InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Puppet Without Strings ❯ The Thrills of Espionage ( Chapter 9 )

Puppet Without Strings

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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Pairings: InuKag, MirSan. Others have yet to either be revealed or thought up. They will probably not be straying too far from canon.

Once again I thank the people who took the time to review my previous chapters. (Teh Mistique, Suaru, Hellkeeper, allin656, white tiger and ems)

Just for everyone's information, Kouran is not an original character. I won't say anything that might potentially spoil the series for people who haven't seen it but I included her in my story simply because she suited the part.

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- Chapter 8 -

Kagome slammed through the bathroom doors and stumbled into the nearest available cubicle. Her legs were uncoordinated and her fumbling steps across the ceramic tiles created resounding thuds that echoed the pounding in her ears. The sound of the door creaking open once more forced her to push aside the want to stop moving entirely in favour of yanking the lock on the cubicle's door closed. She fell upon the grey toilet seat and buried a pale face in both hands, barely registering the sound of her own gasping pants. Clammy fingers became lost in tangles of damp, dark hair as they massaged their owner's temples in small circular motions.

"Headaches again, Miss Kagome?"

Kagome offered a nod of agreement, not caring that the woman outside hadn't been able to see it. That small movement alone had caused the hammering in her skull to intensify and she clamped her eyes shut in reflex. Coherent speech would return in a while, but just for now, silence would be her best companion.

Kouran seemed to accept this, and offered not a word more of question, merely stood watch outside the cubicle, quiet and unmoving. Some time later, when the agony was not threatening to pull her conscious mind into oblivion, Kagome would come to acknowledge that she had been grateful for the demoness bodyguard's discretion in not storming into the cubicle after her. She would thank her whole-heartedly when that time came.

To say Kagome had been surprised when Kouran hadn't simply thrown down her duties and quit would have been quite the understatement. The morning after that incident in the stairwell, Kagome had opened her room's door prepared to face the trials of another school day and nearly hit the roof in shock. On her doorstep the woman had stood in all her blue-haired, albeit somewhat beat up, glory, ready to resume her duties and acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Any apology Kagome had stuttered had been blatantly ignored and Kouran had simply continued with her contractual obligations as if she hadn't had the wind knocked out of her very being and been reduced to a smoking heap of flesh just fifteen hours prior. What puzzled Kagome the most was that instead of being resentful towards her charge, the cat demon had seemed, instead angry at herself for not being strong enough to withstand the blast. The awkwardness she'd felt towards Kouran had gradually been replaced with perplexed bewilderment. It had come to the point where Kagome had simply stopped trying to feel sorry for herself for losing control. She knew Kouran wouldn't have it.

All thoughts were cut short as another pulsing surge of energy pushed at Kagome's restraints from the inside. Quivering arms left their place in her hair to wrap themselves tightly round her torso, as if their presence there would stop the pain from tearing it apart. She had to end this now! Her mouth opened and closed several times as it tried to relay her current thoughts to her bodyguard.

"Kou-"

She fought down another wave of pain and breathed deep.

"Kouran, c-could you fill a basin for me? The cold water would do me some good."

The demoness in question complied wordlessly. Soon, the splash of running liquid from a tap outside Kagome's cubicle could be heard. Kagome herself used this chance to reach behind the lapels of her school blazer and pull out the small white packet she had purchased some hours ago.

The noise created by the running tap would mask the sound of ripping paper and Kagome hoped the strong smell of cheap pine would hide the scent produced by the drug inside it. Kouran's demonesque senses weren't things that the oldest Higurashi child could get away with underestimating.

It was difficult for her shaking fingers to fish a single tiny pill out from the confines of such a small sachet. She succeeded on her third go. With an urgency that stemmed from an instinctive want to be rid of pain, Kagome popped the tasteless black sphere into her mouth and swallowed.

The rushing of water outside had lessened to a resounding trickle. Kagome was glad that the pounding in her ears had receded enough for her to fully register that fact. By the time she emerged to face her protector, the painful hammering in her skull had softened to a dull throb and her shivering had subsided. She smiled gratefully at Kouran before plunging her hands into the filled basin. The water she scooped up and brought to her face was refreshing and she revelled in the feeling for a while.

Ever since that day in the stairwell, the foreign power within her had gone rampant. She'd had a second attack that very same day, not four hours after the nameless black-haired boy had left her standing in front of her dormitory. The pain had been a lot less than now, but every time it happened after that, Kagome felt like she was being torn up gradually from the inside. The force had intensified with each occurrence. The pounding in her head got stronger with the increasing effort she'd had to use in bringing herself under control. It was as if whatever was within her had suddenly grown too huge for her small frame to contain and was now threatening to break free.

But for the four days since the stairwell incident had taken place, never had one of these attacks happened at a time like this! The previous attacks, two in all, had come upon her mostly in the dead of night, when she'd either been asleep or very close to it. Kagome was certain now that they only occurred when she was mentally unprepared.

Sleep made her vulnerable because it put her in a different plane of consciousness. One she had no wilful control over and suppressing the strange, foreign energy within herself took a great amount of conscious restraint that she could not possess during the hours of slumber. Kagome had been afraid to let herself so much as lie her body down these past nights. She hadn't wanted to risk losing control again. It now appeared that the frequent battles with exhaustion had returned to bite her square in the butt. She had let her guard down in a moment of fatigue and this had been the result. She prayed no one in the cafeteria had noticed her sudden change in demeanour before she'd rushed off to the bathroom.

At first, Kagome had stupidly hoped that she'd be able to fight off the forces that had injured Kouran herself. Where there was a will there was always a way right?

- Wrong! What a load of bull… -

Kagome wasn't usually a very cynical person. However, four days of involuntary insomnia tends to do bad things to people's outlooks on life. In that time, Kagome had come to realise how truly ridiculous she had been in thinking that she could've accomplish such a feat. No matter how much will she possessed, her body would never be strong enough to withstand the pull of its own exhaustion. Caffeine could only help her so much.

After an intense inner conflict with her conscience, she'd decided that turning to the pills again would be her only viable option despite the problems they had caused her in the past. She still remembered the absolute disbelief that had been on her father's face when he'd found out about them. The argument that had resulted still haunted her dreams. Not that she'd been able to dream much lately.

The episode with Kouran in SNIE's eastern stairway had not been a first. Kagome had had those strange incontrollable surges of energy before. She recalled how terrified she'd been when she'd nearly severed Kouga's arm from him five months ago during one of their playful self-defence sessions. Afterward, when he'd recovered and resumed his duties, the wolf had teased her about not knowing her own strength and had laughed it off like any macho male with a hurting ego would. He'd told her not to be so worried and had promised to keep it a secret from her father.

Kagome had calmed down well enough after that first time. But when similar occurrences started taking place after she'd returned to school, her fear had heightened ten-fold. She'd had occasional bouts of extreme pain, not unlike what she had just experienced, in which she'd struggled to keep herself under control.

It was natural to be afraid of what you didn't understand and afraid Kagome had been. She'd gone to as many doctors as was possible to without arousing suspicion but every one of them had claimed that she'd been in perfect physical condition. Kagome had spent those first two weeks distraught and confused.

Salvation had chanced upon her in the form of a smirking eleventh grader by the name of Satsugawa Bankotsu, who had unintentionally stumbled upon her quivering form during one of her agonizing bouts. She'd been crouched in a shadowed corner of the school roof after stumbling out there in fear of waking her roommate. Who knew what the boy had been doing in such a place so late at night, but Kagome was grateful for the haphazard meeting. He'd offered her the same dark drug that she had just consumed after some pointless mumbo jumbo about only letting her have it for free because she'd appealed to him visually. It was impossible for her to remember details in the state she'd been in.

Bankotsu had been insistent that his `little babies' would cure anything that ailed her. His confidence in the drug's effectiveness had seen her swallowing the dark little sphere without question in a desperate attempt to null the pain. The pill had worked almost instantaneously and had had Kagome running back to Bankotsu on occasion to get more of it.

She'd stopped taking them after her father had found out.

It pained her now to have to defile the man's memory by using them again but she'd been left with no other choice. Kagome had grown tired of always being the one that other people protected. She abhorred the feeling of utter uselessness that it brought her. Always the helpless damsel. Always the one other people fought for. Always the one other people took the hurt for. Kouga had done so and it had landed him in a coma with no certain chance of awakening. The people at the mansion had tried, and it had left their families grieving for the losses. And now, even Kouran, who she'd known for not more than three weeks, had suffered too.

For once, Kagome wanted to be the one doing the protecting. Even if it was from herself. For once, she wanted to prove that she was worthy of the sacrifices that these people had made. She wouldn't, couldn't let anyone else be hurt for her sake. It might have been selfish to think so, but she knew that her sanity depended on it. She would never forgive herself if she failed in even this.

When the painful bouts had started up again four days ago, she'd made a solemn pledge not to lose her head over them. Kagome had never been one for sitting idly by while life took its course. She needed her problem remedied and so help her she would put a bullet to her brain before she let another incident like Kouran's happen again. It had taken a lot to suppress the strange forces within her but each time they had threatened to erupt, she'd been more determined to fight them. The way she saw it, if there was a way to suppress that damnable power, then there most certainly would be one to rid it completely from her being.

She walked with Kouran in a companiable silence.

Upon re-entering the cafeteria, Kagome's eyes roamed over the room's occupants, looking for the same dark head she'd been hoping to see for the past four days. She knew it was stupid to do so, she hadn't caught a glimpse of hide nor hair of the mysterious boy from the stairwell for all that time. It was the same now. She continued onward to her seat, where her plate from before remained.

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Inuyasha felt silly.

The sentiment was justifiable. At the moment, his six foot frame was squeezed under the moderately sized mahogany desk inside Principal Kinou's office. He shifted a little to get into a more comfortable position. Now one should never misunderstand, Inuyasha was no stranger to such a place. Why, he could barely even remember all the times he'd been sent to Kaede's office during the ten years he'd lodged at Sector So54. But the visits had never involved anything remotely similar to this.

His legs were what bothered him most. Being the height he was certainly did have its advantages, but one could never dismiss the drawbacks either, especially in cramped conditions such as this. Not that the hanyou was claustrophobic or anything, it was just that if he stayed in this position any longer, he was almost certain he'd remain the shape he was currently curled into for… well, ever, in which case he'd have to kiss all his aspirations of overtaking his brother in height a sloppy goodbye. Now that would be a blooming shame. He only hadtwo and a half inches to go.

He chanced a peek towards the reception area outside the principal's office. Through the glass that separated it from the rest of the guest lounge, Inuyasha could see the old receptionist sorting through some folders from a metal cabinet beside the door. He swore that that filing cabinet must have been strategically placed to keep him from leaving the room. He'd give it a sound kick on the way out.

If he ever got out.

Inuyasha cursed the wrinkled old hag for being so slow. He cursed the desk he was under for being so spatially limited. He cursed his crappy luck for putting him in this situation.

Inuyasha shifted again to ease the aching in his joints.

He cursed his parents… well maybe just his dad, for giving him such tall genes. He cursed Higurashi Kagome for being so damnably intriguing.

The girl's actions that afternoon had piqued his previously deadened interest. The minute she'd been out of his sight, he'd gone on a rampage, browsing through the school's student records and questioning every unfortunate student to have crossed his path. He'd wanted to find out about the boy Higurashi had bought the strange materialoff.

The bastard was the reason Inuyasha had snuck into this damn office in the first place. He'd put a bug in the security camera to hide his activities before running a check on the dark-haired boy he'd seen Higurashi associating with that afternoon. He'd had to make up some phoney excuse before Jaken had agreed to give him the keys to the principal's lounge. It wasn't supposed to be his business what the Higurashi girl did in her spare time but then again, he was technically duty-bound to find out who she socialized with. Hell, he didn't want her dying from drug overdose on him. He couldn't allow something like that to happen, not on his watch. Inuyasha had a bigger sense of self preservation than that.

And so, with that reasoning in mind, Inuyasha had accessed the principal's private files on SNIE's many students. Like himself, Satsugawa Bankotsu was serving his last year at the academy. Inuyasha had laughed when he'd read Mister Kinou's private notes on the boy. Apparently the man suspected him of being a pusher but lacked evidence to prove it.

-No shit-

Inuyasha had thought with a roll of his eyes. Half the damn school already knew that. However, Bankotsu had yet to be caught in the act. His room had been searched thrice before and had turned up clean each time. Inuyasha had just about collected the information he'd required and been ready to leave when the old lady had entered the reception lounge. In the process of killing the lamplight, shutting off the monitor and diving for cover under Mister Kinou's wooden desk, Inuyasha had suffered quite a bruising to his left elbow, which had been unintentionally slammed into the edge of said desk in his frenzy.

Inuyasha cursed Satsugawa Bankotsu for existing. He wasn't exactly hiding per se. A tough guy like himself never hid. He was merely avoiding being seen.

Inuyasha snapped out of his misery when he found himself plunged suddenly into darkness. Finally! The old lady must have left. It was about time too. Inuyasha pulled himself out from his place under the piece of mahogany furniture and was glad to find that he could straighten himself out without much difficulty. He estimated a total of twenty-two bone clicks before he reached his full height. Another five or so came later when he arched his back. Right, now that he was sure his growth hadn't been stunted, he would continue to his next destination.

The unfortunate filing cabinet outside the principal's door vibrated as Inuyasha's foot connected with its side.

He checked his watch. Only fifteen minutes till dinner ended. He broke into a run. With any luck, Bankotsu might stay out late. It would give him more time.

Inuyasha skidded to a halt outside the door marked 3-168. Satsugawa Bankotsu's room.

Inuyasha recalled the unofficial lesson he'd received from Miroku during one of their preteen escapades in So54. If there was one thing Inuyasha was grateful to the grope-happy monk for, it was the ability he'd gotten off him to pick locks. Sure the one on their sector's kitchen entrance had been poppy-cock compared to the enforced bolts of SNIE's dormitory room doors, but it was all the same basic concept!

But he had to be quick about it and the only way to do so, would be to revert back into his half demon form. Chancing a cautious glance both ways along the corridor, he saw that it was completely people-free. He punched the reversion code into his wristband and changed back into the appearance he was most comfortable with. Using two unwound paper clips he'd obtained (stolen) from Principal Kinou's room, Inuyasha then proceeded to conquer the lock on Bankotsu's door. He'd done it a million times before. This would be so much faster than running all the way to Jaken for a master key.

He inserted one of the makeshift picks into the key hole. It would act as a wrench to turn the lock with. Inuyasha slid the other paper clip in and concentrated hard. Each subtle click of the lock's five inner pins sliding into position inside the keyhole's internal shaft was picked up easily by his sensitive hearing and soon enough, the bolt turned without resistance. Inuyasha rushed in and swung the door shut.

Alright. He now had ten minutes to completely search the bastard's room as well get his butt out of there unnoticed. He set to work immediately. Putting his sensitive nose to the test. He sniffed high and low. In the closet and under the bed. Inside drawers and behind the curtains.

Satsugawa Bankotsu's room, which the boy shared with his younger brother, Ginkotsu, could have been likened to a junkyard. A junkyard that a violently explosive bomb had been dropped onto. Twice.

Inuyasha found pizza scraps, sushi scraps, pencils, pens, textbooks, ten foreign coins, waste paper, a couple of raunchy magazines, one disposable camera casing, a fluffy grey bunny, which he promptly wished he hadn't found, and some other mediocre garbage. But nothing of what he was looking for. After searching under both mattresses without success, Inuyasha started to grow frustrated. He checked his watch again. Dinner had already ended! It would only be a matter of time before Bankotsu and the rest of the school returned to their dormitories. And he hadn't acquired anything!

His eyes caught sight of the boy's navy blue blazer hanging behind the room's bathroom door. He rushed up to it and reached a hopeful hand into its inner pocket. Alas, that too pulled up nothing. Inuyasha resorted to a last, desperate action. He pushed his pride aside and brought his nose to the blazer's pocket. Smelling a fellow male person's clothes would be considered by many people to be degrading. Inuyasha was one of these people.

The fates must have been jumping up and down with glee. What with today being put-Inuyasha-in-embarrassing-situations day and all. He caught the faint whiff of something medicinal amongst a few other scents which he forced himself not to register.

The sound of voices wafted in from outside the room. Inuyasha had to get out. Fast.

He ran to the door and glanced through the peep hole. He nearly growled out loud when the unmistakable ebony braid of Satsugawa Bankotsu met his sight. No, not the door. He turned back and nearly slapped his forehead in exasperation. Of course! The window. He was such a stupid fuck sometimes.

Inuyasha dashed over and swung the glass pane open just as the sound of a key sliding through the lock behind him reached his ears.

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Bankotsu stepped into his room, throwing his sweater onto the bed. The lack of covering on his arms left them vulnerable to the cool evening draft. Bankotsu growled. He'd told Ginkotsu time and time again to always keep the damn windows closed but the idiot never listened to a word he said. He had a good mind to decapitate the boy sometimes. Bankotsu walked over to the offending window and slammed it shut. His hand remained on the metal frame for a few seconds as he took in the sight before him.

- Hn. A full moon. Something bad's going to happen to someone tonight -

He'd always been a superstitious chap.

He turned away and made for the bathroom. For now, he needed a shower. He'd be seeing Jakotsu tomorrow. That alone put him in a better mood.

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Inuyasha's fingers ached. He didn't know how long he'd been hanging by just one hand from Bankotsu's window ledge. The sound of running water confirmed that it was safe for him to swing his other arm up to help support his weight. He pulled himself just high enough for his golden eyes to peek over the ledge and into the room. Empty. Bankotsu was in the shower.

The breeze that had been blowing previously had stopped. A strong scent assaulted Inuyasha's senses. It was the same smell medicinal scent he'd gotten from Bankotsu's uniform! And it was coming from the… window sill? Quietly reopening the window, Inuyasha pulled himself into the room once more. He threw a cautious glance in the direction of the bathroom. Bankotsu was still occupied. Inuyasha reached a hand to feel under the window's thick metal frame. After a few seconds, his searching fingers chanced upon a slight crevice in the concrete below the sill.

- Hello. What's this? -

He dug deeper.

The small square-shaped packet that he pulled out from the crack in the wall a few seconds later was identical to the one he'd seen Higurashi Kagome purchase earlier that day. Bankotsu sure was a sneaky little bugger. The raids on his room hadn't picked up anything because his stash hadn't been in his room.

Finally! Inuyasha's luck was starting to take a turn for the better. He'd found what he'd been looking for. Now that he had a sample of the drug, he might be able find out what Higurashi Kagome would use it for. It was just for kicks mostly. He couldn't help himself if school life was just so boring. Hey, who knew, maybe he'd learn something really interesting in the process.

But for now, he needed to get out fast.

Inuyasha shut the window gently and tip toed to the door whose lock he had previously picked. In the short time it took to reach it, he had reverted back to his human form.

His exit was soundless.

Inuyasha was home free! Now all he had to worry about was a brutalization from Sesshoumaru, whom he would be meeting at half past eleven tonight. That was cool. He'd start stressing in three hours.

Inuyasha's stomach demanded a feeding after having been neglected by him in favour of the unauthorised raid of a fellow schoolmate's room. It growled its protest loudly. And so, in apology, the fairly happy, but horrendously hungry hanyou headed down to the cafeteria in search of leftovers.

However, the fates were not to be kind to the half-blood yet again.

Because when the boy pushed open the double doors of SNIE's main cafeteria, he found himself walking into a petite, feminine body.

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Kagome muttered a hasty apology to the chest she'd collided with.

Due to her impromptu trip to the bathroom, she had not been able to finish her dinner at the same time as everyone else. She'd made apologetic smiles to the cleaning guy before going on her way.

She'd planned on getting back to her room and perhaps finishing off some homework before the weekend. Getting a face full of man-chest had not been in her agenda for the night. The cleaner yelled out from behind her.

"Hey Nishijima! Don't you be bothering the little missy now!"

Kagome had ducked her head in embarrassment and been prepared to move past the person she'd banged into when the sound of his retort stopped her short.

"Shut it Myouga."

That voice!

Her head snapped up so fast she'd nearly had a whiplash. The top of it collided none-too-gently with the bottom of the boy's jaw.

"Fuck!"

Inuyasha brought both hands to his abused mouth. The bitch had made him bite his own tongue! The action had been done in reflex. The searing pain that had erupted made him forget that his hands had originally been occupied with holding the cafeteria doors open.

The twin metal flaps, now having nothing to keep them in place, swung back onto the pair, colliding soundly with Higurashi Kagome's back.

"Miss Kagome!"

Kouran's worried shout registered somewhere in the back of Kagome's mind, as she was sent careening into the boy's chest once again.

Now, human beings, under normal circumstances, use their hands to obtain balance in situations of instability. They flail, they grab and they steady themselves. It is an instinctive trait.

However, Kagome's hands had, at the time of the unfortunate mishap, been cradling the top of her head, which she knew would develop a lump come tomorrow morning. Inuyasha'd had his hands over his slightly bleeding mouth.

Due to these circumstantial handicaps the two were sent sprawling to the floor in a rather laughable show of inelegance.

"I-I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

Kagome's face was burning. She'd never felt so stupid in her life! The boy wasn't moving. His eyes were closed.

-Oh my god! I've killed him!-

Inuyasha recognised the girl's voice instantly. For a few moments he kept his eyes shut, hoping beyond hope that he was somehow mistaken. The girl shifted. Her breaths quickened. What was she doing? He cracked one eyelid open.

"Hey! Um… Nishijima-san? Please wake up!"

The girl was bent over his body. Hands pressed onto the ground on both sides of his head. Oh god. She wasn't going to try a mouth-to-mouth on him was she? You only did that to suffocating people. He had to stop this quick.

Kagome nearly collapsed with relief when she heard the boy's gruff voice.

"This is indecent. Get off me."

His eyes were now open. And they were glaring.

It took Kagome's mind some time to fully process what he had meant. Kouran coughed somewhere behind her. This drew her attention to the position she was currently in. She took in the location of her hands with respect to the boy's head, the proximity of her face to his, the situation of her knees on either side of his waist and yelped. Kagome scrambled off.

"Ah! Sorry!"

The boy sat up and flexed his jaw. He brought his fingers to his lips. They came away bloody.

-Fucking hell -

Tonight had to have been the worse night in his life. With less than three hours to go before he met his brother, Higurashi Kagome was the last person he'd have wanted to run into.

A small, white slip of cloth hovered in front of his face. Inuyasha glanced up. The Higurashi girl was standing over him holding her handkerchief.

"Here. Um…You can use this."

She smiled sheepishly and gestured toward his bleeding mouth. She had a cute smile. Not that he was looking or anything. He got to his feet and brushed himself off.

"Keh. Keep it."

He scoffed and turned on his heel, ready to leave. His would be dramatic exit was ruined when the sound of his growling stomach cut through the silent night air. He turned round just in time to prevent a flying sandwich from impacting his face. Myouga's curse came from somewhere behind Kouran.

"Damn it! Almost had you!"

Inuyasha didn't know how long the old man and bodyguard had been standing there. He cast them a suspicious glance. Myouga smirked.

"I knew you'd come begging for some chow sooner or later like some hungry mutt. So I saved you that from before. Wouldn't want you raiding our fridge like you did last time."

Inuyasha's reply sounded forced.

"Hn. This is sympathy food."

Myouga sent him a sly look.

"Hey now, beggars can't be choosers. You didn't seem quite so grouchy a few minutes ago. Did we interrupt something good?"

Inuyasha growled but refrained from pommeling the flea-like man. He needed the old geezer alive and well to feed him in the future.

Kagome was left with a weird feeling of déjà vu as the boy turned and stalked away. She found herself, once again facing retreating his back. And once again, she found that she couldn't help the smile that graced her face.

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