InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Patchwork Family ❯ A Meeting of the Minds ( Chapter 6 )

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

A/N: All Inuyasha characters and references belong to the creator of Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi and published by Shogakukan. Any other characters are more than likely my own creation. If I borrow directly from another story I will do my best to make sure I give credit where credit is due.

***

Inuyasha strode down the hall and saw Rin coming from the other wing, where the master apartment and her own bedroom were. She was carrying a piece of paper covered in bright crayon drawings. He sat down on a low wooden bench in the hallway, putting himself more at her eye level where she slid to a halt in front of him. She was clutching the paper and biting her lower lip in a way that reminded him a little of Kagome, and he wondered briefly if this was a trait all females shared, no matter what size they were. He’d never really noticed it before. Rin held it out the paper. “I made a card for Kagome. Do you think it’ll help her feel better?”

Inuyasha took the paper and looked at it. It was indeed folded like a card, and on the front she’d drawn a picture of herself and Shippo. On the inside there was a big picture of what he guessed could be chicken soup, and in bright blue she’d carefully printed the words ‘Feel Better.’ Inuyasha closed the card and smiled. “Yeah, I bet this will help. I think this could be exactly what she needs right now. Want me to take it to her?”

Rin nodded and smiled when he stuck it in his back pocket. “Dad’s not talking anymore. I think he’s done,” she said. Rin’s mother, Rhiannon, had been human, and somehow, much to everyone’s surprise, Rin seemed to be mostly human in appearance as well. She was a beautiful child, but one that seemed to have very few physical traits from her demon father. When the demon was a Tai-Yokai like Sesshomaru, the outcome was very unusual, as those genes tended to dominate. In time, more demon characteristics might emerge, but for now she just had unusually bright, golden brown colored eyes, and she could hear things a normal human never could.

Inuyasha stood up and gave the girl a quick, one-armed hug. “Why don’t you go help Rosie unpack?” Rin grinned and hugged him around the waist. “Kay. Thanks Uncle Inu.” With that, the girl went dancing down the hallway, and again- as always, the big black dog followed.

Inuyasha made his way to Sesshomaru’s sitting room and walked through the open door to knock at his office. He heard Sesshomaru call, “come in.” The wall screens were off now, and Sesshomaru was typing on his laptop at the big mahogany desk. Inuyasha dropped into one of the big leather chairs across from his brother as the demon closed the computer.

Sesshomaru looked at him a moment and said, “I’ve called the inner circle and let them know Tsubaki may be a traitor belonging to Naraku and the Anansi.” At the word “may” Inuyasha eyed his brother. “Kagome saw her reporting to Naraku… for months.”

Sesshomaru was quiet for a long moment before he said, “if we are willing to consider that Tsubaki could have been a plant, how do we know this girl you found isn’t one as well?” Inuyasha felt the beast in his chest snarl at the suggestion but he contained it; and instead said shortly, “she’s not.”

“We don’t know anything for sure, save what she has told us,” Sesshomaru pointed out. Inuyasha sat up and rested his elbows on the chair’s big arms as he said, “there’s no way they could have known I was going to stop and go swimming up there that day. I didn’t even know I was going to go swimming. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. She’s told me what happened, mostly.”

He repeated everything Kagome had told him, hesitating before he mentioned the reason she’d gone in among Naraku’s gang in the first place. “She told me that Naraku stole something. She risked, and has nearly lost everything to get into to his home so she could get at whatever it was, and steal it back. It sounded like it was something important, but I don’t know for sure.”

Sesshomaru looked thoughtful. “And she wouldn’t say what this something was?”

Inuyasha shook his head. “No, and I didn’t want to push her, not yet. Maybe once she’s more comfortable with us she’ll decide she can trust us with the information. She’s easier around me now but she’s still jumpy as hell, though she seemed ok with Sango.” Sesshomaru nodded and steepled his fingers for a moment in consideration.

“He killed her kid brother a few days ago.” Inuyasha added, more quietly. “She didn’t take that real well on top of everything else. She was sick. Right now she’s sleeping again. She’s pretty wiped; and on top of everything else I think the wound on her leg might be getting infected.”

Sesshomaru’s face betrayed him a little now. People who killed or abused children for their own profit got to him almost as much as they did Inuyasha these days. It was why he’d brought Rosalind from Chicago ten years before. “You know for certain?” he asked carefully.

“Well, I didn’t go up to the mortuary in Portland and make sure there was a body, no. But Kagome found the obituary online. She was looking for it. I think she knew Naraku might go after him. And her reaction was genuine— no one could fake that kind of grief.”

Sesshomaru nodded again once. “In retaliation for her lack of cooperation?”

Inuyasha sighed heavily as he shrugged and said, “in retaliation for the hole in his chest. Naraku found out she was there under false pretenses, and I think this was his way of punishing her when she got away. The kid’s funeral is tomorrow but I don’t see that she’s in any shape to make that trip.”

“Naraku would no doubt have someone there waiting for her if she did. If it was me, I would send someone just in case, especially if he wants to reclaim her. He may not know for sure if she is dead or not. How many days ago did she shoot him?” Inuyasha counted for a moment in his mind. “I get the sense that it was about a week ago. Five days- seven at the most. She was hazy on the amount of time that passed, between one thing and another.”

Then he continued slowly, “Yuko hasn’t been heard from either in the last week. Do you have a picture of him I can show her? It might not be a bad idea to show her some pictures of everyone. Yuko’s the only other person I can think of that I’d suspect… but just to be safe.”

Sesshomaru nodded. “Sango has some pictures. She always carries a small camera. I’ll give her a call and ask her to bring them to you. Did everything go well with Rosalind?”

Inuyasha nodded and he slightly lifted the arm with the bulletproof vest slung over it. Sesshomaru saw it and gave him an approving look. “Is she situated?”

“I put her in the last bedroom on the left side of the guest hall.” Inuyasha said. “Rin and Axel are going to help her unpack.” Sesshomaru’s mouth twitched in the thought of a smile at that and Inuyasha asked, “Sess… had you ever seen her apartment?”

His brother frowned, both at the question, and at his brother’s shortening of his name. He didn’t care for nicknames, most particularly not in reference to himself. “Not personally. Why?” he answered. Inuyasha shook his own head in disgust. “It wasn’t fit for human habitation. She had it clean but the place was not as nice as some caves I’ve stayed in. And definitely not secure. She put new locks on the windows but the frames were half rotten. Even a human could have easily ripped them off with a crowbar. And she didn’t have any groceries to bring. She said she just hadn’t been shopping, but I’m not sure I believe it.”

Sesshomaru sat forward, his frown deepening. “But she said nothing about it to anyone?”

Inuyasha snorted. “Because that’s who she is. Now that I think about it, I guess she’s always been the suffer-in-silence type. I don’t think she’s comfortable asking for money when she needs it, among other things. She said she didn’t contribute enough to ask for money.”

“That’s absurd.” Sesshomaru said immediately. “I don’t think she realizes how much she does and she likes to stand on her own two feet. She dislikes relying on anyone. It used to make her feel unsafe.”

“Well that’s hardly an issue we’re unfamiliar with. It’s not entirely unwise either,” Inuyasha said thoughtfully. Sesshomaru shook his head. “In this instance, it’s unnecessary. I may set aside a checking account in her name and just set up a deposit every month for an amount reasonable for all that she does, and her quarterly cut of our profits. I’ll start it up with the cut she should have taken for the last few years. Perhaps…,” he said, considering the problem. “If the funds are there with her name on them, and she doesn’t have to go through anyone for access, she might feel differently.”

“Maybe having her around here again will help Rin, too,” Inuyasha said. “Rosie said she thought Rin was lonely.” Sesshomaru’s golden eyes flicked up to look at his brother again and he said slowly, “that has not escaped my notice. We’ll let this stand for a while. It might be good for both of them.”

Almost as an afterthought, Inuyasha added, “she might need some help with her boss. Not that she’d ask for it. She’s supposed to be at work by 4 a.m. tomorrow morning at the bakery.” Sesshomaru sat back in his desk chair. “We’ll discuss it and she can give him a call tonight. If necessary I’ll speak with him and offer the man some compensation for the inconvenience.”

Inuyasha stood and stretched, shoulders popping. “I better get back. Call if something comes up.” He went to walk out the door and stopped, placing his hand on the doorframe. “Tsubaki didn’t know about this place did she?”

Sesshomaru shook his head immediately. “No, the list of people allowed here isn’t long. Myself and Rin, you, Sango, Miroku, Kohaku and Shiori, Shippo obviously, Koga and Ayame. I don’t think Gabriel has ever seen this place, though I would trust him with it at this point if it came up. No one else we’re working with comes close right now, Yuko and Tsubaki included.

Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. So this place stands.” Sesshomaru nodded. “It’s defendable and has exits set up.” Inuyasha nodded and left, calling out, “alright, later.”