InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Minoue ❯ The Plot Thickens ( Chapter 41 )

[ 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. They inspire me to write new chapters.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice (I know - I missed that one by a day or two, and it may have been the Summer Solstice to my friends south of the Equator), but anyway, and Happy New Year since I'm sure this will be the last chapter I post in 2008 - the next one will be coming to you sometime next year. I hope everyone is enjoying this time with their family and friends, or just the peace and quiet if you prefer that. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Minoue

Chapter 41:The Plot Thickens

“Tell me again why you did not get the information I asked for,” Naraku demanded.

Bankotsu was starting to get irritated at being treated like a disobedient toddler though he never showed it. “Boss, it was just like I said. There were over a thousand people there that night. While some people vaguely remembered seeing her, none of them knew who she was or who she was with. Apparently those invitations were sent out for groups of four, so she could have come with just about anyone. As far as they know, she was someone's blind date for the evening or even an escort. They didn't recognize her name at all, other than `Sango' is so common that everyone seems to know at least one girl with that name.”

Naraku was fuming. He had been certain that someone would know her. “And Kikyou couldn't find out anything from her contacts there, either.”

Bank shook his head. “Actually, Boss, that turned out to be a bad idea. Apparently the director still holds a grudge against her for exposing his half-brother. He got a lot of unwelcome publicity and grief from it as well. I'm afraid he made it clear that he didn't want to see her again.”

Before Naraku had a chance to start his interrogation all over again, the mercenary hurriedly added, “But we did find out something else that might be of use.”

Naraku stopped his pacing and spun to face him. “What? You mean you didn't tell me everything?”

Bankotsu didn't dare say that he hadn't been given the chance given how upset he was over the lack of information on Sango. “I wasn't sure how important it was. It might just be a coincidence, but I thought you should know.”

Naraku's eyes were glinting dangerously. “And what would that be?”

“Like I said, it might only be a coincidence, but when we were going to the Bistro for a bite to eat, a girl ran by calling out to a lady, and the woman's name was `Kagura.' Boss, that's not a common name. I know you never determined if Kagura was alive or dead, and it might be her,” Bank informed him.

The expression on his face was indiscernible - Bankotsu couldn't tell if his boss was happy or angry.

“So, did you find out any more about her?” Naraku asked, his tone informing Bank he better have something.

“Yeah, Boss. She and the little girl were with Nishimori Shuichi, the director of the National Art Center. Kikyou said she didn't know the director had a daughter, but she was acting like she belonged to him.” Bank thought he'd better make it sound as good as he could.

“I thought the director is human,” Naraku wondered out loud.

“Kagura looked entirely human. You know you can't tell when she wears that concealment charm. Maybe he doesn't know,” Bank suggested.

“Or, he's like his father. Maybe he has a taste for youkai women, just as his old man did. Didn't they say that's how the half-breed half-brother came about - a dalliance with an inuyoukai bitch that left her whelp to the father to raise? Kagura was a weak thing compared to other youkai. She might like the power she feels being with a human male. That would make sense. Yes, yes it would.” Naraku now had that look on his face that meant nothing good was going to happen. “That is useful information. When is Kikyou going to the shrine?”

“Wednesday. The couple from Singapore is still here. They want to look at housing again tomorrow and Tuesday morning, but then they're supposed to fly back home that afternoon. She told the agency to keep Wednesday morning free. She'll go sometime midmorning.”

“Make certain that she does,” Naraku demanded. He turned his back on Bankotsu, effectively dismissing him.

If the mercenary didn't think the evil man had eyes in the back of his head, he would have been tempted to pull his boot knife and slice his throat. But somehow, he didn't think killing him would be that easy. There was something very off about his employer. Instead, he retreated to his office downstairs. At least he had been well sated when he returned. Once they left the gallery, he and Kikyou had spent a very pleasurable afternoon together.

~ ^~^ ~

“Fuck, Sesshomaru! Why do you keep doing that?” InuYasha complained.

“We have something to discuss with you if you would get dressed, please,” the elder brother requested.

“But Kagome just got here!” the hanyou protested.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, so may she didn't just get here,” InuYasha admitted.

Kagome had remained silent with her face buried in his side, though she had pulled the sheet a little further up over them. “I'm guess I'm going to either have to get used to this, or you're going to have to get a phone,” she muttered.

“We'll be in the kitchen. We've already contacted Sango, and she is on her way.” He turned and left them.

“I guess we really do have to get up,” the hanyou complained. “If Sango is on her way, she probably called Miroku to let him know something was up.”

That made Kagome giggle.

InuYasha looked at her quizzically and she said, “Well, something was up, but it doesn't appear to be any more. Come on; we better get going before Miroku gets here. I don't want to worry about you killing him because of whatever comment he might make if we were still in bed.”

“You got that right,” he uttered in agreement.

They dressed and went to the kitchen to find not only Sesshomaru, but Kagura there as well. Kagome said hello and went to put water on for tea.

“Well, if Sango is coming, and that means Miroku probably is as well, we should move to the other room,” InuYasha suggested. “Once everyone is here, you can tell us what is going on.”

“That is agreeable,” Sesshomaru responded. “Come, my dear.” He held his arm out to Kagura, and she took it to walk down the hall with him.

“What do you think is going on?” Kagome whispered as InuYasha pulled mugs for the tea out of the cabinet.

“I have no idea, but it must be pretty important for them to show up like this. My brother isn't one for wasting time - especially his own.” The hanyou fell silent as he finished gathering mugs and then sweetener and milk to carry to the sunken room.

They were not surprised when Kirara came running through the house ahead of Sango. She followed the two tail cat to the others. “I hope you don't mind, but when you told me something was up, I called Miroku. He brought me so I wouldn't have to wait for the train.”

“We'd already figured you would probably call him,” Kagome said in response. “Where is he?”

“Right here. I just wanted to make certain I was welcome first,” Miroku said as he stepped down. He moved to the table and stood by Sango, and then they both sat.

“All right, what was so important that you came on Sunday evening to interrupt us?” InuYasha questioned.

“So what did they interrupt?” Miroku quipped with a grin. “Ow!” He looked at Sango.

“You don't need to try and embarrass them,” Sango said. “Don't make me regret calling you.”

Kagome was trying not to crawl over and hide behind InuYasha though she was flushed a pretty shade of pink.

“By now, Naraku probably knows that Kagura is alive,” Sesshomaru stated.

“What?” “How?” the others said at the same time.

“That's not all. They were looking for Sango at the gallery,” Kagura added.

“Me?” she whispered, “Who? Naraku wasn't there, was he?”

“No, apparently he sent someone else to do his spying for him. We believe he thought her past knowledge of the Center would be an aid to getting more information,” the Daiyoukai stated, “and apparently they thought her previous relationship with me, or at least the attempt at one, would be an advantage. They did not expect it to backfire.”

“You don't mean they sent…” InuYasha's voice trailed away.

“Kikyou, along with the man named Bankotsu. It was an unfortunate coincidence. Rin was trying to catch up with Kagura on the second level near the bistro, and called her by name. Kagura is a unique name, and even if she is using a different human appearance than she did before, they put two and two together and realized that it was probably her. The name is highly unusual after all,” Sesshomaru answered.

“Did they find out any information about Sango?” Miroku asked.

The inuyoukai began to explain, “They had a picture of her from the Exhibition Opening that was posted on the internet. They were asking different gallery employees about her, trying to find out more information about her or her whereabouts. It made them nervous, and they came and informed me. I caught up with the pair in the Bistro and asked them why they were searching for one of our former guests. The mercenary made up some excuse that you were his younger sister's best friend, and he was trying to reunite you, but I could smell the lie. I told them no more questions, or they would be escorted out of the building. They left shortly thereafter. However, we're certain they would have told Naraku about Kagura rather than return empty handed. It appears that Naraku makes them both very nervous.”

“So they know Kagura is alive and that Sango has some connection to the gallery. What do you think they'll do next?” Miroku asked.

“We have decided it is time to draw them out,” Kagura stated. “I am tired of hiding, both from the world, and my relationship with Sesshomaru.”

“You can't be bait!” Sango exclaimed.

“Yes, I can, and I'm more than willing to in order to end this entire charade. I want to be free, and I want my younger sister to be as well. Don't you want your brother back?” Kagura responded.

“Yes, of course I do,” Sango said quietly, “or at least to get him back to where he can get some help.”

“How do you plan to lure them out?” Kagome asked in her soft voice. “Can we help?”

“Actually, we are counting on it,” Sesshomaru answered. “Kagura and I are going to get married.”

“What! But you're both youkai!” InuYasha exclaimed.

“Yes, but the majority of the world doesn't know that,” his brother reminded him. “To the average Japanese citizen, I am human.”

“How is getting married going to force Naraku to show his hand?” Miroku questioned.

“We are going to get married at the Higurashi Shrine. We believe that having Kagura at the shrine where the Shikon no Tama is known to be hidden will be too much for him to pass up,” Kagura replied.

“I want to help!” Sango exclaimed. “If you can find a way to make it known that I'll be there, he can't possibly pass up the opportunity.”

“Sango,” Miroku cautioned.

She shook her head vehemently. “I want to. If this gives me the chance to stop this monster and get my brother back, I have to do whatever I can. Don't you have to have miko maidens or something at these things?”

Kagome nodded and then asked so softly that they could barely hear her, “What about my family?”

“We believe the easiest way to protect them would be to find a way to either include them, or have them stay in the house out of sight. We will need to speak to them to determine what to do,” Kagura responded.

“I can tell you my grandfather will want to perform the service - or at least I think he will. I'm not sure what he'll think of youkai getting married in his shrine. But he's gotten used to the idea of InuYasha and me getting married there, so I think it'll be okay,” Kagome mused. “The weather is nice, so maybe you can do it outside underneath Goshinboku like I want to do. He shouldn't mind so much if you don't actually use the shrine itself.”

“I think if my brother makes a large enough donation, the old man will probably be willing to accommodate them,” InuYasha suggested.

The miko nodded. “That's always true. And I'll tell him that Sango and I will act as the miko maidens to help with the ceremony. Now we just need to figure out what to do with Miroku.”

“He can stand next to me on the groom's side. No one really knows anything about the family, so he can be a close cousin or something,” InuYasha suggested. “Who else will be there? Shinto weddings are traditionally small, so we don't want to get too carried away.”

“Jaken will be there as the go-between. I haven't decided yet about Rin. I don't want to put her in harm's way, but they saw her with me today and think she is my daughter. They might think something is awry if she isn't there,” Sesshomaru answered.

“Wait a minute - how do you know all of this?” InuYasha asked.

The Daiyoukai responded, “Once they started asking questions, one of my men followed them throughout the gallery to keep tabs on them. He overheard everything they said when they stopped at the Bistro to eat.”

“So when are we going to do this?” Sango asked.

“Two weeks from tomorrow,” Kagura stated.

“What!” “So soon?” “How will you—” they all said at once.

Sesshomaru waved his hand. “Calm yourselves. I'm well known for keeping secrets, but I'm going to arrange with a reporter we trust to let it `slip' about the secret wedding that has been in the works for sometime. I'm going to let them guess for how long. We'll make sure that everyone that should be invited to the reception is but ask them to also keep quiet about when they were invited. Monday works perfectly because both the shrine and the gallery are closed. We'll have the wedding at the shrine during the day, and then the reception at the gallery that evening. In fact, if you like it, you may use it for your reception when the time comes.”

“How are you going to explain where Kagura came from?” InuYasha asked.

The wind youkai answered him, “Actually, we're going to base it somewhat on the truth. We are going to tell the romantic story of how I was parasailing and fell from the sky onto your property one morning, and since you weren't sure what to do with an unconscious human, you called your brother. He came to the rescue, and we've been together ever since. However, I suffer from amnesia and don't remember large chunks of my life, including that last year or so before I fell. My memories are slowly coming back with the love, patience and understanding of the man who has been helping me to recover. Doesn't that sound grand?”

Kagome giggled and Sango chuckled softly.

“What's wrong with it?” Kagura demanded.

The two girls couldn't help but to laugh before Kagome replied, “Nothing, but it sounds like a romance novel. People will believe it because they want to believe that kind of love story can actually happen in real life.”

“I just hope Naraku swallows it - that's what is important,” Sesshomaru said.

“Can't argue with that,” Miroku agreed.

“So, two weeks from tomorrow we are going to have a wedding at the shrine in the hopes of luring Naraku out. What if he doesn't show?” Kagome asked.

“He has to - and I don't see any way he can pass this up. He'll have everything and everyone he wants together in the same place at the same time. I'll also have to make certain the guards are well hidden so he feels secure coming in. We don't want to spook him and make him run. We want him to think we've been careless in our celebration and didn't think we'd need our usual guards. But we'll work all of that out later.”

“Don't wait too late or it'll be over with,” InuYasha quipped. “Two weeks isn't much time.”

“We just want this to be over with, or at least I do,” Kagura said. “If we thought everything could be arranged in time, I would have wanted to have it next Monday.

“Both of you girls will be miko maidens for the ceremony?” the wind witch asked.

“Of course,” they replied together.

“So you'll have something in the paper specifically mentioning the shrine and both girls by name as helping with the service?” Miroku questioned.

“The newspaper and the internet, since we believe the web is where he's getting a lot of his information,” Sesshomaru answered. “We're going to make certain they have a good photograph as well, though it will look like a member of the paparazzi caught us out on a date or something more than a formal wedding announcement photo. We just want to make certain that Kagura's face is clear for the picture so there will be no doubt though she will be wearing her concealment to look human, of course.”

“Mentioning paparazzi…” Miroku started.

“We will have to think of a way to deal with that. Sesshomaru has an idea I think, but you are right - we don't want a bunch of reporters and cameramen to show up and ruin the entire plan. He says he has something that worked after InuYasha was revealed as hanyou that made them stop hounding him, so I'm going to trust that he knows what he's doing,” Kagura offered.

InuYasha scrunched his eyebrows together. “You know, you're right. They did just suddenly stop coming around. I thought they finally had a bigger story and forgot about me. All I know is that I was glad they were gone.”

Sesshomaru chuckled. “Don't worry. I am certain what I have planned will work.”

“Are you going to clue us in?” Miroku asked.

“No.”

Sesshomaru's answer was finite and so resounding that the others decided that maybe they didn't want to know.

“What about Kagura's parents?” Sango questioned softly.

Kagura gasped and looked at Sesshomaru. “That's one thing we didn't think about. They will probably see the picture and know I'm alive. We'll need to tell them something so that they don't show up and ruin everything.”

“You don't think they would want to see you?” Kagome asked.

The wind youkai sighed. “If we tell them this is a plan to get Kanna back, I'm sure they will cooperate.”

“But…” Kagome's voice trailed away. She couldn't imagine her family not insisting on seeing her the minute they found her if she'd been gone for so long.

Sesshomaru had covered Kagura's hand with his own. “Her parents did not report that she had been missing until her younger sister disappeared without a trace as well. Naraku had her for almost a year, and they never said a word. We feel that if they waited that long, then they can wait a little longer.” He squeezed his mate's hand. “Do not upset yourself over it, my dear. I will take care of it.”

“Do you think he'll bring Kanna and Kohaku with him?” Sango changed the subject.

“We're certain of it, especially since you want to be involved,” Sesshomaru responded. “We ascertained that he would bring Kanna in hopes of regaining control over Kagura. If you are there, he will bring your sibling to try and gain your assistance as well. This is why we believe this plan will be the best to get everyone we need in one place.”

“So, two weeks from tomorrow,” InuYasha verified.

“Yes. We just need to set the time and make all of the arrangements,” Sesshomaru answered before he turned to Kagome. “When would be a good time to talk to your grandfather about using the shrine?”

“What time is it?” Kagome asked.

Miroku looked at his watch. “It's still early - just a little after seven.”

Kagome sighed and looked at InuYasha. “Should we go ahead and get it over with? Everyone should be at home right now though we'll interrupt one of Souta's favorite television programs.”

“I think the sooner we can get things started, the better,” Kagura suggested.

“All right, then. Let's go home,” Kagome stated as she climbed to her feet and started to gather mugs to carry to the kitchen.

“Let me help,” Sango said softly as she picked up the ones by her.

“You know, I'm starting to get used to some of this domestic stuff.” They were surprised to see Kagura lending a hand, gathering the milk and sugar off of the table.

“Don't you have servants or something for that?” InuYasha asked as he picked up what the girls didn't have enough hands for.

“Yes, but they just won't do when a ten year old girl wants you to have tea with her.” The wind witch fell silent and didn't offer any further explanation.

Kagura swept from the room, her hands full. The others just looked at each other and grinned.

To be continued…

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The Feudal Association is currently voting, and the ballots will be up through Sunday, January 4, 2009. That being said, thanks so much to landofthekwt, psyco_chick32, quirkyslayer, Lady Griddlebone, PitaBread, and InuHanyouNikkie for the nominations. I really do appreciate it! If you are a member, please take a few minutes and go vote for your favorite InuYasha fanfiction and fanart.

Minoue for Best AU/AR, Best Romance Fiction, and Best Drama Fiction

View to a Chill for Best InuYasha/Kagome Romance Fiction and Best Oneshot Fiction

Angel's Aren't Always Heaven Sent for Best InuYasha/Kagome Romance Fiction

Where the Wind Blows for Best Humorous Fiction

Open Mouth, Insert Foot for Best Oneshot Fiction

Good luck to everyone!