InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Infatuation ❯ Blow Out the Candles, Pt. 2 ( Chapter 20 )

 

 

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Infatuation

By Lizzie Welling

Rated M/R for strong language and violence

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AU InuYasha fanfiction

 

Disclaimer: Don't own InuYasha. Never have, never will. All other quoted songs, excerpts, etc. are cited and attributed to their respective owners.

 

A/N: I finally had a few hours downtime during my measly Thanksgiving holiday break, so I planned to put them to good use. Well, instead, lucky me caught some nasty virus—may have well been the flu—and I was sicker than a dog for a few weeks. I apologize for the lengthy delay. But this chapter is over 3,000 words, so hopefully that will make up for it. ;-P

 

WARNING: The plot will be much darker for a few chapters. Please keep that in mind as you proceed. There will be A LOT of violence. I won't get too graphic, because that sort of thing bothers me, too. But bear in mind why this story is rated M/R for mature audiences.

 

 

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Recap:

 

0900 hours, the Boardroom at HQ

 

The boardroom had been turned into a dining room, decorated in an explosion of brightly colored balloons, streamers and a large banner that read `HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAGOME!' A massive three-tier cake sat on the table, covered in delicious butter cream icing, with blue and green iced flowers all over the sides. A small pile of presents and party favors sat next to it.

...

 

 

“Isn't she supposed to be here by now?” Ayame asked.

 

“She should be,” Sango said, helping Miroku out of a wheelchair and into a seat.

 

Everyone continued to volley back and forth between glancing at each other and the door.

 

 

0900 hours, Motel Ryo

 

...

 

The door handle to the room began to jingle and turn. Kagome's eyes widened as it was thrown open.

 

Jakotsu, Bankotsu and Naraku stepped inside.

 

“Hello, my dear miko,” Naraku purred.

 

Kagome's eyes got wider. `I am so fucked.'

 

 

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Chapter 20: Blow Out the Candles (Pt. 2)

 

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Naraku smirked cruelly, sensing Kagome's panic. His long bony fingers reached out and roughly grabbed her chin, forcing her gaze upward. Kagome glared defiantly at this monster, resisting the physical reflex to gag as his other hand trailed chilling fingertips over her throat. His movements were horribly appalling and deliberate. It made Kagome sick to her stomach. His touch sent her skin crawling, like she was covered in millions and millions of the most poisonous spiders imaginable, and couldn't shake them off or wash them away no matter how hard she tried.

 

But she was determined to hide her discomfort.

 

“If it isn't Naraku. Tortured any small animals lately?” Kagome spat.

 

Naraku chuckled darkly. “Alas, no. But the day is still quite young.”

 

His fingers suddenly clenched around her esophagus, cutting off her air.

 

Kagome began to choke, wheezing and struggling the best she could against Naraku and her bonds. When her thrashing began to slow, Naraku violently released her throat. The dark purple finger-shaped bruises made a stark contrast to the pale skin of her throat. Kagome gasped for breath, staring at Naraku through bleary eyes.

 

“You are so beautiful,” he breathed, leaning forward and running his fingers through her hair, “on the cusp of death.”

 

He grabbed a chunk of the thick curls, roughly twisting her head to the side. He grabbed the chain around her neck, snapping it easily as he yanked the half completed Shikon no Tama off Kagome's neck.

 

“This is mine now,” he hissed. “My thanks to you for doing my work for me.”

 

Kagome made a motion to lunge, throwing her body against the ropes, but to no avail. Naraku merely chuckled, then made a motion with his other hand. Bankotsu stepped forward with a long, jagged knife and placed it in Naraku's grasp. The megalomaniac smiled malevolently, pressing the blade into her throat. Blood began to drip in rivulets down the side of her neck.

 

“So beautiful,” he echoed, staring in warped awe at the blood flowing in tiny red rivers.

 

“You're one sick motherfu--”

 

“Careful!” Naraku silenced Kagome, pressing the bloodied blade to her lips. “Do you kiss your mother with that foul mouth?”

 

Kagome stared at him with angry eyes.

 

He paused, smiling maliciously. “Oh, my apologies. You can't. She's dead.”

 

Jakotsu and Bankotsu joined Naraku in laughing maniacally.

 

“Today's the anniversary of her death, isn't it? And of your father's, too?”

 

“Shut up,” Kagome hissed.

 

“Five agonizing years since you failed to save them,” Naraku laughed. “And your brother will surely join them soon.”

 

“Shut up!”

 

“It is only a matter of time before your friends abandon you in disgust. Soon you'll be all alone. A failure of a miko,” he joked irreverently.

 

“No, I won't,” Kagome whispered fervently. “And don't you dare talk about my brother, you twisted whack job.”

 

“Still so full of spunk,” Naraku tsked, quickly slicing open the skin on her shoulder. Kagome bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

 

“Boys,” Naraku called, motioning the remaining Band of Seven over. “We have some time until Urasuae and Kikyo are ready. Let's see how much it takes to break the little miko.”

 

Kagome shut her eyes as she felt Bankotsu's fist slam into her cheek, biting through her lip as he succeeded in effortlessly smashing the bone.

 

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09:30, HQ

 

InuYasha glanced at the clock again. Kagome was hours overdue for her return. Something must have gone horribly wrong.

 

`Damn, wench. Where the hell was she headed? I bet Kaede-baba knows something.'

 

The inu-hanyou stormed over to Kaede, rudely grabbing her by the arm and dragging the elder miko away from her conversation with Myogua and Miroku.

 

“Where the hell is she, Kaede-baba?” InuYasha demanded.

 

Kaede began to look worried. “Kagome was contacting an informant.”

 

“By herself? Are you demented?”

 

Kaede narrowed her eyes. “It was a simple task, requiring only a few phone calls.”

 

“Phone calls?” InuYasha repeated, confused. “She left the building. She was going to meet them.”

 

“What?” Kaede shrieked. “She knows that it's too dangerous to be out there alone! Why didn't you stop her?”

 

Everyone in the room ceased conversing, all eyes turning to observe the erupting argument.

 

InuYasha growled. “Now you're blaming me? You really are high or something, aren't you?”

 

“You are her partner! Your sole responsibility is to protect her!”

 

“I was in the fuckin' hospital wing for a few hours!”

 

“Both of you, stop this right now!” Sango cut in, leveling glares at the both of them. “You can argue over who's to blame later—and I'll be sure to weigh in with my personal opinion. But we've got to find Kagome!”

 

Rin whipped out her laptop, logging into the mainframe and scanning through recent call logs and entries. After a few minutes of typing, she flipped her laptop screen around.

 

“It seems Kagome made two calls to this number last,” she informed the group, tapping the screen. “The number traces to an Ichigo Katsuro. There are two known addresses for him here.”

 

“Alright. We split up, find this scumbag and get him to tell us where Kagome is,” Sango decided. “Miroku, you're still too weak. You're staying behind. InuYasha, Ayame and I will go to the first address in the lower district. Rin, you and Sesshomaru, and Kouga, will go to the second address.”

 

Surprisingly, no one protested the arrangements. Everyone seemed to instinctively understand how precarious this situation had become.

 

`Please be okay, Kagome,' InuYasha pleaded internally as he swiped Tessaiga from its rack.

 

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1100 hours, Motel Ryo

 

Kagome came to, focusing up at the tattered ceiling of the motel room through one eye, the other swollen shut from bruising and pus oozing from broken skin. She couldn't move. It simply was a physical impossibility from the pain. Jakotsu had derived an endless, sick pleasure from breaking her legs in four different places, beginning with her thighbones and ending at her ankles. Bankotsu had happily broken a few of her ribs. Not enough to kill her by collapsing a lung, but enough to make her want to scream in pain with every shallow breath she took.

 

She turned her head slightly, looking at her dislocated right shoulder. The manner in which the rest of her arm was twisted at various angles made Kagome very nauseous. If it wasn't for the ropes that bound her tightly to the chair, Kagome doubted she would be sitting up right now.

 

“Are we finally coming to, my little miko?”

 

Kagome turned her head to see the malevolent form of Naraku crouching down next to her chair. She kept quiet, her jaw swollen shut from the punches to her face, but her chin was slightly titled upward to avoid eye contact.

 

“Ah, no witty comebacks?” Naraku chuckled. “Those were always my favorite to hear.”

 

Kagome continued to stare past his shoulder.

 

Naraku smacked her roughly across the face. She involuntarily cried out from the pain as her already broken jaw and cheekbones crunched again.

 

“You will look at me, bitch, when I am speaking to you!” Naraku growled as his fingers dug angrily into her chin, forcing her to twist her head to meet his gaze.

 

Kagome choked back the rising tears caused by the intense throbbing in her face.

 

“It's been hours. Not one of your pathetic friends have come to save you,” Naraku taunted. “Are you so sure you're not alone now?”

 

Kagome said nothing, but in her mind she chanted helplessly.

 

`They'll come. I know they won't abandon me. I just have to hold on. InuYasha...'

 

Naraku spotted the spark of defiance in her eyes. His anger bubbled to the surface. He smacked her across the face again, smiling when she went pale and slumped, passing out again from the pain.

 

Naraku walked over to the motel door, pausing to glare at Bankotsu and Jakotsu.

 

“When she wakes up, beat the fucking hope out of her.”

 

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1100 hours, Ichigo residence

 

InuYasha punched a hole into the concrete wall, barely missing the head of Ichigo Katsuro's brother, Kamenitsu.

 

“I'm losing my patience, you little fucker,” InuYasha growled. “Where the fuck is Katsuro?”

 

“I don't know!” the short, balding man squealed, cowering against the wall. “He hasn't been home in days!”

 

“Don't lie to me, you piece of shit!” InuYasha growled savagely, grabbing the man by his collar and lifting him up high.

 

They had finally, after several false addresses, tracked down this Ichigo Katsuro who was supposedly meeting Kagome to pass on information. Only, his stupid, spineless fat younger brother was the only one around. And he wasn't squealing the right way.

 

“InuYasha, maybe he really doesn't know where he is,” Sango began calmly.

 

“No, he does,” Ayame spoke up. “I can smell the fear and deceit on him.”

 

“Well then,” Sango sighed, strutting over to where InuYasha had the man dangling against the wall. “I would tell my friend here what he wants to know. Before he disembowels you.”

 

“Di-disembowels?” Kamenitsu choked out.

 

“Yeah, can't you see? I'm an animal,” InuYasha growled, baring his fangs. “I don't have what you ningen call patience.”

 

Kamenitsu visibly blanched.

 

“Now, you piece of--”

 

“I'll tell you!” the man squealed. “Please, please don't hurt me! I'll tell you! I'll tell you!”

 

The man took a shaky breath. “He was contacted by someone from Onigumo Industries.”

 

InuYasha snarled in rage. “Who!”

 

“I don't know! He never said! He just said he had to meet a client for them. He made a few phone calls, then said he was heading out!”

 

InuYasha slammed him into the wall. “Where?”

 

“I'm not sure.”

 

“Where!”

 

“A club, I think!”

 

Ayame was losing her patience, too. She whipped out one of her knives, twirled it dangerously close to Ichigo's nose and then pressed the blade to his jugular.

 

“Now, I'm only going to ask you once,” she snarled. “Which club?”

 

“Club Lotus! Club Lotus!” he cried, tears of fear streaming down his face.

 

“Good boy,” Ayame smiled, patting the little man on his chubby cheek. “Let's go. I'll call Rin and tell them to meet us there.”

 

InuYasha merely released his grip, Kamenitsu dropping flat on his butt. As he turned to follow Ayame and Sango out of the apartment, his nose picked up a nasty putrid smell. He turned with a disgusted look to Ichigo.

 

He looked at the telltale wetness spreading over the front of the man's trousers.

 

“Gross, you spineless pig!” InuYasha cried, slamming the door behind him.

 

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12:35, Motel Ryo

 

Naraku re-entered the motel room, his eyes instantly drawn to the bloody heap on the floor. It was the miko. The boys had untied her from the chair, most likely to get more creative with their torture tactics. She had obviously tried to fight.

 

Naraku chuckled at the thought. How the little miko amused him! Her spirit was an endless source of hilarity. It simply made him laugh how someone could foolishly hold on to hope. The stupidity of it all made him smile.

 

Now, she lay unconscious. He could see lengthy and deep gashes over every available inch of her skin. Many were patterns, which formed foul words or crude symbols on her arms, legs and stomach.

 

`Jakotsu obviously got a little creative,' Naraku chuckled inwardly, eyes tracing a few of the larger carved patterns.

 

“Well?” he inquired impatiently.

 

Bankotsu and Jakotsu pushed themselves away from where they were leaning against the wall. Bankotsu glanced down at the broken miko, his grin widening at the mutilation.

 

“She won't be fighting back, Naraku-sama,” Bankotsu informed him with a malicious smile.

 

“Excellent. It's time to bring her in. Urasuae, Kikyo and Tsubaki are ready.”

 

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13:35, Motel Ryo

 

InuYasha and Sesshomaru busted down the door, breaking the frame and cracking the plaster walls.

 

“There's no one here,” Rin said quietly. “I guess the bartender at Club Lotus was lying or mistaken when he said he overheard Ichigo talking to Kagome.”

 

“No!” InuYasha howled, dashing inside and falling to the carpet. He touched a darkened spot with his fingers.

 

“I can smell her blood. And fear.” The inu-hanyou growled angrily, digging his claws into his palms.

 

“Oh no,” Sango whimpered, thinking the worst. Ayame and Rin reached out to steady her.

 

`Not Kagome too. I can't...It's just too much,' Sango sobbed internally.

 

“She is still alive,” Sesshomaru announced decidedly. “I do not smell the stench of death. They have simply moved her.”

 

“Who did?” Rin asked quietly.

 

“Bankotsu and Jakotsu,” the taiyoukai growled, mouth curling in distaste. “And Naraku.”

 

Everyone stared at Sesshomaru—because if his outward display of anger—as well as in shock of having his or her fears confirmed.

 

“Fuck!” InuYasha knocked over the desk in his rage. “Where the hell would Naraku take her?”

 

Rin froze. “No,” she whimpered.

 

Sesshomaru went to her side, gently grasping her shoulders. “Rin.”

 

She gulped, nodding. “His plan...He's going to entrap Kagome's soul in the Shikon. He must have the completed jewel. He's already got the concoction...Now he has Kagome...”

 

“Fuck no!” InuYasha raged, slamming his fist into the plaster wall.

 

“He's going to...m-murder Kagome,” Sango whimpered. “No! No, no, no!”

 

Ayame and Rin wrapped their arms around Sango, trying to calm her.

 

Kouga slammed a fist into the wall. “No he's not! We're breaking in there and getting Kagome out!”

 

“For once in my life, I agree with the fleabag,” InuYasha said.

 

Kouga leveled the inu-hanyou with a glare, but said nothing.

 

“And how do you propose we do that?” Ayame said angrily, rubbing soothing circles on Sango's back. “We're down two—now three,” she paused, glancing at the catatonic Sango, “And we have no way of getting inside!”

 

“But we do,” Sesshomaru said quietly.

 

Ayame whipped her head around to face the taiyoukai. “And when were you going to share this oh so fabulous plan, Ice King?”

 

Sesshomaru merely raised a brow at the nickname. “It is not my plan. It is Rin's.”

 

Ayame turned her glower on Rin. “Well?”

 

“I'm not sure it'll work...There's a 40 percent failure rate.”

 

“I don't give a damn!” InuYasha shouted. “That means we still have a pretty decent chance. I'll take just about any odds right now.”

 

“Okay...if you think so...” Rin trailed off flippantly.

 

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1400 hours, Onigumo Industries, underground lab

 

Kagura watched from the lab doorway as Jakotsu and Bankotsu dumped the miko into the metal tub, her broken arms and legs sprawled in odd and painful looking directions. Kikyo and Tsubaki stepped up, Kikyo attaching the wires to Kagome's body. Some went in like IV's, forced into the veins of her arms and the back of her hands. Others were thick and menacing looking, shoved like spears in her sides and chest. A few looked like electrodes, and Kikyo attached them to the miko's temples and sternum, above her heart.

 

Tsubaki was checking the external hook ups on the outside of the tub. There were four thick tubes on each side. There were also six electrical wires running from the tub to the huge machine.

 

Urasuae ordered the boys to bring over the green goopy concoction, directing them to a large tub that the thick tubes drew from. Hiten was among the three, specifically dumping it into the tub with glee.

 

“Stupid bitch. Finally getting what you deserve,” he hissed.

 

Tsubaki made her way back over to the switchboard. She flipped a few switches, and the machine began to hum.

 

“Kagura!”

 

The wind witch looked up at Naraku, shielding her disgust and fear behind a carefully constructed mask. “Hai, Naraku-sama?”

 

“You will be running the electrical board.”

 

Kagura nodded, taking her place. Naraku, Urasuae, Kikyo, Tsubaki and Kanna formed a circle around the metal tub where the miko lay. Each closed their eyes, and held out their hands, palms up.

 

“It is time,” Naraku announced.

 

Bankotsu, Jakotsu and Hiten took their places as guards near the lab's exits.

 

Naraku pulled the two halves of the Shikon no Tama from each pocket. He held them before him, closing his eyes and concentrating to fuse Kagome's half with his. The jewel glowed a dark purple as the two halves became one.

 

“Soon, I shall have the miko's soul and she shall become my puppet,” Naraku laughed darkly. “She shall destroy the world and rebuild it according to my vision.”

 

He closed his eyes, holding the Shikon high above his head.

 

“Now!” he cried.

 

Kagura threw the switch, watching in veiled horror as a huge surge of volts flew to the metal tub, electrifying the miko so horrifically her body arched against its own ability. The green concoction began to fill the tub, covering the miko inch by inch.

 

The circle began to chant in an archaic Japanese tongue. Dark magic swirled in the air around the group, slowly constricting around the miko.

 

All Kagura could think as she watched the events fall into place was, `Oh dear kami! What are we unleashing?'

 

 

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Thanks to reviewers: DesMM, psycho-pyro-shrink, beautifulyreal, narutoboy03, unanimus12, dreamy7_12, kyonkichi-luver, bearsammi2011, MrGoodWrite, BoredGirl17, focheesye-coolness-1, Dana/inutemptress, and shippoizmaFOX. You all are the best!

 

Part 3 is halfway done, and will be posted this Sunday! You only have to suffer in suspense for a few days. :-)

 

Infatuation is drawing to a close. After Chapter 21, I only predict about three to five more chapters. So hang tight!

 

Please REVIEW! It is your feedback that fuels my creativity, and keeps me going!

 

Thanks again for reading,

Lizzie