InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pack Law ❯ Bitter ( Chapter 18 )

Pack Law

 

Chapter 18: Bitter

 

Another Monday… a day she should have been in school.

 

Another school day that she was going to be spending in a new world, totally foreign to her. A world where people didn't make sense, where people spoke a language she was familiar with and yet had a hard time following. A world that should be recognizable at least from years of studying, but was bound to be anything but.

 

`Seems to be a trend in the last year or so.'

 

Kagome was somewhat bitter this morning.

 

She supposed the recent lack of control regarding absolutely anything in her life, the early-morning wake-up call after sleeping on the couch (on principle, mind… it was a wonder how the hanyou who would normally pick her up and carry her if she refused to go somewhere could be held off by a barrier set to “fry”) followed by the cross-ocean flight with unhappy co-travelers were all adding up to a breaking point.

 

“We are making our final approach to Denver International Airport, where it is partly cloudy and around 66 degrees. On behalf of the crew, I'd like to thank you for flying American Airlines. Please be sure you leave all electronic equipment off until the plane has arrived at the gate. Thank you again!”

 

The captain's perky voice had grated on her since they'd gotten on the plane at Los Angeles. She bit her lip against an outburst, turning instead to an extremely pale-faced Hitomu. Letting out a small sigh and forcing a smile, she began slowly prying his fingers off the edge of the plush seat.

 

“Hitomu… let go. It's okay.” She'd learned early that morning, as the plane took off from Narita, that his Uncle's plane-related death had really shaken his confidence in airplanes. She had to admit she wasn't much better, but had learned to face her fears head-on while in the Sengoku Jidai.

 

“Ma'am, we're about to land. I need you to buckle your seat belt.” A flight attendant shook Sarah softly. The hanyou had managed to fall into an uneasy sleep. Tsukiyoshi didn't look much better with decent-sized dark circles under his eyes.

 

Hitomu sucked in a deep breath as the plane banked, fighting the need to clench back to the seat.

 

“You know,” Sarah piped up wearily, “Clutching your seat isn't going to do you a damn bit of good if the plane crashes, right?” She was no less scarred than Hitomu at Rin, Kohaku and their children's untimely deaths, but she'd flown enough in the years between to have gained a decent measure of stability about it.

 

Kagome glared over Hitomu's hunched head at the kitsune. “The plane. Is not. Going. To. Crash.” She hadn't been so teeth-gratingly angry since she'd last traveled with InuYasha in the Sengoku Jidai. A pang shot through her as she remembered those times were over. `Baka InuYasha! Impulsive InuYasha! Baka, baka, baka!'

 

Twenty minutes later, the small group was standing off to the side, awaiting their escort. Sesshomaru had laid down the law: they were to go absolutely nowhere without at least another protector nearby. Sarah had rolled her eyes, Tsukiyoshi had agreed gracefully while Hitomu demonstrated all he had learned from growing up with InuYasha, swearing a blue streak about his “pack's lack of faith in them.” Kagome fumed inwardly but hadn't said a word.

 

Sarah shifted her pack from one shoulder to the other. “I'm surprised they actually gave us time to pack. I would have thought we'd have been on the first plane out.” Sarah shook her head again, as though she had water in her ears. Said ears flicked, flattened, perked and twitched in time with her movements. The hanyou was used to flying on either her family or Sesshomaru's private jets. They'd been altered to be friendlier to those with heightened senses.

 

Tsukiyoshi looked unusually rumpled, bags under his reddened-eyes. “The pressure changes are awful to deal with. It would have been a smoother ride in Father's jet, but they insisted we travel `incognito.'” Hitomu and Sarah agreed quietly.

 

Kagome snorted. “Riiight… `incognito' traveling. That's so incredibly easy to do with the son of the Inu no Taisho and his beta. It's incredibly simple to blend in when the daughter of the Kitsune no Taisho is in your group. Oh yeah, and I'm positive not a single youkai is aware of the large chunk of the Shikon no Tama around my neck.” Her sarcasm had the group flinching. Hitomu said a quick prayer of thanks that none of them had rosaries. “They're idiots if they think we were safer flying with the rest of the world.”

 

Kagome's aura roiled in anger and frustration as she recounted all the issues she'd had in the past several days. What was she, a chew-toy for the kami? She'd tried to keep her chin up, she really had. But how much was she expected to take before she finally gave into the need to scream, to throw things, to break down into a temper tantrum and finally be rid of the frustration and irritation that just seemed to build the longer she stood there. Hitomu wouldn't meet her eyes; Tsukiyoshi was on the phone with his mother, assuring her of their safe arrival. Sarah had sunken into a seat, eyes peeled for their escorts in between yawns and bone-cracking stretches. None of them would rise to her anger, give her an outlet… she was tempted to try and contact her mother. Perhaps the woman had some soothing words of wisdom to keep her from frying the next youkai to press the wrong buttons…

 

Kagome looked down at the flip-phone in her hand. She'd never had a cell phone. Her mother had mentioned getting her one last year, but that planned changed the day she was pulled through the well. Even Kagome admitted she would have been in a perpetual state of “roaming” in the Sengoku Jidai… Miroku had handed over the device before they left, telling her to keep it on her at all times, along with her ring and the Shikon shards. She was apparently part of a family plan with the rest of the pack. `Not that I'm really part of the family,' the little miko thought rebelliously.

 

“Sister!!” Familiar youki pinged off her consciousness as the group turned to meet the three men headed toward them.

 

**********

 

“So… Kagome's kind of mad about the whole situation.”

 

Sango lifted her head from the pancakes she was happily devouring, pinning Miroku with a look he usually associated with his hand wandering to places it wasn't supposed to be.

 

“That, Houshi-sama,” Miroku cringed at the rather formal name, a sign that his wife was less than pleased with him at the moment, “could easily go down as the biggest understatement of the century.” Setting her fork down, Sango took a moment to wipe her face before pinning her husband with another glare, “If I heard correctly yesterday… and I'm sure almost everybody in this prefecture did… she's upset with pretty much the entire male population of the den.”

 

Miroku lowered his head in defeat. Sango, too, was rather angered by Kagome's sudden shift to the States. She had been out hunting for most of the week they'd spent with Kagome and hadn't had much time to spend re-connecting with her friend… her sister, of eras past. They had been planning some girly outings… shopping, facials and the like when everything went downhill.

 

If there was any positive side to the situation, it was that Kagome had been allowed to sleep in that morning…she hadn't woken everybody up when she informed Sesshomaru, Miroku and InuYasha that she had no intentions of going to the United States.

 

“Do you not wish to go join our pack, miko?” Sesshomaru seemed completely unfazed by the attitude the young girl was currently sporting. He was also the only one in the room to not cringe when she turned deathly cold eyes on him.

 

“I wish to be with my family,” Kagome hissed, glaring at Sesshomaru with all she had. These stubborn men seemed to have one-track minds. Pack, pack, pack… who cared about that right now when her mother was still ailing, her grandfather was all alone… and her brother had yet to wake up! “I'm no good to them on the opposite side of the world! I'll worry about being a part of the pack,” she spat out the last line as though it was poisonous, “when I'm positive everybody's going to be safe.”

 

Kagome noticed how InuYasha failed to meet her eyes and rounded on him next. “And you! Acting like you're some big hot shot…” she flushed as she recalled the activities of the night before… reveling in them, if only for a moment, before remembering that she was mad at him, darn it! No memories… no matter how… nice… they were would convince her otherwise! Noting the by-play, Miroku turned interested, sparkling eyes on his alpha, wondering if the normally reclusive hanyou was in a sharing mood.

 

“I thought you were supposed to be some big shot alpha dog,” Kagome continued sarcastically once she was in firm control of her wandering mind. “Are you saying you're okay with them shipping me off overseas?”

 

“Damn it, no, I'm not, okay?” InuYasha stood angrily, pounding his fists on the table. “But no matter what my position, Sesshomaru is my alpha, damn it, and he's got final say on shit like this.”

 

Kagome's eyes narrowed. “So that's it, then. Sesshomaru gets final say, no ifs, ands or buts about it? I continue to have little to no say in my life? Fantastic. Thanks a lot.”

 

InuYasha glared at Kagome, “What the hell do you expect me to do? I've already argued this with him and he wouldn't take my `no' for an answer, damn it!”

 

Kagome spun to face Miroku next, moving on in her quest to find somebody willing to listen to her. “And you! I'm tempted to say this whole thing is your fault! If you had just let me go back through the well earlier this week… but noooo,” Kagome lowered her voice to mimic the doctor, “You're all `you can't disrupt the timeline.' Well, look where it's gotten us now!”

 

Miroku cringed under the full weight of Kagome's cold stare. By now she was shouting. InuYasha stared out the window angrily, arms crossed, fully aware that any headway he had gotten with his miko from the night before was crumbling in front of him. Sesshomaru turned blank eyes to the next page of his paper, seemingly over the entire event.

 

Kagome fumed. She opened her mouth to rant a little more when a pale hand closed over her shoulder, thumb moving in calming circles. Kagome sighed, turned to see Sesshomaru's mate standing behind her with a passive look on her face.

 

“Why don't I take you to go see your mother and brother? We can talk on the way in.” A quelling look stopped InuYasha in his tracks; the hanyou was obviously about to protest Kagome leaving the safety of the compound. “I assure you, InuYasha, she'll be perfectly safe with me… Tsukiyoshi will accompany us.”

 

Sango leaned back in her chair, staring up the ceiling fretfully. InuYasha had locked himself away in his office that night, refusing to speak with anybody… actually baring his fangs at Sesshomaru when he requested his beta's presence. The once open animosity between the brothers had turned into an almost easy acceptance of one another… of course, Sesshomaru hadn't been forcibly prying Kagome away from InuYasha in the past, either…

 

“What are you thinking about, love?” Miroku disrupted his wife's thoughts with an arm around her shoulders, drawing her attention back to him. “More Kagome?”

 

Sango sighed. “She's really angry, Miroku. And I don't blame her. You didn't hear her the week before she left the past. One time while we were at the hot springs, she really let loose about how she's had a complete lack of control in her life for the last year. And you have to admit, she's right. She loves InuYasha, she's thrilled she got to meet us, but really… aren't you and Lord Sesshomaru just stepping in again? When does she finally get to decide what she does?”

 

Miroku placed his hand on his wife's soothingly, rubbing slow circles with his thumb on her palm. “It's for her own good, though. We need to keep her… and the shards… safe, you know that.”

 

She nodded slowly. “I know. And I mentioned it before… Kouga and his kin will stop at nothing to keep Kagome safe. It's just… this is really bad timing, you know?”

 

Miroku did know. Kagome was completely ticked off at the whole situation. InuYasha was ready to rip his pack members' heads off for looking at him. The situation was filling the building with a tension rarely seen. He sighed. It'd take all his abilities as beta to keep his alpha's spirits up in the weeks to come.

 

Speaking of the irritable hanyou… he hadn't been seen since the afternoon before, when he'd snarled out a warning at Sesshomaru. Miroku wouldn't put it past InuYasha to head to the states himself, if only to keep an eye on Kagome. He was a loyal man and his chosen mate was being sent to the one person he'd had an open rivalry with for the girl… whether or not Kouga was happily taken, InuYasha was angry with the decision.

 

**********

 

InuYasha bit back a snarl. His office was a complete mess; he'd turned his claws on the various pieces of furniture in fits of rage. Pieces of fabric and wood littered the floor, fluttered past him as the air conditioner kicked on again.

 

He didn't need to have the door open to know Sesshomaru had had lackeys skulking around his office. He could scent them as they wandered by. His alpha was obviously making sure InuYasha didn't do anything crazy, like try and take off to the States behind Kagome.

 

`Damn it! Am I the only one who thinks we need to fucking stay together? Naraku's out there doing kami knows what… Kagome has got to have the rest of the jewel. That wimpy wolf doesn't have his shards anymore. He'll put Kagome in danger!' Images of Kagome in danger, Kagome injured, Kagome crying ripped a growl from his throat.

 

His chosen mate was pissed as hell, he was aware of that. After Miroku had given the pups the information for their trip to the States, Kagome had retreated to the couch she'd fallen asleep on the night after Naraku's attack on her home. He still remembered the crackle in her eyes as she formed a barrier against him, the underlying threat quite clear. InuYasha could also feel her reluctance to do so… `Keh. Even when she's pissed, the wench is too damn forgiving.'

 

InuYasha wasn't stupid. He knew the Taisho Council would look down on his own pack training the woman who would lead them. But damn it, these were special circumstances. How much could Kagome take before she snapped? For a moment, he was pulled from his black mood. InuYasha chuckled at the mental image of Kagome frying Kouga in a fit of anger. Then he snorted. `Yeah, right. She's still too nice to do that sort of thing.'

 

A scuffle outside the door drew the brooding hanyou's attention from his thoughts. A cursory sniff… `hmmmm… this has potential…' For the first time that day, InuYasha stalked to the door, greeting his visitor with a fangy grin rather than an angry snarl.

 

**********

 

Tsukiyoshi and Hitomu stood in front of Kagome, halting a sudden rush by two very familiar ookami youkai.

 

“Sister! Welcome! It's so good to see you!” Hakkaku skidded to a stop just short of Hitomu, staring the teen down in a sudden battle of wills. Kagome was sure the two were going to break out into a battle of testosterone. Ginta slipped around the glaring match, waving at Tsukiyoshi before giving Kagome a quick hug.

 

The miko had just barely forced a “hey boys” from her mouth when a very powerful, yet overwhelmingly friendly youki caressed her aura. Her hand flew to the chunk of jewel around her neck as her head snapped up to locate the source.

 

“Dai! I didn't think you'd be our powerful escort!” Kagome tilted her head to stare at the starry-eyed kitsune hanyou beside her. Following her gaze, Kagome's own eyes widened. The man walking toward them was… well, pretty darn impressive, that was for sure. More muscular than most men had true reason to be, the ookami strolled toward them with a slow, easy-going nature that belied the definitely appraising sparkle in his ice-blue eyes.

 

“Hey there, `Ski.” The stranger nodded at Tsukiyoshi kindly, before turning to Hitomu. “Pull in yer claws, `To, I ain't about to be causin' a ruckus here at the airport.” Hitomu was glaring daggers at the youkai, who had moved on to gaze at Sarah.

 

“Good afternoon, Kit. You mean you didn`t expect my charming self to meet you here? Only the best for our guests, sweetheart.” Dai tugged down his dusty cowboy hat in greeting to the kitsune, who barely stifled her sigh. Apparently, Sarah was quite taken with the ookami youkai, whoever he was. Kagome grinned, a real smile for the first time since waking up. Nothing warmed her heart like playing Cupid for her friends…

 

“And there's a pretty smile for a pretty woman. You must be Kagome…”

 

Hitomu lifted an eyebrow. “And what gave that away, genius? The Shikon around her neck or the fact that she's the only one of us you don't know?” Kagome made a mental note to find out what the boy's problem was later. Sarah was bound to know. The way she stood so calmly suggested Hitomu's antagonism was common knowledge.

 

“My dad mentioned your beauty, your power and your brains, but he never told me your scent is almost more amazing than your looks.” The ookami swept the hat off his head, smoothing his bronze-brown hair back before reaching out his hand, careful of his claws. “I'm Daichi, son of Kouga, the Ookami no Taisho. Call me Dai, everyone else does.”

 

Kagome had no problem connecting Dai with Kouga. He had his father's… exuberant personality, though he seemed a bit less hyper. `Maybe it's because he never had jewel shards…' Still, something around Dai crackled, made her grin a little broader.

 

“You two almost done droolin' over there? I'm sure our guests are tired and would like to be horizontal for a couple o' hours.” Ginta and Hakkaku nodded hastily, the travellers wearily repeating the movement. “Well then, let's grab yer gear and get the hell outta dodge!”

 

Falling in an almost unconscious pattern around Kagome, the gaggle took off for baggage claim. For the first time since leaving the Sengoku Jidai, Kagome found herself completely comfortable in the center of her friends… new and old.

 

A/N:

 

Sorry for the super-long wait, everybody! From bronchitis to a seizure behind the wheel of my car (I'm epileptic, weeee!) it's just been one hospital trip after another. I finally wised up and got myself a Flash Drive so I can write no matter WHERE I am! So, hah! Take that, stupid lack of immune system!

Of course, once I beat my awful immune system into submission, I switched positions at work, and have played the Dodge-the-Hurricanes game for the last month… gah!

 

Anyway - A major thank you to everybody still reading, everybody waiting, and for your patience in such difficult times! I understand this chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but I really wanted to get this chapter cranked out and posted.

 

A thousand points of appreciation to the amazing “Phalon”, who kept me going when times were rough!

 

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any other characters from the anime/manga. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

 

I do, however, own the original characters in this story. Please don't steal them! (I may let you borrow them if you ask politely.)