InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Patchwork Family ❯ North Bay Auto, Aliases, and Issues of Legality ( Chapter 28 )

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 from another story I will do my best to make sure I give credit where credit is due. I will also be pulling some material (direct ideas and inspirations mostly, rather than exact material) from Burn Notice, Scorpion, the Greywalker series, Supernatural, and Lockwood & Co.

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The morning’s thunderstorm had left behind it a wealth of dark gray cloud cover that dripped steadily with rain. Kagome pulled her hood up and followed Inuyasha along the path to the garage. Once they climbed into the Highlander, Inuyasha dropped his head against the wheel for a moment and cursed. “Dammit… I forgot my bike. It’s sitting out in the weather.”

Kagome frowned a little in confusion and he explained. “I have a motorcycle. It’s sitting in the parking lot in front of my apartment building.”

After a moment Kagome offered, “we could stop and pick it up. I could follow you in this car while you ride the bike.”

Inuyasha considered it a moment and shook his head. “I’ll send one of the gofers after it when we get to the shop.” He sighed and started the engine, backing out into the wet driveway and pushing the button to close the garage door.

Rain dappled the windshield as they drove. Kagome sat quietly, looking out the window, trying to clear the chaos of her mind. Everything kept running together in blurry, jumbled masses of thought- and it was beginning to give her a headache. She clutched the backpack tightly in her lap. She’d tossed a change of clothes and the essentials into it, packing the knife in the side pocket where it was easy to get to, and refilled her bottle of water at the bathroom sink before sliding it in as well. She didn’t plan on going anywhere necessarily, but she needed to know it was there, just in case. At the rate things had been going, she didn’t dare take anything for granted, including that she would be coming back to the house tonight. For a second, she wondered if this was reasonable, or if she was getting paranoid.

Inuyasha asked her, “I never thought about it, do you have a car somewhere?”

Kagome’s eyes focused on the here and now and she shook her head. Inuyasha glanced at her and asked, “do you drive?”

She shrugged. “I know how, yes, or I wouldn’t have offered. I had a license, two actually… but they’re with the rest of my things in Silverton.” Privately she added a new driver’s license to her longer term to-do list, once she’d retrieved her things from various slicks in Portland.

Inuyasha raised a brow. “You had two?”

She nodded, explaining flatly, “I couldn’t very well convince the Anansi I should be a trusted underling with documents that had Kagome Higurashi’s name on them, could I?”

She almost sounded annoyed and he looked over at her, wondering what the deal was. She’d been fine when he’d left her that morning in bed, and now she sounded defensive in a way that suggested he’d aggravated her, though for the life of him he couldn’t think how. “Okay…” he said slowly. “So what name was on the second driver’s license?”

Mechanically she reeled off, “Kathryn D. Williams lived at 1389 Par Drive, Oxnard, California when she renewed her license. She’s 21 years old, a misunderstood but brilliant high school dropout that doesn’t have any friends, or family, has sort of a mercenary outlook on life, and will take most commissions that are willing to pay her higher than average fees. She’s allergic to penicillin, hates Chinese food, and prefers boxers to briefs.”

Inuyasha blinked for a moment in surprise. “I see… sounds like you and Kathryn know each other well.” Kagome looked at him briefly, her lips twitching in a reluctant smile before she turned her eyes back out the rainy window. He realized, as close as he felt to this girl, he didn’t know many of the smaller details about her personality, and he asked curiously, “so you hate Chinese food?”

She smirked. “Don’t be silly, I love Chinese food, especially won tons.” Her lips twitched again, smiling as he laughed, and nodded his head. “Alright… ok… so is any of it true?”

After a thoughtful pause she said, “well... I’ll admit half the time I don’t get paid for my work and commissions at all, but I am allergic to penicillin”

He shot her a glance out of the corner of his eye. “And the boxers?”

She just smiled mysteriously and didn’t answer. He grinned and shook his head as they drove through downtown After a mile or so he asked, “who did your papers?”

Kagome shrugged and said simply, “I made them.”

‘Interesting…’ he thought. He raised his eyebrows a little in mild surprise. “You have quite a range of skills.”

She shrugged again, pursing her lips and thinking, ‘if you only knew…’ Aloud she said, “too bad shooting straight isn’t one of them. We’d all have a few less problems.”

He shook his head again. “You know, even if you’d managed to hit his heart, would you have been able to get out of there with the jewel? What was your exit plan?”

She thought for a long time before she answered. “I don’t know. At that point I was sort of running on less than nothing. None of the plans I had started with would have worked. They left a gap long enough between doses of whatever it was they gave me that day, that I could use some of my power. That was the only way I got loose and got to the jewel. It doesn’t matter now.”

Silence fell again in the car as they left behind and followed highway 101 around the bay into Arcata. Inuyasha scanned the road as they entered the downtown area. “The rain helps, but you should probably put your hood back up. It can’t hurt to hide your face a little.”

She did as he asked, scooting down in her seat a little and disappearing rather effectively into the wide hood of her sweatshirt. Five minutes later they pulled into an alley behind an old brick structure and turned into a large open garage. Kagome looked at him a little apprehensively when they stopped and he said, “this is it. Welcome to North Bay Auto & Maintenance, where our business is about 60 percent legitimate and 40 percent a lot more fun.”

She rolled her eyes a little but smiled. They got out of the car and she saw there were four huge garage doors along the building, all hanging open. Several men wearing greasy jeans or long coveralls worked among a few vehicles. Nearest to them, Gabriel had his arms over his head, working under a red SUV elevated on a hydraulic lift. When he heard the car doors close he looked over and in the moment of distraction, managed to catch a leak of oil right down the side of his left shoulder. He swore and threw the wrench down on a tool chest, grabbing the rag out of his back pocket.

Kagome raised a brow. The rag was so oily, he was only adding to the mess on his shirt. Without thinking she cocked her head, grinned a little, and tossed out, “are ya trying to clean it up or make it worse?”

Gabriel looked up and snorted a laugh, tossing the rag in a bin. “Your right, I give up. You guys got some beauty sleep, it’s almost one.” He glanced at Inuyasha and said, “you better call Hiroki. He’s having a cow. The love of his life is in your shop. He dropped her off around nine.”

Inuyasha shook his head. “What’s his problem? We have time.”

Gabriel shook his head. “Not so much, they moved the next cannonball up to Sunday. He’s losing his mind. He has to drive. He’s bet too much money not to and there won’t be enough time if you have to order parts.”

Inuyasha swore and pulled out his phone, muttering, “you have to be kidding me.”

As they’d been talking, several of the men working in the next bay over had started watching, a few even stopping their work to stare at Kagome with obvious appreciation.

Inuyasha started talking into his phone, to this Hiroki character it sounded like. Kagome heard him say, “yeah I’m here. I’ll go take a look right now and you can meet me whenever. I’ll be around until quarter after five….uh-hugh. I know- Gabriel just told me…”

One of the guys working on the blue sedan next to Gabriel’s station wandered over, giving Kagome an interested smile. He looked relatively friendly, but somehow it still made Kagome’s skin crawl. She eyed the socket wrench in his hand and swallowed, looking away and taking half a step back; trying to look casual, but at the same time obvious that she wasn’t interested in conversation.

It turned out she had nothing to worry about. Before the man got within five yards of her, Inuyasha, still on the phone, gave him a clear warning look. His eyes flashed and his lips pulled back from his fangs a little in a clear, non-verbal display. The way the muscles in his face moved when he made this gesture was very different from the glimpses she’d gotten of those teeth when he’d smiled down at her that morning. It was a reminder that he was definitely a dominant demon, even if he did have human blood as well. Additionally, he shook his head once and pointed back at the car the man had been working on. The mechanic rolled his eyes but raised greasy hands in good natured surrender and returned to his work.

Kagome breathed a sigh of relief and saw Gabriel eye her, then look around the open garage. As Inuyasha hung up the phone Gabriel commented in a low tone, “she probably shouldn’t be hanging around out here.”

Inuyasha agreed. “I’m taking her to the back with me. Send Hiroki in when he shows up and grab Marco.” Inuyasha took a key out of his wallet and tossed it to Gabriel. “Tell him to take his buddy that isn’t supposed to be here anyway and go get my bike. It’s sitting out in the lot at the apartment building. Tell him I know exactly how much gas is in it, and to come straight back here. And Rosie sent some lunch; it’s in the cooler in the car out back. Save two for us.”

Gabriel caught the key and whistled loudly, waving at a young, black haired guy at the other end of the shop floor. “Sure thing, not that it isn’t nice to see you Kagome, you look better, but get outta sight hugh?” He gave her a warm smile to take the bite out of his words and she returned it slowly, nodding and following Inuyasha through the hallway that led off the open shop. They passed a dirty office and a break room, and Inuyasha opened a nondescript wood-plank door, ushering her through.

Kagome stepped hesitantly into the dark space. Behind her Inuyasha flipped on the lights and closed the door behind him. Remembering what Rosalind had told him about enclosed spaces, he strode quickly over and opened up his office door, flipping on the lamp, then opened the small back entrance next to the rolling garage door. The cool spring air and the patter of rain entered, echoing a little in the cluttered garage. Kagome started walking around the electric green car parked in the center of the small shop, admiring it.

Inuyasha came back to stand beside her, hands in his pockets. “What do you think?”

Kagome looked up and said, “it’s a beautiful car. This is the ‘love of Hiroki’s life?’”

He grinned. “Yeah, he’s nuts about this car. If they moved the schedule up, it’s no wonder he’s got his shorts in a bunch. He rides hard but he doesn’t do much of the work on her. It takes a lot of maintenance to be able to race the same piece consistently. As far as I know, I’m the only one that works on it. He brings the to me after every race and sometimes I go with him for on-site checks. They just had a big run in last week.”

She frowned a little, confused. “This is ”

He scratched an ear as he said, “yeah, it’s a Ford Shelby GT 500.”

She stood there looking puzzled, then her cheeks went pink and her expression turned a little sheepish as she murmured, “I see.”

Her statement had suspicious weight and he lifted a brow. “What do you see… exactly?”

She chewed her lip uncomfortably and admitted, “I saw the text message Gabriel sent you this morning.”

He looked at her blankly and she hurried on. “I swear I wasn’t snooping. I just wondered what time it was and when I opened your phone there was a message about a Shelby that was waiting for you, and… um….” Her cheeks flushed a deeper pink and Inuyasha tried to remember exactly what the text message had said.

He flipped his phone open to look at it, and her distant attitude suddenly made a lot more sense. He shot her a cocky grin. “And you thought I had some woman down here that needed my attention.”

She crossed her arms, shrugged and hurried to say, “it would have been fine if you did… It’s stupid… and not my business. I’m sorry.”

Inuyasha couldn’t believe it. She’d been jealous. He laughed and took the bag from her shoulder, dropping it on the roof of the car behind her. She raised a brow and he took her hands in his, gently pushing her until her back was against the car. In the same move he stepped close in front of her, leaving just a little space between them. Her whole body stiffened and she sucked in a breath with his name on it. Her eyes widened and her scent spiked with nerves. He ran his hands up her sweater clad arms and murmured, “you’re alright.”

The thought that she was alone in this back garage with him flashed through her mind. Then she shook her head, almost involuntarily glancing at the door that was open to the alley behind the building. He frowned a little and cupped her face in his warm hands. “Kagome, I know you know you’re safe with me. Just relax. You’re going to give yourself an ulcer.”

She swallowed hard, eyes searching his face. Once she‘d calmed a little he grinned and said, “you were jealous, weren’t you… friend?”

Her cheeks went pink again and she opened her mouth to protest, shaking her head. “No… I… I just…”

He raised his chin defiantly, still grinning. “Just what?”

She clenched her teeth and shook her head, refusing to look at him. She licked her lips once and muttered, “I just didn’t understand. That’s all. It’s you that’s going to give me an ulcer.”

“Understand?” he pressed gently, continuing to rub her arms through the sweatshirt.

She sighed and shrugged. “How you could do what we did this morning if there was someone… if you had someone…”

He shook his head. “Like I said before, there isn’t anyone.”

She bit her lip and said, “it wouldn’t matter… if… if there was. We can’t-”

Inuyasha sighed and took her hands in his again, noting that they’d become cold in the chilly garage. He turned so his back was leaning against the car next to her and pulled her to stand between his feet against him, wrapping her in his arms. She came willingly after a moment of hesitation and he said simply, “one day at a time.”

She swallowed and closed her eyes, tilting her chin down a little and breathing out his name in exasperation. He smiled and leaned down to nuzzle her temple, laying a warm kiss on her cheek. She sighed softly and he felt her muscles relax a little, her slim body now truly leaning into his as she braced her hands against his chest. She whispered into his shoulder, “why are you making this so hard for me?”

He frowned, murmuring back, “I’m not asking you to promise me anything. Where’s hard?”

“But that’s where this could go… and there are so many reasons…” Her words stopped, and she shook her head.

Inuyasha ran one hand up her back, between her shoulders and pulled the hood back off of her head. Several tendrils of dark hair had come loose from her braid and curled around her face in the humid air. “Listen,” he said. “You need to decompress a little, or you’re going to explode. I know- there’s a lot going on, a lot of things to deal with. But worrying about it all every second of every minute, of every hour is only gonna make it harder for you to do what you want to do. So…” He laced the fingers of one hand with hers and squeezed it gently as he told her, “just take things one step at a time, and we’ll deal with it; all of it.”

Her brow furrowed and he dropped his head to nuzzle her cheek, breathing her in and pressing another kiss to her jawline. Her head tilted to the side just slightly, a barely audible exhalation leaving her as he let his lips trail over her skin, laying a warm, open mouthed kiss under her ear. He pulled back enough to see her face, and her eyes were closed. He ducked his head to take her lips with his. It took her a moment, but she responded, if slowly. Her scent filled with that warm delicate curl of her arousal, and he let his hands slide down to rest on her hips.

Inuyasha flicked his tongue against her lip once, twice, and the third time, she opened her mouth to him, just a slight parting. After a long minute he withdrew, enjoying the slightly dazed expression on her face and the way her lips were bright pink. Her eyes cleared and she focused on him, a reluctant smile settling into place. She opened her mouth to say something and then, seeming to think better of it, she closed it again.

Raising one brow, he asked, “what?”

She shook her head and her cheeks went deep red. “Nothing, you’re incorrigible.”

When he gave her a look that clearly broadcast his disbelief, she said, “I thought you had work to do?”

Inuyasha grinned and gave her hips a playfull squeeze. “That’s the best part about being the boss. I’ll get it done when I’m good and ready. Besides…” he leaned down and kissed her softly, murmuring against her mouth. “I’m only putting on new rotors and brake pads.”

She smiled a little against his lips and he kissed her again, this time more deeply. She made a small sound of both reluctance and at least partial surrender, and kissed him back, running her hands up his chest to wrap her arms around his neck. With a loud creak, the wooden door they’d come through opened suddenly and Gabriel walked in. Kagome pulled back quickly in surprise and Inuyasha had to keep a hold on her to keep her from rocketing away from him.

Gabriel stood with brows raised in amusement, holding a small tool case in his hands. He let out a low whistle, and adopted a supremely unsurprised tone as he said, “yeah… I thought so.” He gave Kagome a wink and asked, “are you sticking around then? He could use some work- but I hear his friends like him.”

Kagome shook her head, face going crimson all over again, looking extremely guilty. “No, no… I… it’s not like that. Inuyasha please let go.”

When Inuyasha only smirked she narrowed her eyes and pulled harder to get loose. When he didn’t let her out of his arms she glared up at him and touched her finger lightly to his nose, giving him a light zap with her magic. He jerked his head back and swore, more in surprise than anything else, bringing a hand to the offended spot. “What the hell was that for?”

She strode several feet away from him and crossed her arms, still looking guilty, but managing a scowl. Gabriel howled with laughter and walked over, leaving the tool case on the work bench that lined the wall next to Kagome. He grinned at her and tossed her a salute. “I like her Inuyasha. Anybody that can set you on your ass is a keeper.”

Kagome tried to maintain her scowl but her lips twitched a little as she fought a smile. Inuyasha rubbed his nose one last time and muttered. She rolled her eyes and leaned back against the workbench. “Oh I didn’t hurt you. Next time I say let me go, you’ll let me go, won’t you?”

Now Inuyasha turned a grouchy look of his own on Gabriel. “This is your fault.”

Gabriel held up his hands. “Hey, I was just returning the socket set I borrowed last week. No good deed goes unpunished, apparently.”

He let loose one more good chuckle at Inuyasha’s expense and started back to the open door. Inuyasha picked up a roll of electrical tape and chucked it, hitting Gabriel in the shoulder as he opened the door. Gabriel turned to look at him, raised a brow again and said in a sing-song voice, “I’m teeeelling Saaangooo….”

When Inuyasha picked up a bigger roll of duct tape Gabriel smirked and closed the door behind him. Kagome glanced up to see him rub his nose again and her expression softened. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

At the look on her face his irritation faded and he shook his head. “Nah, don’t worry about it.”

She was quiet while he opened the tool case and checked his socket set to make sure all the pieces were there. As he closed the case again, she asked nervously, “do you think he’ll really tell Sango?”

Inuyasha sighed and walked over to a tall row of metal shelving. As he pulled a pile of boxes off one of the upper shelves he muttered, “yeah… probably. Sometimes I think he just enjoys sending the girls after us.” He brought the boxes over and set them on the workbench before giving her a side-long look. “Why, is kissing a crime where you come from?”

She looked uncertain, guilty, and didn’t answer right away. One of her hands came up to touch her lips and she adopted a pensive expression. Her eyes closed for a moment as she thought. She knew for a fact kissing a demon of any kind would definitely have been against the rules if her parents had been alive to know about it. She shouldn’t be kissing him anyway, she knew that. And she shouldn’t like kissing him so much. That might be the crux of her problem. Once he got started, something that affected her will power just turned all soft and gooey. It was unacceptable. A solution would have to be found, but she didn’t want to think about it right now.

Inuyasha was still looking at her and she shrugged, murmuring, “not technically.” He studied her face and saw she wasn’t going to elaborate. He rolled his eyes and started opening the boxes while she strode away to examine the contents of the shelving in the corner, arms wrapped tightly around herself.

Finally, she broke the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them. “What’s a cannonball?”

He turned to see her paging through one of the motorcycle repair manuals he’d left out on a tool box. “It’s a race, a run direct from point to point.”

She looked up at him and back at the car. Her expression was thoughtful as he came over to pull a set of jacks off the shelf behind her and he asked, “what’s up?”

“So this Hiroki is a racer?” she asked curiously.

Inuyasha nodded. “Yeah, I met him at a meet about five years ago.”

She raised her brows. “You race?”

He kicked a wheeled stool over and sat down on it to work the jack under the car’s frame. “Yeah, I race from time to time.”

Kagome pursed her lips in a rueful smile. “No chance we’re talking about legally driving at a track is there?”

Inuyasha snorted and laughed, and she took that to mean no. He turned to look at her over his shoulder and shot her a mocking grin. “Gonna turn me in? Are you telling me you’re squeaky clean?”

Kagome considered this for a moment and said, “well… mostly.”

Inuyasha grabbed the other jack and went around to the opposite side of the car, glancing at her over the hood. “Mostly hugh? How about Kathryn Williams?”

She scowled at him. “That’s not the same.”

“Uh-hugh… so far I’ve got you on hacking law enforcement, forgery of federal documents, and depending on whether there is a real Kathryn Williams, identity theft,” he said, grinning behind the car as he could hear her winding herself up with minimal effort on his part.

“That’s different. I was doing what had to be done to protect people. I’m not a criminal. And no, there isn’t a real Kathryn. She’s completely fabricated from scratch.”

He continued to work the jack as he said, “by the standards of the federal government of the United States you are a criminal. They don’t care what you’re doing it for. The only ones allowed to ignore the rules are the ones writing them. No matter when or where you are, that’s always the way the game works.”

She went quiet and when he stood again, she was leaning against the workbench looking thoughtful, and even guiltier, if that was possible. Kagome thought back over the last several years and all the instances when she’d done things that were technically illegal, but she’d rarely thought of it that way because her goals had never been to steal what wasn’t hers or hurt anyone. She did what she had to do to learn as much as possible, help those she could, and to get necessary connections and resources. Only after he‘d finished jacking up the car on all four corners did she murmur, “I guess you’re right. I guess I’m one of the bad guys after all.”

Inuyasha laughed at her dismay and came over to get the new rotors he’d laid out. He leaned over for a second and dropped a quick kiss on her temple before he went back to his rotors. “You’re not one of the bad guys Kagome. Laws are just rules written by powerful people and enforced selectively where it suits them; and they only last X number of years until people die or change their minds about what they want out of society all over again. I don’t see much point in worrying about it.”

Kagome scoffed. “That’s easy for you to say. If they ever managed to catch you and put you away, all difficulties they’d have achieving that notwithstanding, you could probably live out your sentence and just walk right out no worse for wear, however long it was.”

His eyes met hers and his face was a little grim. He picked up the rotors and carried them back to the car, along with some of the tools he needed. Pulling a band from his pocket, he tied his hair back in a low tail and started to remove the tires. His silence was such that Kagome wondered if she’d said something rude or inappropriate. Hesitantly she asked, “have you ever been caught?”

Inuyasha shook his head as he twisted lug nuts loose and set them aside. “Once- a really long time ago, but not like you’re thinking. I’ve never been to prison; not even close. Most demons with any sense are pretty careful. A lot of us don’t do well in a confined space. I’ll admit, I don’t know for sure where I’d draw the line on damages if it meant keeping myself out of jail.” He let out a derisive snort. “Keh, like you said, they’d have to catch me first.”

Kagome swallowed, wanting to ask more questions, but unsure if she wanted to know the answers. Slowly, she said, “you and the Wardens, do you all… um… operate outside normal parameters?”

Inuyasha snorted out a laugh. “That’s a nice way to ask if we’re all just a bunch of crooks.”

Kagome bit her lip and flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry, forget I asked.”

He grinned ruefully and said, “we dabble in a lot of things, all have our own areas of interest. We’re not saints but we avoid causing harm to anyone who can’t afford it or doesn’t deserve it. There’re a lot of times law enforcement’s hands are tied until after the damage has been done. Even then sometimes they’re useless. Sometimes we can take a chunk out of someone before they can hurt general civilians, and usually there’s a way to get a paycheck out of it in the process. The fact is, sometimes to get something done right you gotta get your hands a little dirty.”

Kagome hesitated before she asked softly, “how dirty are we talking?”

Inuyasha stopped turning the tire iron for a moment, then said, “we do what we need to do. What are you asking me Kagome? You don’t have to dance around.”

She wrapped her arms around herself and asked, quickly, before she lost her nerve, “do you kill people?”

She could tell what the answer was by the set of his shoulders. “Sorry.” She said hurriedly, “it’s just… something I need to know about if I’m going to consider working with you guys.”

Slowly Inuyasha said, still facing the wheel well, “you know, it always kind of amazes me. Over the years I’ve watched humans grow and change, but the world never becomes a better place for it. If anything, it only gets worse. At least 500 years ago you could generally see your enemies coming and they had the guts for one on one combat. You never had to consider that someone would put a hole in you from 300 yards away with an M40.”

Kagome didn’t know what to say to that, so she stayed quiet. He was likely right. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to watch changes occur over such a span of time. It humbled her a little, and made her feel foolish for asking such a question.

Inuyasha stood and turned to face her, eyes meeting hers for a moment. He wiped greasy hands on a rag as he said, “Yeah, I kill people. I killed someone a few days ago; but only after he all but managed to kill you. He had a life of some kind, probably had at least one person, maybe more, that will never see him again. They’ll wonder why he never came home. Hell, maybe they’ll even miss the bastard. But the fact is he made a choice, and there are consequences for all of us. For him, that meant a broken neck.”

Inuyasha shook his head. He wasn’t generally one for long monologues, and while he needed to make his point, he wanted to try not to beat her over the head with it. These truths were never easy for anyone. He sat back on the stool and turned back to busy his hands with the tire iron as he said over his shoulder, “And I know your memory is probably a little fuzzy, with good reason, but I’d like to point out that you pulled a little attempted homicide yourself not too long ago.”

She chewed her lip and nodded sheepishly, murmuring, “you do what you have to do. I understand.”