InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Last Chance ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Kawa-Misuterii 
InuYasha learns that the reincarnation has had it just as hard as him. Will he relate? Or push her away?
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.25.2008 | Updated On: 03.26.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 495 | Status: Work In Progress
InuYasha learns that the reincarnation has had it just as hard as him. Will he relate? Or push her away?
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.25.2008 | Updated On: 03.26.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 495 | Status: Work In Progress
One Last Chance: Chapter 3
“Her name is Keera. I’m afraid all we have to go on is significant resemblance to both mikos of your acquaintance, as well as a unique amount of spiritual power, but I’m almost positive the girl is who you seek. She too lived near the shrine. As a matter of fact, were it not for an unfortunate accident, she would have lived in that very house. But I’m afraid fate handed the girl the wrong card.” Sesshomaru said solemnly.
“Fate didn’t do a damn thing. What happened?” InuYasha said, the former sentence scathing, the latter a bit softer, but not enough to show weakness in front of his brother.
“Her father bore witness to a crime by the Japanese mafia. They, in turn, kidnaped the family, in order to keep it hushed up. As to why they took the entire family, and not just the father, I’m not sure, for normally only punishing the one that poses a threat is their tradition. Less victims, less evidence. I’m afraid the girl watched her pregnant mother and father murdered before her eyes before the police showed up.” said Sesshomaru, without a hint of emotion behind his eyes.
“Oh...” murmured InuYasha, stunned. Why would that happen to her? “Poor kid.” The hanyou wished he had more to say on the matter, for he too knew what it felt like to see a parent murdered in front of you. The complete horror was too much to bear, and from the sound of it, she had been even younger then himself when it happened. Perhaps he’d be able to level with her, orphan to orphan. That’d sure make it easier to get the girl to go back in time to purify a jewel that she’d probably never heard of.
“So where is she now?” asked half-demon, not looking into his brothers’ eyes.
“I......don’t know.” said Sesshomaru, and InuYasha could have sworn there was a hint of guilt in his voice.
“And why the hell not? Aren’t you some big shot with the government now? Isn’t that who would take care of her? What the fu-”
“There are complications of which you have no idea, InuYasha. She and her god mother were placed in witness protection, and-”
“Bull! Even if they are protected, from the looks of this place, you should be able to find them easy enough! Hell, I bet they’re somewhere in this building!” he said, looking around and sniffing wildly.
“Listen to me, half-breed!” Sesshomaru, the tiniest hint of annoyance at the edge of his voice. “I do not know where she is now, because her file has been given top secret status. The leader of the mafia managed to get away, and might have tried to hunt her down in order to keep his innocence. I managed to speak with her, before she left, thankfully. She revealed to me that she was going to live in America, in a large city. She wasn’t able to tell me anything else, of corse. That is all I know about her whereabouts, as of yet.” Sesshomaru said professionally. “Would you like to see a picture?” he asked, casually this time.
InuYasha thought a moment, and nodded. Sesshomaru reached into a drawer and pulled out an envelope, and handed the topmost paper to his brother.
InuYasha couldn’t help but gasp. The resemblance to Kagome was as he said, remarkable, but with a few differences. Her hair hung flat, with no messy bangs to cover her pale forehead. The girl in the picture couldn’t have been more than four or five, and yet she held a misery in her eyes much like that of an old woman, who had seen many friends and family pass on without her. She had pale, ashy cheeks, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She looked more than a little skinny and dirty, not to mention a shallow red gash underneath her left eye, and a yellowing bruise on her chin.
“Kami, what happened to her?” said the hanyou, willing with all his might not to feel sympathy for the little girl, which was proving harder and harder with each second he stared back into her hollow eyes.
“That was taken right after we had recovered her. She had been in captivity for about three days. We believe they’re weren’t given food or water, so that explains the poor state she’s in.” said Sesshomaru, giving a small throat clearing cough as he noticed his brother’s attention being diverted by the picture. “She didn’t talk much, after that. I recommended psychological help, but Kami knows if any of these idiots felt like doing the paperwork.” said the taiyouaki, not showing any irritability in his cold eyes.
A long silence insured. InuYasha tore his eyes away from the picture of the girl to look at his brother, his brows furrowing in disbelief.
“So your telling me there’s no way to find out where she is?” he said suspiciously.
“I’m afraid there is a reason as to why I can’t find her exact whereabouts. I have been accused of having dealings with the Japanese mafia, and therefore been restricted from files concerning them.” he said primly.
“Are those accusations true?” InuYasha asked, irritated beyond belief.
“That is of no importance.” said Sesshomaru nonchalantly. “Now, it has become obvious that you are going to need my help. But I do not have the time nor patience to give you all the help you need. But I do have the resources.” said Sesshomaru. Something told InuYasha that his brother would have been smiling had not it’s only meaning was that someone was about to die.
A young man walked out of a door behind the oak desk, a sheepish smile on his lips. InuYasha was thinking there was something vaguely familiar about the boy before he opened his mouth.
“Konichiwa, InuYasha-sama. I am Hikuraro Hiro. I’ll be helping you find the miko.” he said, cheerily yet still staying formal. InuYasha stood up and walked over to the boy. He saw that his face paled, and his scent escalated with fear. The hanyou towered over him, and gave a huge sniff of the boys hair. He could sense that he wanted to turn tail and run, but InuYasha admired his bravery. That didn’t stop him from glaring menacingly down his nose. There was something familiarly distasteful about him that he couldn’t quite but his finger on, it was so faint.
“InuYasha, if you would step away from Hiro-chan for a moment, I’m sure you’d like to know why I’ve introduced you two.” InuYasha reluctantly took one step back, still glaring at him. He had to repress a grin as he watched the beads of sweat down Hiro’s temple. “Hiro is going to be staying with you while you search for the miko. He’ll help you fit in to the modern society. He has studied modern socialization and psychology, he speaks a total of seven languages fluently, not to mention he’s received specialized when it comes to working with youkai.” Sesshomaru recited, looking slightly bored.
“You don’t look old enough to have done all of that.” InuYasha replied scathingly, having yet to take his eyes off the now trembling boy. He was starting to have fun, scaring the crap out of the kid. “You can’t be anymore than sixteen.”
“You’ll forgive me saying, but...uh...you don’t look any older than seventeen, yourself. For someone who defeated the hanyou Naraku, th-that is.” Hiro stuttered, trying to draw himself up to his full height, which wasn’t very impressive.
“I’m older than your great-great grandfather, baka.”
“InuYasha, please sit down.” said Sesshomaru said, gesturing back to the chair. “Your scaring him much more than necessary.” he said, although obviously just as amused as the hanyou at the boy’s terror. Some things never change.
“So, until you and the miko are prepared to go back to the past, you will be lodging with him. He is being paid heftily to help you in any way, so you may ask of him basically whatever you please-”
“Go get me some food!” barked InuYasha, eager to test his new power.
“I, uh, that’s not really what he meant by-” Hiro froze immediately when he heard a menacing growl coming from the boy across from him. He jumped and scampered out of sight.
*Sigh* “That was not necessary in the least. Acting like an animal will get you no where in this world.” said the taiyoukai.
“I’m not looking to get anywhere but to that girl.” he said, trying to sound as distant as possible, but was also quelling the desire to pull the picture out from his pocket and look into her eyes again.
“InuYasha, you don’t seem to understand what lies ahead of you, so I suppose it’s left to me to spell it out. She moved to the other side of the earth. Don’t ask me about it, just listen.” he said, raising a hand to stop InuYasha’s question about the shape of the earth. “You are going to be looking for her in major cities, and you have no idea where to look because she is using an name that neither of us know. You will have to learn to read and speak in English, a language incredibly different from that of which you are used to as well as very difficult to master. Look at me, brother.” Sesshomaru said, glaring at the hanyou. “This is going to take years.
“As of now, I have an agent in every major city in America, looking for the girl. I’ve had no luck, but she is probably still in hiding, as the incident only occurred four months ago. I can only spare one agent per city. You will be searching the cities thoroughly for her, Kami knows when you might happen to come upon her. Are you prepared to do this?” he asked, as dead serious as he ever was.
InuYasha thought for a moment, and replied, almost with a smirk. “Keh, I ain’t got nothing better to do, anyway.”
_________________________________
“So what do you know about me?” asked InuYasha, looking intently, if not more kindly, at Hiro, who was bustling around their temporary apartment.
“Well, Sesshomaru-sama has informed me of your dealings with all manner of demons, your heritage, your relationships with both the mikos Kikyou and Kagome, not to mention Kaede, as well as the monk Miroku and the demon slayer Sango. I know that you defeated the dark hanyou Naraku, and helped save Japan. I know that the miko Kagome traveled back and forth through time though the Bone Eaters’ Well on the shrine grounds. I actually had the pleasure of meeting her, once, although I doubt she’d have mentioned it, I was only passing her in the street, and-”
“Okay, okay, that’s enough, I get it, you know all about me. Any reason why my bastard half-brother told you about all of this crap?” InuYasha asked irritably.
“Well, I’ve been working under Sesshomaru-sama for about two years now, after I finished collage. He’s been working and taking care of my family for five centuries.” he said, looking at the hanyou very meaningfully, as if willing him to remember something long since past.
InuYasha narrowed his eyes when the boy mentioned five centuries. Now that he thought about it, there was something very, very familiar about his smile.
“Lecher?!?!” he shouted, startling the boy into dropping a pile of books. Hiro turned to him slowly, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.
“Is that what you called my ancestor? I assume you had a better nickname for the demon slayer, my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother.” he said, his mouth stretching even wider in that familiar, lecherous grin. InuYasha was a little creeped out by the resemblance to the houshi.
“Stop smiling like that. You know it’s pretty bad when you can creep out a hanyou.” he said, then wincing when he remembered the last person he had said that too. InuYasha reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture of the girl, Keera.
He had seen pictures of Kagome when she was little, marveling at the perfection of the snapshots more than what she and her family looked like, and this girl, were it not for the hair, could not only easily pass, were they to switch, he doubted if even her mother would be able to tell the difference, save for her eyes.
InuYasha frowned at her eyes. They looked colder and more deadened than even Kikyou’s eyes, when she walked the earth as a corpse. He could almost feel the horrors that she had seen through that stare.
‘Whatever I do, I can’t even like her, not even a little.’
‘What on earth are you talking about?’ asked his inner voice.
‘I can’t get attached to her, at all. I’m not so naive that I don’t think I won’t start to like her, feel sympathy for her, even if she is just a kid. It’s Kagome, for cryin’ out loud! Everyone....everyone who gets close to me, like Kikyou, Kagome....my mother....gets hurt. I’m not going to let that happen to this one. She’ll purify the jewel, and then go back to living the life she started. That’s all that is going to happen. I’ll treat her like I should have treated Kagome the whole time. A jewel collector, nothing more. And I’ll be nothing more than her protector.’
‘Will you not even allow yourself to become friends?’
“Well, I guess I’ll have to be nice at first. It’s not like I can just walk up to her and say ‘Hey, you’re a reincarnated priestess from five hundred years ago. You need to jump through a well and go back in time with me so you can purify a jewel that doesn’t have anything to do with you personally. Let’s go.”
“I’m sure there will be ways to present her with this knowledge, without making yourself look crazy.” said Hiro. InuYasha looked at him as if he were some kind of freak. Had he said that last part out loud? Aw, crap, he’s going to have to watch himself from now on.
“We can only hope. So...” that hanyou leaned forward, glaring at the boy. “Do you have any spiritual powers?” he asked casually.
“As a matter of fact, I do. I plan to go to a monastery once my mission with you is complete.” he smiled.
“Yeah, Miroku had a lot of spiritual power, despite the whole lecher thing. It only figures he’d breed a bunch of monks.” he said, leaning back into the armchair and closing his eyes.
“Well, actually, my family consists mostly of-”
“Enough chit-chat for tonight, I’m gonna get some sleep. Wake me up when it’s time to leave.” he said irritably.
“Gomen, leave? We aren’t going anywhere.” Hiro said.
“What do you mean? We have to get to the other side of the world, don’t we? Isn’t that where she is? And as for this thing taking years, I highly doubt that. If I could just get a hold of something that was hers, I’d be able to track her down. It’d take me two weeks, at the most.” he said confidently.
“First of all, we’re not leaving until you can speak fluent English. You won’t be able to do anything without it. And think about it. The girl is five years old. Do you honestly think that she’s ready to resume her priestess duties, especially after what happened to her?”
“Are you saying that I should just wait around for her to grow up? Fat chance! The minute I find her, she going down the well and finishing it. After that, I’ll stay in the Feudal era, and she’ll go back to whatever she was doing, end of story. Sound good to you?” InuYasha all but yelled, anger flaring for no reason.
“Are you saying that you’d be able to take a child away from her home after her old life just got smashed to pieces? She’s been though a horrible traumatic event. Also, there seems to be a factor you haven’t considered.” he said, turning his back to InuYasha. The hanyou growled, forgetting for a moment that Hiro was a human boy and didn’t mean to appear as if he was turning away from him.
“HEY! Don’t turn your back on me! What do you mean a factor?” he asked, feeling a little ashamed as Hiro turned back towards him with a map in his hands.
“You don’t seem to realize how huge the range in which she could be is.” he spread out the map on the coffee table in front of them. “That,” he pointed to a minuscule island to the far right of the map. “is Japan.” InuYashas’ eyes almost popped out of his head.
“Ain’t no way it’s that small!” he said, ears turning and twisting as someone stomped around on the floor above him.
“I’m afraid it is. You see, that’s the mainland.” he said pointing to China. “And that country right there,” Hiro pointed to a land on the opposite side of the map. “Is America. See how big it is compared to Japan? It’d be nearly impossible to track her down by scent alone.”
“No shit. It’ll be impossible period to find anyone. Is this all you can narrow it down to?”
“Well, the girl mentioned that she would be living in the city with her godmother. Sesshomaru-sama mentioned that he had agents in every major city on the lookout for her, so that’ll help out a lot. They’ll be reporting back to us with all possibilities, so that ought to help narrow it down quite a bit.” he said, marking places on the map with a red marker.
“Woah. We have to go to all of those cities? Where the hell do we start?” said InuYasha, feeling overwhelmed. He saw how many dots there were. How many people were there?
“We start, my companion, by teaching you English.” said Hiro, smiling widely. “You will not be able to search effectively speaking only Japanese. It is just as well that I will have to teach you how they do things in America. You think things are strange in this time, InuYasha-sama? Wait until you see the women there! Oh man, I can’t wait to see the look on you face-”
“Oh no, not another one!” InuYasha groaned. “Are you telling me you’re a lecher, too? Come ON!” he said, exasperated.
“InuYasha-sama, I am offended. I would never stoop to lecherous behavior towards women. That is a trademark that hasn’t been associated with my family in over-”
“Can it, alright. I can smell it on you. Your just like the bouzo. Can’t believe he actually produced a whole army of him, that Sango must have-”
“You are getting the wrong impression, InuYasha-sama. At least, *ahem* when it comes to the contents of my family. I’m actually the first male to be born in the family bloodline in three generations. My family is a well know female demon exterminator company. Right now they’re working towards switching to teaching self-defense classes based off of demon slaying techniques, but they’re still very well known for their business among upper class demons like Sesshomaru-sama. I can only say that the Kami have decided to punish our family by giving us only women, but one male is produced every once and a while, to keep the family name alive, so I suppose I don’t have room to complain.” Hiro sighed bitterly. “Growing up surrounded by women who’re all tougher and stronger than you is no easy feat, InuYasha-sama.”
InuYasha considered giving him a piece of his mind about crappy childhoods, but decided against it, considering he was feeling a little drowsy for a reaming. Reclining in the armchair, he voiced his last thoughts.
“So you’re saying as soon as I can speak their language, we can go find her?” he asked.
“Yes InuYasha-sama. Be prepared, it is an incredibly difficult language. You will have to work to restrain your frustration. It took me over a year to master it. Of corse, I was also mastering French, computer technology, sacred mantras, and the breeding patterns of inu youkai at the same time. You will only be focusing on learning the language. I promise that we will go to look in the first city the moment you can carry a proper conversation, and we will continue your studies there, alright?” Hiro asked kindly.
“Keh, whatever. I don’t really see the point. She can speak Japanese, can’t she? She was born here...” he said trailing off.
“Yes, but it will take knowledge of the native language in order to converse with the people who are close to her, as well.” Hiro, obviously beginning to tire as well. “Trust me, you be glad you did it.” he yawned and turned to go to bed, a mat on the floor in the corner.
“Feh.” was the last noise made that night.
_____________________________
Hiro was very impressed. From what Sesshomaru-sama had told him, InuYasha-sama was rumored to be rather strong, but not the brightest one could find. And yet in only a month, he had nearly mastered the English language. Hiro thought it had a lot to do with the American wrestling and detective shows the hanyou had taken to watching every night, and the outcome was amazing. InuYasha was even managing to rid himself of his heavy accent, casually spilling out the foreign words like water from a spout.
Said hanyou had just finished reciting the prelude to the Constitution of the United States flawlessly, looking rather bored. InuYasha looked wistfully out the window. It had been incredibly tiresome to stay inside all day. He had taken to going out at night in his fire rat and just running among all of the buildings, only to be seen at the first glance and gone by the second. Sesshomaru had also given him a private weight room nearby in which to keep his strength by lifting thousands of pounds when strong humans might be able to manage a hundred, although it had none of the same satisfaction as killing thirty-foot tall demons. Yes, no doubt about it, this world was incredibly boring.
Learning English hadn’t been as big of a deal as Hiro seemed to think. InuYasha had decided early on to get it over with as soon as possible instead of fighting it, so that’s what he did. He had been relieved to know that they only had twenty-six writing characters that got rearranged, instead of a few thousand or so, like he expected. After that, it came to him naturally. He became quickly fascinated by the American detectives on TV, who spent their time trying to figure out who killed who, which InuYasha found, if pointless, quite amusing. As for the showy wrestling shows, he had to contain his laughter at the fake violence, But he did pick up a few moves that would be quite destructive if done properly.
“I’d say you’d be perfectly ready by next week, what do you think?” asked Hiro. InuYasha snapped out of his daze, having not realized that the boy had been talking at him for the past five minutes while he stared off into space. He was finally becoming used to the boys company, after five years of wandering around alone. Granted, he didn’t think he’d ever get used to living in this era, but he could tolerate it now, at least.
“Keh, it is about time.” InuYasha replied in English, showing off his prowess.
“Remember what I told you about conjunctions? They sound much better. Instead of saying ‘it is’ you say ‘it’s’. Not much of a difference, I know, but those American’s don’t like to waste any time. So, which city would you like to start in? We can get a list of all the girls her age in the city, and start from there. I suppose we can go-”
“Screw next week, I say we go now.” said InuYasha, flipping on the TV. Hiro froze and stared off into space for a moment, and suddenly said
“Now? Yes, now.....hmm...alright, now it is. Pack your clothes, we’ll head to Seattle first thing!” he cried enthusiastically. InuYasha turned around and gave Hiro a rather creeped out look, but shrugged it off and went to go pack his things.
“Ha. You know, I’ll never truly surprise you, will I?” Hiro asked, a crooked smile on his face.
“Not really.” InuYasha replied simply. ‘There was only one who could ever surprise me.’ he thought, turning his head down, thinking perhaps he’d go visit Kagome’s grave before he left, just like he did every night so far.
(Aunthor's note)
Okay, little update after I discovered how to read reviews (^~^ I know, I'm a noob, please don't through anything. First of all, thank you all of you who left a review. To answer a few questions, no, InuYasha will not be seeing Souta or Mama Higurashi any time soon (I don't plan on him ever seeing them again, but my muse is incredibly unpredictable.)
For those of you reading this chapter for the first time, I know InuYasha seems a little OOC, but think about it. Pretty much everyone he really, truly loved has been killed. (I've been basing this a little off of the manga, a little off of the show. Ayame will be here, unlike in the manga, but I'm keeping it as close to the manga as possible. This is including (SPOILER ALERT!!!) Kikyou's death as dictated NOT BY ME, but by Rumiko Takahashi herself.) So yeah, he's been in hiding for the past five years, in a deep depressive/violent state. Any other questions, please leave a review and I'd be happy to update. I truly love you guys!
“Her name is Keera. I’m afraid all we have to go on is significant resemblance to both mikos of your acquaintance, as well as a unique amount of spiritual power, but I’m almost positive the girl is who you seek. She too lived near the shrine. As a matter of fact, were it not for an unfortunate accident, she would have lived in that very house. But I’m afraid fate handed the girl the wrong card.” Sesshomaru said solemnly.
“Fate didn’t do a damn thing. What happened?” InuYasha said, the former sentence scathing, the latter a bit softer, but not enough to show weakness in front of his brother.
“Her father bore witness to a crime by the Japanese mafia. They, in turn, kidnaped the family, in order to keep it hushed up. As to why they took the entire family, and not just the father, I’m not sure, for normally only punishing the one that poses a threat is their tradition. Less victims, less evidence. I’m afraid the girl watched her pregnant mother and father murdered before her eyes before the police showed up.” said Sesshomaru, without a hint of emotion behind his eyes.
“Oh...” murmured InuYasha, stunned. Why would that happen to her? “Poor kid.” The hanyou wished he had more to say on the matter, for he too knew what it felt like to see a parent murdered in front of you. The complete horror was too much to bear, and from the sound of it, she had been even younger then himself when it happened. Perhaps he’d be able to level with her, orphan to orphan. That’d sure make it easier to get the girl to go back in time to purify a jewel that she’d probably never heard of.
“So where is she now?” asked half-demon, not looking into his brothers’ eyes.
“I......don’t know.” said Sesshomaru, and InuYasha could have sworn there was a hint of guilt in his voice.
“And why the hell not? Aren’t you some big shot with the government now? Isn’t that who would take care of her? What the fu-”
“There are complications of which you have no idea, InuYasha. She and her god mother were placed in witness protection, and-”
“Bull! Even if they are protected, from the looks of this place, you should be able to find them easy enough! Hell, I bet they’re somewhere in this building!” he said, looking around and sniffing wildly.
“Listen to me, half-breed!” Sesshomaru, the tiniest hint of annoyance at the edge of his voice. “I do not know where she is now, because her file has been given top secret status. The leader of the mafia managed to get away, and might have tried to hunt her down in order to keep his innocence. I managed to speak with her, before she left, thankfully. She revealed to me that she was going to live in America, in a large city. She wasn’t able to tell me anything else, of corse. That is all I know about her whereabouts, as of yet.” Sesshomaru said professionally. “Would you like to see a picture?” he asked, casually this time.
InuYasha thought a moment, and nodded. Sesshomaru reached into a drawer and pulled out an envelope, and handed the topmost paper to his brother.
InuYasha couldn’t help but gasp. The resemblance to Kagome was as he said, remarkable, but with a few differences. Her hair hung flat, with no messy bangs to cover her pale forehead. The girl in the picture couldn’t have been more than four or five, and yet she held a misery in her eyes much like that of an old woman, who had seen many friends and family pass on without her. She had pale, ashy cheeks, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She looked more than a little skinny and dirty, not to mention a shallow red gash underneath her left eye, and a yellowing bruise on her chin.
“Kami, what happened to her?” said the hanyou, willing with all his might not to feel sympathy for the little girl, which was proving harder and harder with each second he stared back into her hollow eyes.
“That was taken right after we had recovered her. She had been in captivity for about three days. We believe they’re weren’t given food or water, so that explains the poor state she’s in.” said Sesshomaru, giving a small throat clearing cough as he noticed his brother’s attention being diverted by the picture. “She didn’t talk much, after that. I recommended psychological help, but Kami knows if any of these idiots felt like doing the paperwork.” said the taiyouaki, not showing any irritability in his cold eyes.
A long silence insured. InuYasha tore his eyes away from the picture of the girl to look at his brother, his brows furrowing in disbelief.
“So your telling me there’s no way to find out where she is?” he said suspiciously.
“I’m afraid there is a reason as to why I can’t find her exact whereabouts. I have been accused of having dealings with the Japanese mafia, and therefore been restricted from files concerning them.” he said primly.
“Are those accusations true?” InuYasha asked, irritated beyond belief.
“That is of no importance.” said Sesshomaru nonchalantly. “Now, it has become obvious that you are going to need my help. But I do not have the time nor patience to give you all the help you need. But I do have the resources.” said Sesshomaru. Something told InuYasha that his brother would have been smiling had not it’s only meaning was that someone was about to die.
A young man walked out of a door behind the oak desk, a sheepish smile on his lips. InuYasha was thinking there was something vaguely familiar about the boy before he opened his mouth.
“Konichiwa, InuYasha-sama. I am Hikuraro Hiro. I’ll be helping you find the miko.” he said, cheerily yet still staying formal. InuYasha stood up and walked over to the boy. He saw that his face paled, and his scent escalated with fear. The hanyou towered over him, and gave a huge sniff of the boys hair. He could sense that he wanted to turn tail and run, but InuYasha admired his bravery. That didn’t stop him from glaring menacingly down his nose. There was something familiarly distasteful about him that he couldn’t quite but his finger on, it was so faint.
“InuYasha, if you would step away from Hiro-chan for a moment, I’m sure you’d like to know why I’ve introduced you two.” InuYasha reluctantly took one step back, still glaring at him. He had to repress a grin as he watched the beads of sweat down Hiro’s temple. “Hiro is going to be staying with you while you search for the miko. He’ll help you fit in to the modern society. He has studied modern socialization and psychology, he speaks a total of seven languages fluently, not to mention he’s received specialized when it comes to working with youkai.” Sesshomaru recited, looking slightly bored.
“You don’t look old enough to have done all of that.” InuYasha replied scathingly, having yet to take his eyes off the now trembling boy. He was starting to have fun, scaring the crap out of the kid. “You can’t be anymore than sixteen.”
“You’ll forgive me saying, but...uh...you don’t look any older than seventeen, yourself. For someone who defeated the hanyou Naraku, th-that is.” Hiro stuttered, trying to draw himself up to his full height, which wasn’t very impressive.
“I’m older than your great-great grandfather, baka.”
“InuYasha, please sit down.” said Sesshomaru said, gesturing back to the chair. “Your scaring him much more than necessary.” he said, although obviously just as amused as the hanyou at the boy’s terror. Some things never change.
“So, until you and the miko are prepared to go back to the past, you will be lodging with him. He is being paid heftily to help you in any way, so you may ask of him basically whatever you please-”
“Go get me some food!” barked InuYasha, eager to test his new power.
“I, uh, that’s not really what he meant by-” Hiro froze immediately when he heard a menacing growl coming from the boy across from him. He jumped and scampered out of sight.
*Sigh* “That was not necessary in the least. Acting like an animal will get you no where in this world.” said the taiyoukai.
“I’m not looking to get anywhere but to that girl.” he said, trying to sound as distant as possible, but was also quelling the desire to pull the picture out from his pocket and look into her eyes again.
“InuYasha, you don’t seem to understand what lies ahead of you, so I suppose it’s left to me to spell it out. She moved to the other side of the earth. Don’t ask me about it, just listen.” he said, raising a hand to stop InuYasha’s question about the shape of the earth. “You are going to be looking for her in major cities, and you have no idea where to look because she is using an name that neither of us know. You will have to learn to read and speak in English, a language incredibly different from that of which you are used to as well as very difficult to master. Look at me, brother.” Sesshomaru said, glaring at the hanyou. “This is going to take years.
“As of now, I have an agent in every major city in America, looking for the girl. I’ve had no luck, but she is probably still in hiding, as the incident only occurred four months ago. I can only spare one agent per city. You will be searching the cities thoroughly for her, Kami knows when you might happen to come upon her. Are you prepared to do this?” he asked, as dead serious as he ever was.
InuYasha thought for a moment, and replied, almost with a smirk. “Keh, I ain’t got nothing better to do, anyway.”
_________________________________
“So what do you know about me?” asked InuYasha, looking intently, if not more kindly, at Hiro, who was bustling around their temporary apartment.
“Well, Sesshomaru-sama has informed me of your dealings with all manner of demons, your heritage, your relationships with both the mikos Kikyou and Kagome, not to mention Kaede, as well as the monk Miroku and the demon slayer Sango. I know that you defeated the dark hanyou Naraku, and helped save Japan. I know that the miko Kagome traveled back and forth through time though the Bone Eaters’ Well on the shrine grounds. I actually had the pleasure of meeting her, once, although I doubt she’d have mentioned it, I was only passing her in the street, and-”
“Okay, okay, that’s enough, I get it, you know all about me. Any reason why my bastard half-brother told you about all of this crap?” InuYasha asked irritably.
“Well, I’ve been working under Sesshomaru-sama for about two years now, after I finished collage. He’s been working and taking care of my family for five centuries.” he said, looking at the hanyou very meaningfully, as if willing him to remember something long since past.
InuYasha narrowed his eyes when the boy mentioned five centuries. Now that he thought about it, there was something very, very familiar about his smile.
“Lecher?!?!” he shouted, startling the boy into dropping a pile of books. Hiro turned to him slowly, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.
“Is that what you called my ancestor? I assume you had a better nickname for the demon slayer, my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother.” he said, his mouth stretching even wider in that familiar, lecherous grin. InuYasha was a little creeped out by the resemblance to the houshi.
“Stop smiling like that. You know it’s pretty bad when you can creep out a hanyou.” he said, then wincing when he remembered the last person he had said that too. InuYasha reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture of the girl, Keera.
He had seen pictures of Kagome when she was little, marveling at the perfection of the snapshots more than what she and her family looked like, and this girl, were it not for the hair, could not only easily pass, were they to switch, he doubted if even her mother would be able to tell the difference, save for her eyes.
InuYasha frowned at her eyes. They looked colder and more deadened than even Kikyou’s eyes, when she walked the earth as a corpse. He could almost feel the horrors that she had seen through that stare.
‘Whatever I do, I can’t even like her, not even a little.’
‘What on earth are you talking about?’ asked his inner voice.
‘I can’t get attached to her, at all. I’m not so naive that I don’t think I won’t start to like her, feel sympathy for her, even if she is just a kid. It’s Kagome, for cryin’ out loud! Everyone....everyone who gets close to me, like Kikyou, Kagome....my mother....gets hurt. I’m not going to let that happen to this one. She’ll purify the jewel, and then go back to living the life she started. That’s all that is going to happen. I’ll treat her like I should have treated Kagome the whole time. A jewel collector, nothing more. And I’ll be nothing more than her protector.’
‘Will you not even allow yourself to become friends?’
“Well, I guess I’ll have to be nice at first. It’s not like I can just walk up to her and say ‘Hey, you’re a reincarnated priestess from five hundred years ago. You need to jump through a well and go back in time with me so you can purify a jewel that doesn’t have anything to do with you personally. Let’s go.”
“I’m sure there will be ways to present her with this knowledge, without making yourself look crazy.” said Hiro. InuYasha looked at him as if he were some kind of freak. Had he said that last part out loud? Aw, crap, he’s going to have to watch himself from now on.
“We can only hope. So...” that hanyou leaned forward, glaring at the boy. “Do you have any spiritual powers?” he asked casually.
“As a matter of fact, I do. I plan to go to a monastery once my mission with you is complete.” he smiled.
“Yeah, Miroku had a lot of spiritual power, despite the whole lecher thing. It only figures he’d breed a bunch of monks.” he said, leaning back into the armchair and closing his eyes.
“Well, actually, my family consists mostly of-”
“Enough chit-chat for tonight, I’m gonna get some sleep. Wake me up when it’s time to leave.” he said irritably.
“Gomen, leave? We aren’t going anywhere.” Hiro said.
“What do you mean? We have to get to the other side of the world, don’t we? Isn’t that where she is? And as for this thing taking years, I highly doubt that. If I could just get a hold of something that was hers, I’d be able to track her down. It’d take me two weeks, at the most.” he said confidently.
“First of all, we’re not leaving until you can speak fluent English. You won’t be able to do anything without it. And think about it. The girl is five years old. Do you honestly think that she’s ready to resume her priestess duties, especially after what happened to her?”
“Are you saying that I should just wait around for her to grow up? Fat chance! The minute I find her, she going down the well and finishing it. After that, I’ll stay in the Feudal era, and she’ll go back to whatever she was doing, end of story. Sound good to you?” InuYasha all but yelled, anger flaring for no reason.
“Are you saying that you’d be able to take a child away from her home after her old life just got smashed to pieces? She’s been though a horrible traumatic event. Also, there seems to be a factor you haven’t considered.” he said, turning his back to InuYasha. The hanyou growled, forgetting for a moment that Hiro was a human boy and didn’t mean to appear as if he was turning away from him.
“HEY! Don’t turn your back on me! What do you mean a factor?” he asked, feeling a little ashamed as Hiro turned back towards him with a map in his hands.
“You don’t seem to realize how huge the range in which she could be is.” he spread out the map on the coffee table in front of them. “That,” he pointed to a minuscule island to the far right of the map. “is Japan.” InuYashas’ eyes almost popped out of his head.
“Ain’t no way it’s that small!” he said, ears turning and twisting as someone stomped around on the floor above him.
“I’m afraid it is. You see, that’s the mainland.” he said pointing to China. “And that country right there,” Hiro pointed to a land on the opposite side of the map. “Is America. See how big it is compared to Japan? It’d be nearly impossible to track her down by scent alone.”
“No shit. It’ll be impossible period to find anyone. Is this all you can narrow it down to?”
“Well, the girl mentioned that she would be living in the city with her godmother. Sesshomaru-sama mentioned that he had agents in every major city on the lookout for her, so that’ll help out a lot. They’ll be reporting back to us with all possibilities, so that ought to help narrow it down quite a bit.” he said, marking places on the map with a red marker.
“Woah. We have to go to all of those cities? Where the hell do we start?” said InuYasha, feeling overwhelmed. He saw how many dots there were. How many people were there?
“We start, my companion, by teaching you English.” said Hiro, smiling widely. “You will not be able to search effectively speaking only Japanese. It is just as well that I will have to teach you how they do things in America. You think things are strange in this time, InuYasha-sama? Wait until you see the women there! Oh man, I can’t wait to see the look on you face-”
“Oh no, not another one!” InuYasha groaned. “Are you telling me you’re a lecher, too? Come ON!” he said, exasperated.
“InuYasha-sama, I am offended. I would never stoop to lecherous behavior towards women. That is a trademark that hasn’t been associated with my family in over-”
“Can it, alright. I can smell it on you. Your just like the bouzo. Can’t believe he actually produced a whole army of him, that Sango must have-”
“You are getting the wrong impression, InuYasha-sama. At least, *ahem* when it comes to the contents of my family. I’m actually the first male to be born in the family bloodline in three generations. My family is a well know female demon exterminator company. Right now they’re working towards switching to teaching self-defense classes based off of demon slaying techniques, but they’re still very well known for their business among upper class demons like Sesshomaru-sama. I can only say that the Kami have decided to punish our family by giving us only women, but one male is produced every once and a while, to keep the family name alive, so I suppose I don’t have room to complain.” Hiro sighed bitterly. “Growing up surrounded by women who’re all tougher and stronger than you is no easy feat, InuYasha-sama.”
InuYasha considered giving him a piece of his mind about crappy childhoods, but decided against it, considering he was feeling a little drowsy for a reaming. Reclining in the armchair, he voiced his last thoughts.
“So you’re saying as soon as I can speak their language, we can go find her?” he asked.
“Yes InuYasha-sama. Be prepared, it is an incredibly difficult language. You will have to work to restrain your frustration. It took me over a year to master it. Of corse, I was also mastering French, computer technology, sacred mantras, and the breeding patterns of inu youkai at the same time. You will only be focusing on learning the language. I promise that we will go to look in the first city the moment you can carry a proper conversation, and we will continue your studies there, alright?” Hiro asked kindly.
“Keh, whatever. I don’t really see the point. She can speak Japanese, can’t she? She was born here...” he said trailing off.
“Yes, but it will take knowledge of the native language in order to converse with the people who are close to her, as well.” Hiro, obviously beginning to tire as well. “Trust me, you be glad you did it.” he yawned and turned to go to bed, a mat on the floor in the corner.
“Feh.” was the last noise made that night.
_____________________________
Hiro was very impressed. From what Sesshomaru-sama had told him, InuYasha-sama was rumored to be rather strong, but not the brightest one could find. And yet in only a month, he had nearly mastered the English language. Hiro thought it had a lot to do with the American wrestling and detective shows the hanyou had taken to watching every night, and the outcome was amazing. InuYasha was even managing to rid himself of his heavy accent, casually spilling out the foreign words like water from a spout.
Said hanyou had just finished reciting the prelude to the Constitution of the United States flawlessly, looking rather bored. InuYasha looked wistfully out the window. It had been incredibly tiresome to stay inside all day. He had taken to going out at night in his fire rat and just running among all of the buildings, only to be seen at the first glance and gone by the second. Sesshomaru had also given him a private weight room nearby in which to keep his strength by lifting thousands of pounds when strong humans might be able to manage a hundred, although it had none of the same satisfaction as killing thirty-foot tall demons. Yes, no doubt about it, this world was incredibly boring.
Learning English hadn’t been as big of a deal as Hiro seemed to think. InuYasha had decided early on to get it over with as soon as possible instead of fighting it, so that’s what he did. He had been relieved to know that they only had twenty-six writing characters that got rearranged, instead of a few thousand or so, like he expected. After that, it came to him naturally. He became quickly fascinated by the American detectives on TV, who spent their time trying to figure out who killed who, which InuYasha found, if pointless, quite amusing. As for the showy wrestling shows, he had to contain his laughter at the fake violence, But he did pick up a few moves that would be quite destructive if done properly.
“I’d say you’d be perfectly ready by next week, what do you think?” asked Hiro. InuYasha snapped out of his daze, having not realized that the boy had been talking at him for the past five minutes while he stared off into space. He was finally becoming used to the boys company, after five years of wandering around alone. Granted, he didn’t think he’d ever get used to living in this era, but he could tolerate it now, at least.
“Keh, it is about time.” InuYasha replied in English, showing off his prowess.
“Remember what I told you about conjunctions? They sound much better. Instead of saying ‘it is’ you say ‘it’s’. Not much of a difference, I know, but those American’s don’t like to waste any time. So, which city would you like to start in? We can get a list of all the girls her age in the city, and start from there. I suppose we can go-”
“Screw next week, I say we go now.” said InuYasha, flipping on the TV. Hiro froze and stared off into space for a moment, and suddenly said
“Now? Yes, now.....hmm...alright, now it is. Pack your clothes, we’ll head to Seattle first thing!” he cried enthusiastically. InuYasha turned around and gave Hiro a rather creeped out look, but shrugged it off and went to go pack his things.
“Ha. You know, I’ll never truly surprise you, will I?” Hiro asked, a crooked smile on his face.
“Not really.” InuYasha replied simply. ‘There was only one who could ever surprise me.’ he thought, turning his head down, thinking perhaps he’d go visit Kagome’s grave before he left, just like he did every night so far.
(Aunthor's note)
Okay, little update after I discovered how to read reviews (^~^ I know, I'm a noob, please don't through anything. First of all, thank you all of you who left a review. To answer a few questions, no, InuYasha will not be seeing Souta or Mama Higurashi any time soon (I don't plan on him ever seeing them again, but my muse is incredibly unpredictable.)
For those of you reading this chapter for the first time, I know InuYasha seems a little OOC, but think about it. Pretty much everyone he really, truly loved has been killed. (I've been basing this a little off of the manga, a little off of the show. Ayame will be here, unlike in the manga, but I'm keeping it as close to the manga as possible. This is including (SPOILER ALERT!!!) Kikyou's death as dictated NOT BY ME, but by Rumiko Takahashi herself.) So yeah, he's been in hiding for the past five years, in a deep depressive/violent state. Any other questions, please leave a review and I'd be happy to update. I truly love you guys!