InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Project IY14 ❯ Chapter 8 - Stowaway ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The year is 2500 A.D.

The blood of humans and youkai is almost completely integrated. IN fact the full blood youkai died out almost 600 years ago, taking with them the ability to transform into the great beast Gods that ruled the lands of the earth. Many attempts have been made to recapture this lost power through cloning and genetic engineering, but with no gentic map from a full blood youkai all attempts failed.

Until now...

Pairings: Sessh/Rin, Inuyasha/Kagome, Miroku/Sango

Disclaimer: I do not own the anime or manga InuYasha, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm am writing these stories as a fan or her work. This story was partially inspired by the movie Alien: Resurrection, owned by 20th Century Fox.

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Sci-fi | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.28.2006 | Updated On: 05.02.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 889 | Status: Work In Progress

Thank you to all of my lovely reviewers out there who keep me going!!!

Good news! Project IY14 has made it through the seconding phase of this quarter's Inuyasha Fanguild awards! If anyone of you lovely fans belong to the group and you see fit to “third” my story when the time comes, I would be most grateful! But only do it if you feel this story deserves it.

Now enjoy the chapter!

PROJECT IY14

CHAPTER 8 - Stowaway

Inuyasha was surprised his ribs were not breaking under the impact of his heart pounding inside his chest. A million questions raced through his head as he stood there frozen in shock. The most prominent questions being “What”, “How,” And “Why?”, then his mind seemed to lock on to one important fact.

There it was. A full blood youkai. A creature of the legends and fairy tales his mother had told him, the person who's broken image he had seen only hours ago on the computer screen.

“Hey,” Inuyasha whispered while he took a step toward the youkai.

The youkai's eyes snapped open, and upon seeing Inuyasha he automatically jumped to his feet. Unfortunately, in his moment of alarm he forgot about the rack of boxes just above him. Inuyasha winced as the youkai's head smacked against the boxes, sending him to the floor again.

The youkai shook his head trying frantically to clear his vision, most likely suffering a headache the size of the Vega star system. Since Inuyasha was blocking the only way open, the youkai scooted into the corner, taking a defensive position and glaring fiercely at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha knelt down so he could fit inside the cubicle, making sure to show that he had no hidden weapons in his hands that would make the youkai feel even more threatened.

“Hey, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt ya',” Inuyasha said in the gentlest voice he could muster. “I'm not one of those scientist experimenter guys.”

The youkai made no change in body or face; apparently he was not buying it.

“Hey Inu! What's the hold up?!” Kagome's voice echoed from across the room.

Startled by the suddenness of her voice, Inuyasha automatically stood up. He too forgot about the rack of boxes above him and he ended up with a nice goose egg on the back of his head.

“Damn it!” Inuyasha growled as he carefully backed out of the slot. “Kagome, could you tell Rin to get over here NOW!”

Kagome furrowed her brow as she received the order from the hanyou across the room. What was going on? Was there something broken and if so why did he need Rin's help instead of hers?

Kagome narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but did as she was told and ran into one of the other storage rooms where Rin was taking inventory.

Inuyasha watched her go then slowly turned back to the youkai. “Do you remember Rin?”

The youkai's eyes widened in recognition at first, but then narrowed warily. “Rin….”

“Yeah, she's one of my friends; she'll be here in just a sec,” Inuyasha said quietly.

The youkai swallowed hard at this, and slowly uncurled from his defensive position, however his expression and body still remained distrustful and apprehensive.

“What's up Inu---“ Rin jogged over to Inuyasha's side, but stopped abruptly and gasped when her eyes fell on the youkai sitting in the back of the slot. “Oh my god…..”

For a moment relief washed over the youkai's face as he gazed at her, and he almost smiled.

“Alright what's going on?” Kagome pushed Inuyasha's head slightly aside so she could finally see what he and Rin were looking at. “Who is that?”

The youkai's brow furrowed and he backed against the wall a little more at Kagome's arrival.

“Looks like your puppy followed you home, Rin,” Inuyasha said gravely as the full weight of having the youkai on their ship began to dawn on him.

“How---I--- I haven't seen him since that day---“ Rin turned to Inuyasha very alarmed, as the same thought going through his head were going through hers.

“So what, he just got LUCKY and HAPPENED to climb on our ship?” Inuyasha snapped a little more accusingly at Rin.

“Maybe during the power outage?” Rin offered helplessly.

“So what do we do with him?!” Inuyasha's voice was becoming more frantic.

“I don't know…” Rin murmured.

“What the hell is going on here?!” Kagome shouted; she was quite tired of being left clueless and ignored.

“That's what I would like to know!” Sango stormed toward them. “Since you lot are all standing around when there's a lot stuff to get done before our next docking.”

The pilot abruptly froze when her eyes fell on the youkai. “WHO is that!? And WHAT is he doing here!?”

“He's...He's...What they've been working on in their labs at the base. He might have gotten on our ship during the power outage,” Rin answered carefully.

Sango's eyes widened as she looked from Rin back to the youkai, with Kagome following suite.

“He's a strange one isn't he?” Kagome said numbly.

“He's a full blood youkai.” Inuyasha said flatly.

“A WHAT?!” Sango's head snapped to face Inuyasha. “And just how do you know this?!”

“Keh. How else? I told Shippou to hack into their project files.” Inuyasha was trying to make it sound nonchalant.

“You and Shippou hacked into our employer's files, are you crazy?!” Sango snarled.

“It's not just Inuyasha's fault it's mine,” Rin gathered up her courage. “You guys left something behind, and I tried to catch up to you, but I got lost. I thought the open door was the way to the storage facility, but it was the lab. I saw him in there, they were practically torturing him…I didn't do anything, I managed to get back on the elevator when someone got off. Nobody saw me. Maybe during the power outage he escaped. How he got here I don't know…”

“Do you realize you probably just got us all killed!?” Sango snapped. “We're dealing with an outside regulated space military operation, these guys'll kill you for pulling shit like this!!”

The youkai was their employer's major science project and it was on their ship. If they were caught with it, they would probably all be accused of stealing it and be shot. Basically they were all dog meat waiting to be processed.

Everyone stood in silence for a moment, Kagome looked about to cry, Sango and Inuyasha were having a staring contest, while Rin was looking between the floor and the youkai.

“Do you realize what they're going to use him for if we take him back, Sango?” Inuyasha said finally. His voice was grave and serious, but with a worried undertone to it. “You were a military brat yourself. What use would they possibly have for a full blood youkai?”

Sango swallowed hard and lowered her head to look down at the ground. “Bioweapons.”

“They were extracting his venom when I saw him,” Rin murmured.

“And one of the Shichinintai is a poisons master,” Sango closed her eyes and scoffed.

“So there there's something much bigger going on here, we were helping them to…” Kagome trailed off as the answers were already there.

“And all that aside. Watch this.” Inuyasha turned back to the youkai. “What's your name?”

Any assurance the youkai had that is it was safe to come out of the slot, had been dispelled by all the yelling and strange people gathering around him. He pressed more into the corner and refused to answer, eyeing the strangers carefully.

Rin stepped in front of Inuyasha and got down on her hands and knees and crawled into the slot toward the youkai.

“It's me, Rin...remember? I forgot to ask you your name.” She smiled gently scooting a few centimeters closer to him.

The youkai seemed to relax a little at having Rin between him and the other people. “Rin.....I am…I am IY14.”

“What kind of foods do you like?” Inuyasha asked upon getting the first response.

The youkai furrowed his brow as if to ask “What the hell does that have to do with anything?” but so trained was he at answering questions that once his fears had been lessened, he answered automatically. “I liked the roast beef and the chicken given to me, but I didn't like the Brussels sprouts very much…”

“See? He's cognitive, Sango.” Inuyasha insisted to the pilot who was staring at the youkai with disbelief. “Now, IY14, one last question. Do you want to go back to the labs?”

IY14's eyes became as big as saucers; he bared his fangs and pressed into the wall as much as he could, as if hoping he could sink into it. “NO!”

“Then you don't have to,” Inuyasha said firmly, a slight smile pulled at the corners of his lips. He then carefully backed out of the slot and stood up to properly talk to Sango about what they were to do next.

The youkai blinked a couple of times, slowly comprehending that they were not taking him back to hell. He relaxed a little and hid his fangs behind his lips before allowing Rin to come closer and examine his left hand. It was quite cut up from ripping off the “splints” during his escape.

Kagome kneeled down in Inuyasha's place, her fear of the situation had been replaced by sympathy for the youkai.

“Are you hungry?” she asked gently. “I'm sure we could find something you like.”

IY14's eyes drooped as his adrenaline rush began to dissipate and the exhaustion from all of the events in the last twenty-four hours began to set in. Slowly the darkness of sleep took him and he fell forward, making a soft landing in Rin's lap.

“What happened?” Inuyasha whirled around after hearing the soft “thunk” from IY14's falling.

“Exhaustion. He's been through too much,” Rin said bitterly, all the awhile her fingers gently caressed the youkai's silvery hair.

Inuyasha's ears twitched as he picked up the sound of Miroku's footsteps coming in their direction. “Rin, take him to your quarters. Kagome, you help. Sango, you and I better take care of this stuff now. Miroku's coming.”

“How are we going to tell him?” Sango raised a pensive eyebrow.

“With me behind you, and you looking particularly lovely. That's how” Inuyasha sighed wearily.

“I guess I should run upstairs and get the extra low cut shirt Miroku got me for my birthday,” she said sarcastically.

“Good idea.”