InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Minoue ❯ Cat and Mouse ( Chapter 29 )

[ 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 for the previous chapter, you will find your response at http://doggieearlover.livejournal.com/231566.html .

Minoue

Chapter 29: Cat and Mouse

The group had entered the thick woods at the base of the mountain when Sesshomaru called them to a halt. “We are entering ookami territory. I have notified them of our plans, and they intend to assist-”

He was interrupted by a growl as InuYasha practically threw Kagome behind him. His eyes reddened and his markings appeared as the group of wolf youkai approached them. He was tightly gripping the hilt of his sword to keep his youkai blood from completely boiling over. Kirara leaped off of Sango's shoulder and transformed as she moved up alongside him.

“InuYasha, they are only here to help,” Sesshomaru said, understanding his brother's concern, and with a bit of concern himself at his brother's youkai bubbling to the surface. At the head of the pack was the ookami who had challenged the hanyou for Kagome. “And I believe they have something to say to you.”

Kouga stepped forward and bowed to the Daiyoukai, as did the pretty red headed female that was with him. Her eyes were as brilliant green as his were piercing blue. When they straightened, she turned to InuYasha and bowed. “I understand that it is you that I have to thank.”

“What do you mean?” the hanyou snarled, his arm now possessively around Kagome, who was trying to step up next to him to get a better look at what was going on.

“I am Ayame, leader of the Southern clan. I was told that it was because of you that Kouga returned home and honored his vow to be my mate. The union of his clan with mine will make both stronger. However, he had to get some foolishness out of his system first.”

The hanyou growled again. “You call attempting to kidnap Kagome and Sango `some foolishness'?”

Kagome interlaced her fingers with his and rubbed his arm with her free hand. “It was kind of foolish, wasn't it? You did clean his clock and send him running, didn't you?”

InuYasha looked at her and saw the smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Keh, and you nearly fried him.” He looked back at the wolf couple. “I guess it was foolish on his part. So he's with you now?” he asked, addressing Ayame.

“Oh, yes, and he knows better than to stray,” she answered. “The elders ordered him to come home where he belongs.”

Kouga didn't say anything but nodded in agreement, keeping his eyes focused on the forest floor. As much as he wanted to retort, he didn't dare in front of either the Daiyoukai or Ayame. The ookami males could brag about their strength all they wanted, but it was the alpha bitches that really ruled the clans.

Miroku and Sango had stepped up next to Kirara. Miroku couldn't help himself as he said, “I can't believe he made a beautiful woman like you wait for him. Surely-”

He was cut off when Sango elbowed him in the ribs. He tightly gripped the staff he'd brought with him to keep his hands from wandering. He may have been working on changing his ways, but he wasn't a saint, and some old habits were difficult to break.

Sesshomaru cleared his throat. “Now that everyone is here, we need to address the task at hand.”

Kagura looked determined, standing alongside the Daiyoukai. “Naraku has a number of mercenaries working for him. They are ruthless and enjoy killing, and I think they enjoy torturing their victims even more.”

“Are they youkai or human?” InuYasha asked.

“Human, as far as I know. He has a band known as The Seven that does his bidding. Do not underestimate them. They are very good with their weapons of choice, not all of which are conventional. Naraku lets them do whatever they want to as long as they help him obtain his goal,” Kagura answered.

Sesshomaru spoke again, “Kagura will lead the way to the house. However, she is used to approaching it from the air, so I will do the same. The humans need to stay to the rear for their own protection. We are not certain what we are going into. Let my men and the ookami force check the perimeter before entering the grounds or the house, understand? Do not go in until the signal is given.”

Kirara turned her head towards Sango. “Mrrrrrr.”

“You want to carry us?” her mistress clarified.

“Mmmmmmrrrrr,” the demon cat confirmed.

Sango looked at Miroku. “She wants us to ride on her back and follow Sesshomaru-sama.”

“That solves the problem with those two. Climb on, Kagome,” InuYasha told her.

“What?” she asked.

“I'll carry you. It's the only way to keep up with them,” the hanyou answered.

“But… but… you're not some kind of pack animal!” the miko replied indignantly.

InuYasha said very softly, “No, but I'm half youkai and want to keep you safe. I can run with you on my back and still have my hands free if I need them as long as you hang on. We need to keep up with them and this is the only way, all right?”

Kagome nodded, and he bent down, helping her to scramble on to his back. “Hold on tight, okay? You can't hurt me.”

“Let's get this show on the road.” Kagura threw down a feather and rose into the air. Sesshomaru followed on his cloud of youki, Jaken buried somewhere in the thick fur that was somehow part of his ensemble when his concealment ring had been removed. Flames erupted from the firecat as she climbed towards the tree tops after them.

Kagome's heart was jolted towards her stomach as she abruptly realized that she and InuYasha were no longer standing where they had been. He was running with incredible speed, keeping an eye on his brother above them. She suddenly realized how effortless this was for him and how happy he seemed to be running. She couldn't help but to laugh as the landscape rushed past.

The hanyou tightened his grip on her thighs and leaped upwards. Once he heard her laugh, he knew she was okay and seemed to be enjoying the ride. Taking a chance, he jumped into the trees and started using them as a springboard. He grinned when he saw the earthbound wolves running below.

They came to a halt near the top of the mountain, and the youkai that had accompanied them spread out. Kagura had told them in advance where the mercenaries' favorite hiding places were on the grounds, and they went to scout those out first.

Sesshomaru along with Jaken had gone in with his men. InuYasha and his group had not raised a fuss about being left out of the initial search, since it was only by the Daiyoukai's invitation and courtesy that they were here. Because Sango's brother had been taken by their quarry, Sesshomaru had allowed them to come in case they found anything. However, they were having a hard time getting Sango to wait until they were summoned.

She was trying to edge her way towards the house, when suddenly she whirled and a loud slap was heard. “You! I can't believe you did that!” Sango had her hands clenched at her sides, and she was livid.

“My dear Sango, it was an accident,” Miroku started. “I was just trying to stop you from charging in before we were called, and my hand slipped.” He was rubbing a very red imprint of a hand on his cheek and trying not to grin.

Sango crossed her arms in front of her and glared at him. “Accident, my ass-” she began and then turned bright red herself. “I can't believe I just said that.”

InuYasha was about ready to hit his friend himself until he saw the eyebrow go up and the look that he threw in his direction. He shook his head and sighed before he said softly, “You could have come up with a better way to distract her, Monk.”

`I know, but I don't want her to get hurt,' Miroku thought in return. `At least it sidetracked her for a few moments.'

They heard the bushes rustling as something moved in their direction, and all four of them turned towards the noise. Miroku was trying to get Sango to move behind him but only got walloped again for his trouble. A little green kappa stumbled out of the brush towards them. Miroku raised his staff and was about to hit him when InuYasha reached up and grabbed it.

“I think that's Jaken in his real form,” the hanyou offered. “Smells like him, anyway.”

“Well, that explains it,” Kagome muttered as she looked at him.

“Explains what?” Sango asked.

“Why Rin is always singing, `Master Jaken is so green.' I didn't understand it, but now it makes sense.” Kagome couldn't help but to giggle. “He is very green, isn't he?”

“If you are finished discussing me like I am not here, Sesshomaru-sama has given the all clear. There is no one on the grounds or in the house that we have found, but he wants to search it for clues. He requests your assistance,” Jaken stated. “The ookami will search the grounds if you will help in the house.”

A lump caught in Sango's throat but she nodded, and they followed after him. Even if they were gone, maybe they could find some clue as to where they had fled to, or what Kohaku had been doing.

~ ^~^ ~

“I guess this will have to do,” Naraku stated as his people took over a recently abandoned hotel. “Or at least it will until they turn off the water and power.”

“What do you want us to do?” Kohaku asked. He had followed his “uncle,” unsure of what to do with himself.

“Go and find a room for your use, and keep an eye on Kanna, will you?” Naraku instructed. “I'll keep this suite for myself. There should be others on this floor. See if you can find one big enough for both of you to share.”

“Yes, Uncle Naraku,” Kohaku responded before bowing and exiting the room.

“What do you mean, we have to share!” Kanna hissed. “What if I want a room to myself?”

Kohaku shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry, that's what he said. Maybe we can find one with two bedrooms, anyway.” He led the way down the hall, opening doors and inspecting the suites.

Kanna followed sullenly behind him. Suddenly, things weren't going the way she wanted or expected at all. As much as she hated to admit it, Kagura might have been right. However, they hadn't heard anything from her sister since she punished her with the remote control. As far as Kanna knew, she was dead, leaving her stuck with Naraku. And now, she was trapped here with a human boy who apparently would kill at the drop of the right word. That was all that Naraku had warned her of before chuckling evilly and leaving her with him and a folder that contained pictures of the massacre at the wood shop. Sighing, the girl considered that maybe she should have listened to her elder sister and escaped when she could have just walked away. Now she was stuck doing Naraku's bidding if she wanted to stay alive. Nope, things weren't going like she thought they would at all.

Naraku was royally pissed - not just at having to leave his hideout, but because he'd lost the only lead he had to the girl. He had been certain that Kagura would follow through finding Sango just as she had with getting the girl's address, but now he didn't even have that. He was so certain of himself and of her desire to keep any harm from befalling her sibling that he'd neglected to write it down when she'd tried to tell him. On top of that, he might have to consider spending some of the billions he'd looted from the old man's accounts when forced to move. However, they should be well hidden here for now. He'd been careful and selected rooms that were away from the streets where their presence might be noticed. It would do until he had an opportunity to find something better. He pulled out a laptop and proceeded to set it up. At least with the satellite service it didn't matter that the hotel's wireless no longer functioned.

“You wanted to see me?” a male voice inquired as he was waiting for the computer to find a signal.

Naraku spun around. “Bankotsu, I don't care how you do it as long as you don't bring attention to yourself: I need for you to see if you can find any information on the girl or see if there are any rumors of the Shikon no Tama anywhere. While you're at it, see if you can find out anything about Kagura. I want to know if she's alive or dead.”

“Any suggestions as to where to begin?” The leader of the mercenaries wasn't about to mention that Tokyo was huge and that it would be nice to at least have a starting point.

“I think Kagura was nosing around one of the universities. You might start there and see what you can find. Local shrines are good for folklore, so you might see if any of them have ever heard of the Sacred Jewel. Let me know when you find something.” Naraku spun back around to check on the progress of his laptop. “Fuck! I wish that bitch hadn't been so careless.”

“Great, school kids and holy places - like my men won't stick out there,” Bankotsu muttered to himself as he turned and walked away, realizing he had been dismissed. Returning to the rooms he'd claimed as his group's quarters, he pulled out maps of Tokyo. He still liked doing things the old-fashioned way, so he studied his charts and decided on the best way to divide the city between his men.

~ ^~^ ~

They had searched through the house, room by room. Kagura had headed immediately for the suite her sister had stayed in, while the others split into pairs. InuYasha refused to let Kagome out of his sight, so that left Sango paired with Miroku. He heard her gasp as she went through the clothing that was hanging in the closet. “He was here… he had to have been,” she muttered as she dragged out a jumpsuit with the hospital logo on it. “This was what they were required to wear…” Her voice trailed away as she held it in front of her.

“So, he really was here,” Miroku responded as he looked at the despondent girl. “At least he must be alive, if he changed into other clothing,” he offered, hoping to soothe her at least a little. “It looks like there was a laptop here that they must have taken with them. Do you see anything that might be a clue as to where they might have gone?”

Sango shook her head, so Miroku suggested, “I think I saw a study with a desktop they left behind. Let's go see if they've come up with anything.”

Clutching the jumpsuit to her, Sango nodded and followed after him.

They entered the study to find Jaken expertly tapping away at the keyboard. Miroku couldn't help but to grin at the sight of a kappa who was apparently quite adept with the computer. “What have you found, Jaken-sama?” he asked as they came up behind him.

“I'm busy recovering files he tried to delete. It looks like he was researching where to go, in addition to moving the money from all of the real owner's accounts to banks overseas. He's a smart one. He moved it all to accounts in countries with banking protection laws, and I'm willing to bet he moved them again from there. It will take the international authorities to get the documents needed to follow the electronic trail.” Jaken sighed and sat back. “For now, though, it looks like he was heading to Tokyo. He was researching a bunch of probable locations to move to.”

“Can you tell where, or what part of town?” Sango asked, worry in her voice.

The little green kappa shook his head. “No, at least not yet. When I've recovered all of the files, then we can start to determine which ones he visited the most or spent the most time going through. Sesshomaru-sama has Fumio going through the desktop they found upstairs, looking for the same type of information. It will take time.”

“Do you know where InuYasha and Kagome are?” Miroku asked. “Or if there is another room that we need to search through?”

“I think the hanyou and his lady went to the kitchen,” Jaken answered.

“Thanks,” Miroku said, and then muttered, “How can InuYasha be hungry at a time like this?” He turned to Sango, “Let's go see what they've found.”

They didn't hear Jaken warn, “Sometimes kitchens hold the worst surprises.”

“Kagome, be careful,” InuYasha cautioned as she went through the drawers of the refrigerator.

“I think you've seen too many horror movies, InuYasha,” she quipped as she continued to open drawers and use a chopstick to move things around.

The hanyou mumbled so that she didn't really hear him, “No, I've seen too much of what men can do.” He was cautiously going through the items in the full sized freezer, but so far the most threatening thing he'd found was the head of a boar.

They both jumped when Miroku and Sango came in. “Hey guys, what you up to? You're not looking for something to eat, are you?” Miroku commented as Kagome bumped her head on a drawer she'd pulled out and not closed, and InuYasha jumped straight back.

“No, we're not. Sometimes people hide things in the refrigerator or freezer, so that's what we're looking for,” Kagome announced as she pulled out a wilting head of lettuce with one hand while she rubbed the top of her head with the other. “But so far, all I've found are real heads of lettuce and stuff - none of those fake one you hide your money or whatever in.”

“Have you looked in here yet?” Sango asked, indicating the door to the walk in freezer.

“Not yet,” InuYasha answered. “It was next on our list of things to do.”

“Well then, we shall assist you,” Miroku said as he gripped the metal handle of the door and unlocked it, stepping back as he swung it completely open and leaned over to fasten the hook on the floor against the wall that was meant to hold it open.

Sango's mouth gaped open like a fish out of water, and she gasped for air before she let loose a blood-curdling scream.

Miroku tumbled backwards as Kagome and InuYasha rushed to the open doorway. It wasn't long before everyone in the household was standing around it, staring at what had made Sango scream. She had run back out and nearly knocked Miroku down again as he caught her and held her in his arms. However, it wasn't long before she was attempting to tear loose from his grip and trying to go back in.

Kagome had turned into InuYasha, and he had one arm wrapped around her while the other threaded through her hair, trying to soothe her. Anger coursed through him at the sight in front of him. What kind of monster would do something like this? What kind of man were they really dealing with?

All of the former occupants of the household, including the staff and any visiting family and guests, had been forced into the freezer. There they had huddled together with the children in the middle, trying to protect them as they slowly froze to death. It looked like that at one point they had been pressed up to the door, but after they had passed on their bodies had been shoved out of the way, still frozen together. All but one looked like they'd simply gone to sleep. The one defiant prisoner still had a look of rage on his face and his knuckles were covered in the blood that had frozen to them. They were raw, like he was still beating on that door until he finally died. His finely tapered ears indicated that he was youkai.

“I'd wondered what had happened to the former occupants of the house, but even I didn't expect this,” Kagura said softly as she stared at the frozen corpses.

“Kohaku,” Sango sobbed. “He's not…”

“Sango,” Miroku started.

“I have to look. I have to know,” she answered.

“As do I, but I think these people have been here much longer than Naraku has been gone from this place,” Kagura said as she looked for any sign of her sister. “I think your sibling and mine have been taken with him.”

Miroku stepped forward and started saying prayers for the souls of the dead. Even the youkai remained silent until he was finished.

When his prayers were completed, Miroku looked up with a new determination in his eyes. He may have initially come because of Sango, but a monster that would do something like this could not be allowed to continue to roam free. “What do we do now?”

“We notify the human authorities and then return to Tokyo. It appears he has taken his hunt there, and so shall we,” Sesshomaru answered. “He has kidnapped and murdered both humans and youkai. He must pay.”

To be continued…

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Seconding has started at the InuYasha Fanfiction Guild. It began May 1st and goes through May 10th.

Thanks so much to landofthekwt, InuHanyouNikkie, TAJE, magedelbene, knittingknots, madmiko, and paynesgrey for the nominations (or attempt to) received. I really appreciate it! Each nomination must now be seconded before it can move on to the ballot.

Minoue: Best Romance: InuYasha/Kagome, Best In Character (InuYasha) and Best Serial

When All Else Fails, Just Stare `em Down: Best Romance: InuYasha/Kagome

It Was Written In the Tree: Best Romance: InuYasha/Kagome

Defeat of the Inu no Taisho: Best Romance: Other

That's What Friends Are For: Best Lemon

Revelation: Best Comedy

Promises To Keep: Best Oneshot

Calendar Girl: Best Oneshot

Little White Lie: Best Vignette

Thanks to landofthekwt and TAJE for the seconds received so far!

Minoue - Best Serial and Best Characterization

Good luck to everyone who was nominated in the first round with seconding and then the voting!