InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Minoue ❯ Twist of Fate ( Chapter 27 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimers: I do not own InuYasha or any of the manga/anime characters. They belong to the wonderful genius Rumiko Takahashi. Any original characters do belong to me.

AN: Thank you very much to inufan625 for acting as my beta once again. An additional thank you goes to Knittingknots for her help as well. I greatly appreciate the time they've taken to help make me a better writer and this a better story.

Thank you very much for the reviews. I read each and every one of them, and greatly appreciate those of you that took the time to leave one. For those of you that left a review, you will find your response at http://doggieearlover.livejournal.com/217475.html.

And thank you very much to the voters at the InuYasha Fanfiction Guild! Minoue was voted the Best Miroku/Sango Romance of 2007.

Minoue

Chapter 27: Twist of Fate

Sango was nervous as she knocked on the door to Miroku's office. It was the first time she had been here to see him since school had started. However, he had not totally answered her question through the course of the class, and she really wanted to ask him about what had been troubling her. While she knew that she could approach him at the dojo if necessary, she thought she would try this first since it really was class related. With the discussion of the Obon Festivals on her mind, she really wanted to know what he thought of her decision. It had been so hard for her to make with the monks trying to talk her into something different.

“Come in,” she heard and opened the door. She started to enter his office but hesitated just inside the door.

“Please, San- Satou, come in. How may I help you today?” Miroku smiled at Sango. “You've done very well on your class assignments, so I know you haven't come in to ask for an extra credit project. Have a seat and let me know what I can do for you.”

Sango bowed briskly before she approached him and then nervously sat in the chair he had indicated. He leaned back against his desk, folding his arms in front of him. He could tell she was uneasy but had no idea about what. He remained silent while she gathered her thoughts, not wanting to make her more anxious than she already was.

Sango finally spoke though she was looking at her hands that were clasped in her lap. “Do you remember our answers we submitted before class actually started - about the one thing we hoped to learn during the course of study?”

Miroku moved away from his desk and pulled his chair around so that he could sit and face her. “Yes, of course. I've done my best to answer as many as I can, but it is difficult to squeeze everything in during the course of six months. I'm afraid I don't have enough time to get to all of them, and some were a little more advanced than the class was really prepared for. Did I not answer yours to your satisfaction?”

Sango sighed. “I understand now the importance of the posthumous name - how it keeps the spirit from trying to return every time the deceased's name is spoken. What I worry about is whether or not I chose an appropriate name for my father, and if it can be changed if I didn't.”

Miroku spoke softly, “Sango, you were in a very difficult position. What name did you choose, and why are you uncomfortable with it?”

She looked up and a slight tinge of pink spread across her cheeks as she met his intense eyes. “I chose the name of a farmer, but the monks who performed the ceremony were trying to talk me into giving him the name of a king, or at least some nobility, so he would be waited on and live in luxury in the afterlife. It wasn't that I didn't want to spend the money for the higher ranking name - it's just that it didn't sound like my father. He was a hard working man who loved using his hands. He enjoyed making furniture and was proud of his work. I tried to explain to them that he would be miserable just sitting around being waited on. I thought he would be much happier if he was actually doing something productive. So I selected the name they said belonged to a fairly well-off farmer - one that would have everything he needed but still worked the lands with his own two hands alongside his workers. That's what I thought would make Father happy… but they pushed me so hard to pick something else that I often wonder if I made the right decision…”

“Sango, you knew your father better than perhaps anyone. If you thought that was the right name to select for him, then I am sure that it was. And while I'm certain the monks meant well, that is also the way many temples raise the majority of their funds, and the higher ranking the name, the more money goes into the coffers. They probably don't get as many opportunities in a rural area like the one you are from, so they have to try and get what they can while offering the bereaved some peace of mind. Does that make sense?”

She slowly nodded in return. “So the kaimyo I selected was really okay? I didn't make a mistake?”

“No, you didn't. You knew him best, and you put a lot of thought into selecting it. I think you did well,” Miroku answered. “Is there anything else I can help you with, anything at all?”

“The… the only other thing I wondered was if he and my mother might have found each other again in the afterlife. He always said that she was his soul mate. It was why he was never interested in remarrying though there were plenty of opportunities,” Sango whispered.

Miroku raised an eyebrow, though she didn't see it. “If her soul had not been reincarnated yet, they could very well have found each other again.”

“I hope so. I know he missed her, even after so many years.” Sango stood and bowed again. “Thank you, Sensei, I appreciate your time.”

“Feel free to visit me any time,” Miroku responded as he bowed to her in return and looked at his watch. “As much as I've enjoyed speaking with you, it looks like the time for class is approaching. Shall we go?”

Sango nodded in response and preceded him through the door as he held it open for her. She waited while he pulled the door closed and then walked alongside him down the hall. She clutched her bag to her chest and tried not to look at some of the other students that were openly staring at them as they made their way through the corridors to the classroom.

~ ^~^ ~

Kagura was starting to wonder if that girl ever came by her post office box to collect her mail. She'd had to resort to getting a box for herself and then signing up for some catalogues and mailing letters to herself in order to have an excuse for her frequent trips there. She couldn't just hover overhead and watch for the missing sibling since she didn't know if she'd changed her appearance since being released. Thanks to all of the news pieces about the incident, she had some fairly good photos of her face. The problem with that was she needed to be where she could actually see it in order to identify her. As a result, she was having to drop by several times a day at different times and then hang around the building for as long as she dared to before she drew attention to herself. Eventually she was bound to catch sight of her target.

Sango was enjoying her first week of the summer break. She had started going to the dojo almost every day to practice with the large boomerang. She was getting so close to having it come full circle that she could hardly wait to go back and try again. She'd decided to go by the post office on the way there because the last couple of times she'd thought about stopping on the way home, she was just too tired. As it was, she only regularly went a couple of times a month when she knew that there would be a bill waiting since she had very little other correspondence other than from the university. She had made a special trip when the mid-term grades were mailed, or if she was expecting anything else important. She'd filled out the form to request no junk mail when she signed up, so at least she didn't have that cluttering up her box. Pulling the few envelopes out before closing the door and turning the key, she absent-mindedly stuffed them into her purse before picking her gym bag back up and slinging it over her shoulder. Picking up the carrier that contained Kirara, she didn't even notice the dark haired woman watching her as she left the building and headed towards the train station.

Kagura couldn't believe her luck. After almost a month, she'd finally found the missing girl. Not wanting to cause a scene in a public place, she decided to follow her, hopefully to wherever she was living. The wind witch was confused as she followed the young woman to the train station. She thought her post office box would be close to her residence. However, not wanting to lose her, she had no choice but to follow on after her. The only good thing was she seemed to be headed in the opposite direction of many of the morning commuters, so the car was not jam packed as those going into the heart of the city were. There were enough passengers to blend in with but not completely block her view. She entered the same car but found a seat towards the back of it whereas Sango was near the front. She paid attention to the stop where they exited in case she needed to find her way here again.

Sango was walking towards her destination, so in order not to appear to be tailing her, Kagura ducked out of sight and threw down a feather. She found herself soon hovering over a dojo at the bottleneck of a fairly immense spread of land that also contained a rather large and old house. Not having any idea of how long a wait she was in for, she settled in, floating above where she could keep an eye on all of the exits.

The wind sorceress was surprised to see the dark haired girl come through the back door with a rather large boomerang on her back. Not in any hurry to confront her, curiosity got the better of her, and she watched to see what she would do with it. Kagura was even more surprised when she yelled and hurled the thing, and it almost made a complete arc back to her. Her eyes locked on Sango; she didn't notice the twin-tailed cat that was sitting and looking up at her.

“Kirara! I almost did it that time!” Sango said excitedly as she ran to fetch the boomerang. Returning to her starting point, she tried to slow her breathing down so that she wasn't panting. Ready to try again, she took a deep breath and yelled as she threw the giant bone. It made it all of the way back to her, though it nearly yanked her off her feet when she caught it. This time she was panting more in excitement than fatigue. “I did it!” she exclaimed. “Kirara, I did it! If I can do it again, I want you to go and get the others for me, okay?”

Kirara mewed in agreement and moved a little further out of the way. She'd almost got tromped on that time when her mistress nearly lost her balance.

Sango's face was flushed as she hurled it again. She didn't even notice the heat of the sun beating down on her as she watched the boomerang gracefully circle and return to her. This time she was better prepared when it reached her and didn't stumble when she caught it though she did run a few steps with it. Thrilled, she scooped Kirara up off of the ground and squeezed her against her. “I can do it! Would you see if you can get InuYasha out here?”

“Merrrrrowow,” the cat responded.

“As soon as I put you down, huh?” Sango kissed her on top of the head and then set her on the ground. “There you go.”

Kirara returned a few minutes later with InuYasha, Miroku, and Kagome running behind her. “Are you all right, Sango?” Miroku yelled as they approached her.

“Yes! I didn't mean to worry you, but I wanted Sensei to see!” She was grinning from ear to ear. “I forgot you can't understand Kirara like I can! Watch!”

InuYasha noticed that Kirara hurriedly moved out of the way, and he decided that might be a good idea. He grabbed Kagome and Miroku and pulled them back with him. At the same time, all three of them felt something other than Kirara's aura brush against their conscious.

~ ^~^ ~

In her suite back in the mansion in the mountains, Kanna was pacing around and around. “Kagura, this is all your fault. He would treat me better if you would just find what he wanted. He was so nice to me until you had to go. He gave me everything I wanted. Now, he's upset because you haven't called him. You haven't found her. She's just a human; how hard can it be? Didn't you finally have something to go on? He hardly comes to see me now and it's all your fault!” She came to a stop as she spied one of the remotes that Naraku usually carried sitting on the end table by the sofa. Walking purposely towards it, she picked it up and stared at it. “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you,” she said angrily as she started pushing the button she knew would be relayed to shock Kagura no matter where she was. “Maybe this will remind you to either call or come back.” She continued to furiously punch the button until she threw the remote at the couch where it bounced off and fell to the floor.

~ ^~^ ~

They couldn't miss Sango's excitement as she threw the boomerang and yelled, “Hiraikotsu!” Once again, it made a graceful arc and was almost back to her when Kirara suddenly changed to her large form and leapt into the air, startling Sango and making her narrowly miss catching it. The others all ducked as it whizzed past, and then looked to see where the fire cat had gone.

“Shit!” InuYasha exclaimed as he saw the body plummeting from the sky above them. Kirara tried to grab her as she fell, but due to the velocity at which she was falling, her shirt ripped and tore her away from the feline, and the woman continued her rapid descent to the ground. InuYasha jumped and managed to catch her, though her speed forced him to the ground faster than he'd intended. Still, he landed on his two feet with the strange youkai in his arms. She was unconscious but alive.

“That must be what I felt,” Miroku commented. “I didn't think of looking overhead, though. Who is she?”

“No idea,” InuYasha answered. “Have either of you two ever seen her before?”

Kagome shook her head, but Sango walked up to her and stared. “I think I saw her today. She was on the train with me when I came out here.”

The other three looked at each other. It might be coincidence, and it might not. “Kagome, isn't Rin due here for a lesson with you soon?”

“She should be here any time,” she responded.

“Jaken will be with her. He'll be out with the car in the parking lot if he doesn't come in. Let's get her inside and see if he can get my brother. He'll know what to do with her. I don't know what she was doing here, but I don't like it.”

Sango retrieved the boomerang and they silently followed InuYasha, still carrying the still form, back to the dojo. When the reached the back door and Miroku opened it, InuYasha said, “By the way, Sango, I'm proud of you. Maybe next time you can show me without having a youkai drop out of the sky at you. It's taken a lot of work for you to throw that full circle. I don't blame you for being excited.”

They entered the dojo to find that Rin was inside waiting patiently. When she saw them, she came running towards them and bowed. “Sensei, Sensei, what happened? Who is she?”

“We're not certain, Rin. Would you go and get Jaken for us? We need to call Sesshomaru. Something's not right here,” InuYasha stated.

The little girl nodded and bowed and ran back toward the door, stopping and bowing once again to the floor before leaving.

Jaken was already on his cell phone as he followed Rin back inside. InuYasha laid the unconscious youkai on the floor, and Kagome retrieved a towel to fold up and use as a pillow under her head. Jaken looked startled when he saw her.

“Who is she, Jaken?” Kagome asked. She saw the look that crossed his face when he looked at her.

“I'm not certain, but I think it may be Kagura. Her parents reported her missing not long ago. They didn't seem concerned until her younger sister vanished as well.” He immediately flipped open his phone and made another call. When he ended it, he said, “Sesshomaru-sama says to bring her to the youkai hospital. He will meet us there. He would like all of you to come and tell him what happened.”

Kagura came to in the hospital surrounded by faces she did not recognize, and all of them looked rather serious. However, the one that that her eyes landed on and then locked onto was that of the Daiyoukai. “Sesshomaru-sama?” she whispered. “Are you Sesshomaru-sama?”

The solemn golden eyes narrowed. “Yes. And who might you be?”

“Kagura,” she said softly and looked way. His gaze was so intense she felt like he could burn her with it. “Where am I?”

“You are in my private hospital. Now tell me: how is it you came to drop onto my brother's property?”

The wind youkai's eyes traveled around the room, observing each of those there with her. Closing them, she finally said, “I can't tell you. He'll kill me and then her.”

“How will he kill you?” Sesshomaru questioned.

“The way he almost did when I fell. He must have been angry at me for some reason. I was doing what I was sent to do, and then he zapped me, over and over again. I've never felt so much pain…” she answered.

“Kagura, we cannot help you if you will not tell us what is going on,” Sesshomaru stated. “Your parents reported you and your younger sister missing. Where have you been? What have you been doing?”

Her eyes flew open and a look of panic crossed her beautiful features. “You haven't called them, have you? You haven't told them you found me! Please tell me you haven't!”

“Considering how long it took for them to report that you were missing, we have not. Now, tell me what is going on. Tell me how he controls you,” Sesshomaru ordered.

Kagura sighed and remained silent as she reviewed her options. She hadn't been able to get herself and Kanna out of this mess, mostly because Kanna refused to leave when she could have walked away. Finally, she drew in what sounded like would be her last breath and said, “He trapped me and drugged me. When I woke up, he'd implanted a defibulator like they use with humans with irregular heart rates. However, this one worked by remote control that was set up sort of like a cell phone, so the signal would track and `call' me wherever I was. He can be halfway across the world and still reach me. If he kills me, I'll never be able to get Kanna out of there.”

“Was this what he was controlling you with?” Jaken had stepped up and was holding the offensive device in his hand.

“How… how…” Kagura was stunned and couldn't even ask how they knew.

“Foolish woman. It showed up on the scan when they were trying to determine what had happened to you, and the doctors removed it. Your heart and body are already almost healed.” Jaken backed away and then shuffled out of the room.

“You mean, I'm free?” Kagura asked in wonder. “You did that for me?”

“Feh. Even the humans here know that a youkai shouldn't fall out of the sky.” InuYasha couldn't help but to snort. “Now will you tell us what you were doing there or not? Sango says she's certain that you were on the subway with her. I don't believe it was a coincidence that you fell on my land where she was training.”

“Takayama Sango?” Kagura asked.

Sango nearly jumped out of her skin hearing her real surname from someone other than staff at the hospital where her brother was committed. “Yeeeesss…” she whispered.

Miroku instinctively stepped in front of her. “What do you want with her? Why were you following her?” His aura flared at the perceived threat, causing the youkai to shrink away from him.

“Don't accidentally fry her, Monk,” InuYasha suggested, placing his hand on his arm.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow. He'd been surprised at the level of power he felt.

“It's not me - I don't want to do anything with her,” Kagura practically spat, though they could barely hear her. “It's him - he's the one that wants her. Her brother couldn't give him the information he wanted, so he thinks that she can.”

“Who! Who are you talking about?” Sango demanded. “And what does he have to do with my brother?”

“He's looking for some magical jewel known as the Shikon no Tama. He couldn't find it at your home or your father's shop, so now he wants to see if you know where it is.” Kagura was speaking so softly they could still barely hear her.

“What? You mean he's the one… he's the one… my brother… He's the one that did that to Kohaku?” Sango nearly collapsed, but fell back against Kagome.

InuYasha felt a wave of fear go through Kagome. He looked at her gripping her friend, her eyes wide as she stared at the woman on the bed. Something was wrong, but he didn't dare ask her about it here.

Sango was still speaking though it was more to herself, “He's the one that brainwashed Kohaku? He's the reason he's committed to a hospital for the rest of his life?”

“Didn't you know?” Kagura looked at the shaken girl before her. “They released him over a week ago.”

“What!?” Sango screamed. “How could they! They didn't notify me!” She pulled loose from Kagome and grabbed Kagura by her gown at the neck and shook her. “Who has him! What monster has my brother?”

“The same one who has my younger sister - Naraku,” Kagura replied wearily. “And he'll do anything to get what he wants.”

To be continued…