anywhere near her, bastard!” InuYasha shouted as the pair disappeared in miasma. “Shit, he got away.”
“But we got the shards back,” Kagome announced happily.
“Yeah, after we tracked down and saved your ass,” InuYasha spat.
“I would have figured something out if Naraku hadn’t shown up! I got the others just fine on my own!”
Sango walked over and carefully helped Miroku stand up. “There they go again.”
“So it seems. InuYasha is just expressing his worry over Kagome-chan’s safety.”
“She’ll be getting an earful from me about her disappearing act, that’s for sure. Girl needs a collar with LoJack attached,” Sango muttered irritably.
Miroku let out a loud chuckle.
“How could you do something so stupid!” InuYasha continued his tirade. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?”
“I just couldn’t continue to sit around and do nothing! I’m the only other one who can sense the shards. I had to try and find some before Naraku did!” Kagome bit back.
“And what if we hadn’t got here in time? He was planning on taking you and…” InuYasha trailed off, the rest of the sentence unbearable to say.
Kagome’s face softened. She slipped her arms around him cautiously. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
InuYasha just brought his arms up and hugged her tightly.
“Kagome! InuYasha!” Sango cried urgently.
“What?” InuYasha replied sharply.
“I just got a distress call from Rin. They found Ayame and Kouga. They got away with the soul concoction.”
“Shit,” InuYasha cursed.
“How are Ayame and Kouga?” Kagome asked hesitantly.
“Something’s wrong with Kouga,” Sango said wearily. “Rin reported that it seems like his soul has been sucked out.”
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A/N: *Information on Roppongi district found at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roppongi
Special thanks to reviewers: InuGoddess715, MyInuYashaObsession, Fennikusu Kasai, Kylexi, fire-Angel-of-death322 and cwillia
Thank you for reading. PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! I’d love to hear what you think!
I’m leaving on vacation for two weeks, so I wanted to get this chapter out before leaving tomorrow.
Thanks to my friend Gabi for betaing!
Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Dedicated in memory of my brother.
---------------------------------------------------------
Infatuation
Rated M/R for language
----------------------------------------------------------
Recap:
“They killed her parents because they were in the way of their goal. Look at Kagome’s medical file: at the age of 15, around the time of the attack, a small, spherical-shaped wound was stitched up, just below her ribs on her right side.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Rin was getting angry now.
“In the story of Midoriko, the wound in which the Shikon escaped was small and spherical.”
Rin gaped at him. “Are you saying…”
“I believe that attack on the Higurashi shrine was to extract the Shikon no Tama from its hiding place in Kagome’s body. That girl is more intricately twined into all of this than any of us could ever know.”
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Chapter 13: This is How We Roll
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~11:20 p.m. Roppongi District~
Crossbow resting on her right shoulder, Kagome crept through the shadows of the Roppongi* district. Night was playtime for most lowlifes, and these streets were crawling with them. Roppongi was rumored to have a high presence of the yakuza, drawn by the cabarets and nightclubs in the area. Kagome had one particular yakuza leader in mind, the last on her hit list.
Gatenmaru.
‘I just have to find this moron, “convince” him to give me the jewel shard or shards he has in his possession, and do this all without getting all his little gang buddies on my tail. Time to do some undercover.’
She folded up her crossbow and stowed it in her red, sequined bag. She felt the five newly acquired shards--from the other youkai and oni she had defeated earlier that night--humming against her collarbone with the other portion of the jewel, beneath her sleeveless black turtleneck. Straightening her short, ruby-red wig and smoothing down her hot pink mini skirt, Kagome sauntered over to the nearest sleazy looking male in her knee high lace up boots.
“Hiya fella,” she cooed. The man’s jaw dropped. The Slayer smiled. ‘Bingo.’ Trailing her finger slowly up his arm, she said, “I’m looking for someone named Gatenma-something. My girl Nyoko told me he throws some great parties.”
The man was shivering in excitement. Kagome fought the urge to knock him into the nearest wall. ‘I think InuYasha’s violent tendencies have rubbed off on me…That frickin’ dog boy, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be sneaking around like this! Grr, focus, girl!’
“You-you mean Ga-Gatenmaru?” he stuttered out.
“Yeeah, that’s the name. Know where I can find him?”
“He’s us-usually at the Red Lotus, the cl-club he owns.”
Kagome did a little victory dance in her head. She caressed the man’s cheek. “Could ya point a girl in the right direction?”
The man raised a shaky hand, pointing down a road to her left.
“Thanks, sugar!” she winked over her shoulder, then sauntered away as quickly as she could without being conspicuous.
Kagome found the club easily enough. The red neon sign was a blaring clue. Getting in was a little tougher. Good thing her crossbow folded up to appear like a folded fan. The bouncer still didn’t seem convinced. She had to win him over with her good charm, a.k.a a little well-placed light caresses in the right places. Kagome fought off a shudder. She detested having to grope her way through a mission. She could not fathom why Miroku enjoyed the activity so much. The bouncer still had to receive the go-ahead from someone deep within the bowels of the club to let her in, however. She couldn’t make out a face, but gauged the man was up in VIP.
Gatenmaru.
She sashayed over to the bar and ordered a dirty martini, flirting strategically with the bartender, leaning over to raise the back of her mini skirt enough to give the folks in VIP a nice show. In less than five minutes, she was approached by a lackey.
“Gatenmaru-sama would like you to join him in the upper levels.”
Kagome smiled seductively and followed the man through the pulsing crowd and up the winding staircase, directly to a slightly effeminate looking man. From his aura, Kagome knew him to be a youkai.
The lackey bowed. “Gatenmaru-sama, the woman you requested.”
Kagome wanted to snort. ‘Requested? I ought to smack this idiot upside his head.’
Gatenmaru dismissed the lackey with a wave of his hand, then proceeded to take an agonizingly slow perusal of Kagome from his much closer vantage point. A smirk gradually grew as his eyes stopped to meet her gaze.
“Yes, you’ll do.”
Kagome raised an eyebrow. “I’ll do?”
Gatenmaru stood up suddenly, then snatched up Kagome’s wrist. Fangs peeped from beneath his upper lip.
“You may mask your aura pretty well, miko, but I have my ways of detecting your true nature,” he whispered malevolently. He reached for the shards under her shirt, but got zapped. Glaring, he forced her closer. “And I want those shards!” he growled.
Kagome’s eyes widened. ‘Oh shit.’
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~9:50p.m. Red light District~
“Man, is this woman a freak, or what?” Kouga whistled as he and Ayame crept into Urasuae’s lab.
“Shut up!” Ayame hissed. “She’s probably down here somewhere!”
However, Ayame did have to admit, rather reluctantly, Kouga had a point. The chains, cages, and inexplicable affinity for red pleather furnishings creeped her hell out. There were a few glass cabinets filled with bottles of all shapes and forms, but what they were searching for was a little larger and…fresh.
“There’s got to be another door in here that leads to her real lab,” Ayame muttered, walking towards the nearest wall. “Get your useless ass over to slab of stone and start looking for a trap door, revolving wall, something.”
Both began rapidly patting down the walls, searching for levers, buttons or movable bricks, but found nothing. They looked around at the ceiling for any evidence of drop down doors. Lots of creepy Frankenstein-esque movie lab chandeliers, but nothing else.
“Fuck!” Kouga swore, kicking a rug.
CLANK.
“What the heck did you kick, a metal rug?” Ayame wondered, dropping to her knees and pushing the rug further back.
“Metal trap door. How classic,” Ayame quipped, tugging eagerly at the latch. Kouga reached down, and together they effortlessly lifted the trap door. The opening showed a stone staircase, sparsely lit.
CREEAK.
“Hey!” someone shouted from outside the doorway. “Who’s down there?”
Both ookami jumped. Kouga quickly pushed Ayame into the opening, then grabbed the rug and door, closing it and replacing the rug (so that nothing looked out of place) all in one swoop.
They swiftly descended the staircase. Ayame had unwound her chain from her waist, gripping it readily in her hands. Kouga slipped his katana from his pant leg. Kouga gave the signal. The partners took the final steps into the room they hoped housed Urasuae’s dreadful concoction.
They couldn’t have missed it if they were blind. The smell itself was awful enough to draw the dead. Sitting on a long chipped wooden table were two metal containers about the size of washing bins used for bobbing apples. Kouga and Ayame crept closer, hands pressed over their delicate noses in attempts to stifle the smell, as they peered over the edge.
“It’s green and goopy,” observed Kouga.
“Kami, I think the smell alone would kill Kagome. No need for the nasty soul-sucking part,” Ayame muttered darkly.
“Well, what do we have here?” a voice drawled from the shadows.
Kouga and Ayame snapped their heads up to see a heavily wrinkled woman with deep set eyes, dressed as a madame. Urasuae. She was accompanied by two people the ookami had only seen in file photos. Kagura and Kanna.
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~8:12p.m. Headquarters~
“Where the hell is she?” InuYasha grumbled, stalking down another Headquarters’ hallway in search of his MIA partner.
He’d checked her usual retreats. He knew exactly where she snuck off to when they where avoiding each other, he just chose not to follow. Hence avoiding. He’d looked in the mediation room, the Library, the Research room and the Dojo. Hell, he’d even checked the Infirmary in the off chance that she had landed her ass in there from some training injury.
No such luck.
‘Damnit, Kagome! You better not have run off and done something stupid!’
He spotted Sango and Miroku walking together up ahead of him.
‘If that itself ain’t weird…’
“Oi! Miroku!”
The monk spun around and raised a hand in greeting to his fellow Hunter. “What may I do for you on this fine day, InuYasha?”
InuYasha eyed him wearily, then raised an inquiring eyebrow at Sango. “Did you finally smack him silly?”
Sango reddened. “I wish,” she growled.
“Kami, I don’t wanna know,” InuYasha muttered under his breath. “Have either one of you seen Kagome?”
“Why?” Sango narrowed her eyes at the hanyou. “Are you going to scream at her some more? Heaven knows you two haven’t done enough of that lately.”
“No, I don’t wanna pick a fight,” he replied petulantly. “I can’t find her anywhere. I think she’s left the building.”
“What? Alone?” Sango snapped worriedly.
“That is a troublesome thought. Perhaps Rin-chan and Sesshomaru have seen her recently?” Miroku offered.
Sango and Miroku followed InuYasha as he sniffed the other set of partners out, ensconced in the dusty part of Records.
“What the hell are you doing with Kagome’s medical records?” Sango shrieked, snatching the file out of Sesshomaru’s hand. She quickly scanned the year and the contents. InuYasha peered over her shoulder, his eyes widening.
‘It’s that scar I saw the other day, the one she got pissed off about. It’s the reason we began fighting non-stop again.’
“Why are you looking at this particular day?” Sango asked quietly. “Kagome would be so upset if she knew. Please stop this now.”
“Sango,” Rin began gently. “We need to ask her a few things about this particular injury and the events that day. We believe it may be of particular importance. It may help explain a little more why exactly Naraku chose Kagome.”
“You can’t,” Sango whispered.
“Why?” Sesshomaru demanded.
“She doesn’t remember anything about that day.”
“What?” Rin and InuYasha gasped.
“All she knows is what she’s been told by Kaede and me, which isn’t much, because even we don’t really know what happened.”
“I need to get to my mainframe,” Rin announced, closing her laptop, collecting a few of the records and making her way out of the stacks of shelves.
“Oi! Have you seen Kagome? Nobody else has seen her recently,” InuYasha shouted after her.
“She mentioned going to see Kaede a few hours ago,” Rin called over her shoulder.
InuYasha growled, dashing out of Records.
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Rin was logging into the computer just as Sesshomaru stepped inside and carried his stack of Kagome’s medical files to his desk. Sango and Miroku appeared at the doorway, looking apprehensive.
Rin reached absently for her pen on her desk, and looked over when she realized it wasn’t in its place.
“Someone’s been tampering with my belongings.”
The youngest Slayer sifted through some papers, taking a mental inventory, then shot out of her chair.
“Oh no! “
She ran out of the room and down the hallway, toward Kaede’s office. As she turned a corner, she nearly smacked into InuYasha.
“Kaede said Kagome met with her an hour ago, begging for a mission. But she was denied due to safety reasons,” InuYasha said gruffly.
“Oh Kami, I think she made herself her own assignment,” Rin gasped, just as Miroku and Sango slid around the corner behind her. “The list of confirmed shard holders is missing!”
“That stupid wench!” InuYasha growled. “We have to go after her! She’s a fucking target herself!”
“Rin-chan, do you have a copy of the list?” Miroku inquired calmly.
“In my head,” Rin smiled, tapping her temple. “But there were half a dozen on that list, all over Tokyo. Kagome’s got a few hours on us.”
“She wouldn’t just start with the first on the list,” Sango said. “She’d group them together geographically, hitting the ones the farthest away then working her way back to Headquarters.”
“Ok, Rin, we need those names and their known locations,” InuYasha ordered. “Then we’re going to have to split up. There’s no telling how quickly she’s eliminated her list. She could be on number three or number six by now. It all depends on who she’s up against.”
“Right,” Rin nodded. “Back to my computer. We’ll have to fill Sesshomaru in while someone goes and collects our weapons.”
“I’m on weapons!” Sango shouted over her shoulder, already vanishing down the hallway toward the Weaponry.
“I ain’t explaining anything to the Asshole!” InuYasha shouted, taking off after Rin.
Miroku sighed. ‘May Buddha give me the strength…’
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~10:17 p.m. Red Light District~
“Isn’t that the witch bitch and her void sister?” Kouga asked Ayame.
“Yes you dummy. It never ceases to amaze me how you became one of the ’revered’ Hunters. You catch on quick, don’t ’cha?”
“Hey now--”
“Would you focus on the threat for once instead of me? I know you have some infatuation with me, but seriously, now is not the time!” Ayame whispered harshly.
Kouga was caught between confusion, outrage and admitting she was right.
So, he settled for shutting up and leveling his fiercest glare at the bad guys.
“Here to stop my little concoction, are we?” Urasuae cackled sickeningly. “That’s why Naraku sent these two,” she gestured to the sisters, “to help me. You can’t stop what’s coming. It will be done. Your friend will die!”
Ayame gasped. Then she got angry.
“Not on my watch, to shriveled-up bitch!” she screamed, lashing her whip at the tubs.
Kagura stepped into the blow with her fan, using the air to send Ayame’s whip back at her. Ayame leapt out of the way, the arced the whip back to grab the wind youkai’s ankle and jerk it out from under her. Kagura crashed onto her backside.
Meanwhile, Kouga faced Kanna. She pulled an odd looking mirror out of nowhere and began to shoot objects at him from within it. Quick on his feet ,the ookami dodged them all expertly. However, suddenly ,the void youkai changed tactics. Kouga could no longer move his limbs. His vision became hazy.
While Kagura was down, Ayame glanced at Kouga to check his status. She saw him avoid a spear, then freeze. He began to turn pale.
“Idiot wolf!” she shouted, attempting to get his attention.
The old crone began to cackle loudly. “He can’t hear you, dearie! The little void girl’s got him!”
Suddenly, Ayame felt the steel edge of a fan at her throat.
“And I’ve got you,” Kagura whispered haughtily.
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~11:34 p.m. the Red Lotus, Roppongi District~
Kagome discovered the hard way which breed of youkai Gatenmaru was, when he spat cocooning substance at her without warning, tying her hands and legs to the wall. The clever moth youkai had done it perfectly so that she couldn’t use her hands to purify the substance.
‘I’m so screwed. How the heck am I going to get myself out of this one? Kami, think Kagome!’
Gatenmaru leered at her, steeping closer. “You’re just going to have to sit tight until he arrives. And I think I’ll take these,” he smirked, dipping his hand into her turtleneck. Kagome struggled, trying to twist out of the youkai’s reach, but with her movement limited it was useless. He pulled her collection of Shikon shards free.
“This is a lovely bit you have here. He’ll be pleased.”
“And just who is this ‘he?’” Kagome spat.
“A business partner of mine. I think you may know him.”
Kagome narrowed her eyes in anger and annoyance. Then she felt it. The darkest aura that had ever ebbed into her own. The malevolence seemed to cover the room, dimming the lights further and sucking any happiness out of the area.
Her head snapped around, searching for the aura’s source.
It was him. Naraku.
He was accompanied by Kikyo. Both she had seen briefly before on a joint mission with InuYasha and Sango and Miroku that day outside the diner. Except this time, he wasn’t suppressing his aura or hiding his identity. He was aiming to intimidate and frighten, impose his presence in the most daunting way possible.
“Ah, Naraku-sama, Kikyo-san,” Gatenmaru greeted reverently, bowing.
“Gatenmaru,” Naraku’s slick voice acknowledged. The evil being’s eye’s flicked to the wall where Kagome was detained. “I see you’ve captured the miko. Do you possess what I’ve requested?”
“Hai. Here they are,” Gatenmaru affirmed, handing over Kagome’s small collection of shards.
“No!” Kagome protested, struggling against her bindings.
Naraku smirked, looking her straight in the eye. “Where are your little comrades now, little miko? There’s no one to stop me. I have the shards now. And I have you.”
Kagome gulped.
“And soon, I shall have the concoction from Urasuae, as soon as Kagura and Kanna dispose of the minor annoyance there in her lab.”
Kagome began to mildly panic. “Ayame! Kouga! I hope they’re not in trouble.”
Naraku stepped closer to her, until she could feel his breath uncomfortably on her face.
“Soon, you will be under my control,” he gloated evilly.
“Never,” she hissed.
Naraku laughed at her, snapping his fingers to bring Kikyo over. “I think it’s time to place her in stasis.”
Kikyo nodded coldly, raising her glowing purple hands.
Kagome stared at her defiantly.
Suddenly, the sound of glass windows shattering caused everyone to raise their eyes to the ceiling. Three figures came crashing through, one with silver hair and wearing a red leather jacket landing first.
“InuYasha!” Kagome cried in relief. “Naraku has the shards!”
“What, no ‘I’m so glad to see you’?” he grunted, raising Tessaiga up and bringing it down on Naraku. The evil hanyou blocked it, spinning away.
Miroku and Sango ran over to Kagome. Sango sliced through the bindings, releasing the miko so she could retrieve her crossbow from her nearby discarded bag, and spun it to aim and shoot it at Gatenmaru, striking the moth youkai in his shoulder.
“I think Ayame and Kouga need some back up!” Kagome shouted to Sango. “Naraku mentioned sending the wind bitch and her void sis to help the witch.”
“I’m calling Rin and the Ice King now off their search for you and redirect them over to the Red Light district,” Sango hollered back as she grabbed for her walkie.
Miroku faced off against Kikyo as Sango and Kagome ran to help InuYasha. InuYasha swung the katana into Naraku’s middle as Kagome shot an arrow at his chest. She did a front tuck over head, snatching the shards out of Naraku’s hand. The moment she landed, Gatenmaru tackled her, using his cocoon spit to bind her to the floor. Sango thwarted him, using Hiraikotsu to knock the youkai into a wall. She quickly sliced Kagome free.
Naraku jumped away from InuYasha, tilting his head to the side as if listening to something. When InuYasha tried to attack, he bounced off a recently formed barrier.
“Kikyo, it is time for us to go. Kagura has it,” Naraku ordered.
Kikyo nodded, backing away from a slightly batter Miroku.
“I will be seeing you soon,” Naraku said to Kagome.
“You ain’t going anywhere near her, bastard!” InuYasha shouted as the pair disappeared in miasma. “Shit, he got away.”
“But we got the shards back,” Kagome announced happily.
“Yeah, after we tracked down and saved your ass,” InuYasha spat.
“I would have figured something out if Naraku hadn’t shown up! I got the others just fine on my own!”
Sango walked over and carefully helped Miroku stand up. “There they go again.”
“So it seems. InuYasha is just expressing his worry over Kagome-chan’s safety.”
“She’ll be getting an earful from me about her disappearing act, that’s for sure. Girl needs a collar with LoJack attached,” Sango muttered irritably.
Miroku let out a loud chuckle.
“How could you do something so stupid!” InuYasha continued his tirade. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?”
“I just couldn’t continue to sit around and do nothing! I’m the only other one who can sense the shards. I had to try and find some before Naraku did!” Kagome bit back.
“And what if we hadn’t got here in time? He was planning on taking you and…” InuYasha trailed off, the rest of the sentence unbearable to say.
Kagome’s face softened. She slipped her arms around him cautiously. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
InuYasha just brought his arms up and hugged her tightly.
“Kagome! InuYasha!” Sango cried urgently.
“What?” InuYasha replied sharply.
“I just got a distress call from Rin. They found Ayame and Kouga. They got away with the soul concoction.”
“Shit,” InuYasha cursed.
“How are Ayame and Kouga?” Kagome asked hesitantly.
“Something’s wrong with Kouga,” Sango said wearily. “Rin reported that it seems like his soul has been sucked out.”
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A/N: *Information on Roppongi district found at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roppongi
Special thanks to reviewers: InuGoddess715, MyInuYashaObsession, Fennikusu Kasai, Kylexi, fire-Angel-of-death322 and cwillia
Thank you for reading. PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! I’d love to hear what you think!