InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 3: Forever ❯ Big Plans ( Chapter 39 )

~~Chapter 39~~

~Big Plans~

 

“She's going to be fine, you know.”

 

Ryomaru glanced up as Sierra lounged in the doorway with a compassionate smile as she stared at Nezumi's sleeping form. Lying on her stomach with her face turned toward him, Nezumi looked like she was sleeping. Her color was good though maybe a little pale, her vital signs seemed strong. Ryomaru tried to smile but couldn't. Sierra nodded in unspoken understanding.

 

“I know,” he agreed with a sigh. “I just don't like to see her like that. She looks . . . I don't know . . .”

 

Sierra shrugged and idly rubbed her barely-visible distended tummy. “You're protecting her, and that's what's important. Anyway, she's strong, remember? She's put up with you for years.”

 

Even Sierra's teasing couldn't quite snap Ryomaru out of his concern. On the one hand, he knew that having Nezumi marked would be a far sight better than letting her run around without the extra protection. On the other hand . . .

 

Kichiro grasped Sierra's shoulders and brushed past her, taking his time as he checked Nezumi's vital signs. Apparently satisfied that all was as it should be, he uttered a grunt of approval and leveled a look at Ryomaru, who was scowling at his sibling as he waited for Kichiro's final word of approval. “All right, Ryomaru, it's almost time. Do me a favor and don't forget to drink your juice, okay? Lugging Toga home was bad enough. You're becoming a regular fat ass since you gave up hunting.”

 

“Fat ass?” Ryomaru echoed, glaring at his sibling with a disgusted glower. “Who are you calling `fat', you stupid little---”

 

“One of you should learn to cook,” Kichiro broke in with a shake of his head. “It's all that fast food, baka---it's going straight to your ass.”

 

“I'd rather have a big ass than be all ass,” Ryomaru shot back, cracking his knuckles in a not-so-subtle threat.

 

Kichiro snapped the rubber tubing he used to isolate blood vessels and held out his hand. “Ready, Ryo?”

 

Ryomaru looked like he still wanted to argue with Kichiro but in the end he stuck out his arm. “Get it over with, will you?”

 

Kichiro's smile was thin. “Yeah, I hear you. Just remember to drink your juice.”

 

Ryomaru grabbed Kichiro's wrist. “And you swear, this won't hurt her?”

 

“I swear.”

 

Ryomaru stared at him for another moment before letting go and sitting back. “Then let's do this.”

 

Kichiro nodded slowly and made quick work of setting up the blood transfusion kit. Ryomaru stared at Nezumi, eyes darting from her face to the heart monitor and back again. Her pulse was thready but constant. Kichiro waited until the first real hesitation in her heartbeat before opening the small valve to let Ryomaru's blood filter into her.

 

“Drink that juice,” Kichiro demanded, his tone gruffer than normal. Ryomaru snorted but grabbed the bottle, lifting it to his lips without comment and without taking his eyes off his mate.

 

“I'll be back to check on you two. It shouldn't take too long now.”

 

Ryomaru nodded. When he looked up, both Sierra and Kichiro were gone.

 

He could feel a strange sort of lethargy seeping into his body. The blood loss, he supposed . . . Remembering times long past, he smiled just a little. The fateful day he'd met her, the tiny slip of a girl who would have taken on all the bullies, if he had let her . . . The wash of days that tumbled together, so similar and yet so different . . . Walking her home after school . . . Picking at her while she tried to do her homework . . . Too many things that seemed insignificant at the time, and as they grew up together, her familiarity had become his shelter . . .

 

`Great,' he thought absently. `Blood loss makes me all wimpy.'

 

“Oi, pup . . . how is she?”

 

Ryomaru blinked slowly, frowning as his eyes slid into focus on his father's face. “She's fine, or so Kich said. He'd better have been telling the truth or I'll rip him apart.”

 

Scowling slightly as he tilted his head to the side and stared at Nezumi, InuYasha shifted his gaze to the side. “Drink that,” he ordered without preamble, poking a finger at the barely touched bottle of juice.

 

Doing as he was told since InuYasha was one of the few people that Ryomaru didn't dare argue with, he drained the bottle in short order as his father stomped over to the dormitory refrigerator to retrieve another one.

 

InuYasha didn't speak again until after Ryomaru had downed another couple bottles of liquid. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell his father that there'd be trouble if he drank any more since he was still hooked up to the blood transfusing unit and drinking much more would make things really uncomfortable. The fierce look on InuYasha's face stopped him, and with an inward sigh, Ryomaru opened the fourth bottle without complaint.

 

“You take care of her, Ryo. She's tough for a human, but she's still a human, and she's a woman. Don't forget that.”

 

“She'd kick my ass if I said that,” Ryomaru remarked with a scowl.

 

“You don't have to say it to her, baka. Just do it so she don't have to take care of herself, you got that?”

 

“Yeah,” Ryomaru agreed, shaking his head to dispel the fuzziness that kept seeping around the edges of his mind. “Yeah, I got that.”

 

InuYasha stood back, leaned against the high counter, crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. “I'm not too worried. Your mother wanted me to remind you, uh . . . in case you forgot.”

 

Hiding his amusement at his father's claim, Ryomaru swallowed more juice and carefully set the bottle down in the middle of the ring of condensation. “Yeah . . . well, you know Mother. She worries about a lot of things.”

 

“Yeah,” InuYasha acknowledged. “She does, don't she?”

 

Ryomaru's gaze drifted back to Nezumi. Her pale skin was pinking up, and she looked like she was only sleeping. He smiled in relief, sure now that Nezumi was going to be fine. “Absolutely, old man. Absolutely.”

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

The old tenement was ready to be torn down. Crumbling walls, decaying floors, rotting ceilings that sagged and leaked, it was a wonder that the building hadn't been destroyed long ago. Being on the bad side of Tokyo had its advantages. One of those advantages was the numerous places to hide. Fading in and out of shadows, lurking somewhere between darkness and light, Tanak Akinoka waited as darkened figures slowly emerged in the stillness.

 

“Where are the others?” Kenichi asked; the wolf youkai staring at the assembly and slowly shaking his head over the missing youkai.

 

“Here . . . there . . . doing whatever they want,” Renzo replied, gravely voice harsh and rasping. “It don't matter . . . the others'll find out.”

 

Akinoka shifted his gaze. Kenichi was right. More than half of their number had yet to appear. The ones who were missing weren't really an issue. `Stupid lot, all of them,' he thought as his lip curled in a cynical sneer. `If I didn't need their brawn . . .'

 

“How much longer?” Renzo demanded, crimson eyes locking onto Akinoka's face. “We're tired of waiting.”

 

“And they know about us!” Kenichi pointed out. “They sent the serpent hunters, didn't they? They were weak, sure, but the fact remains, they know. We have to be patient. We have to wait just a little longer---”

 

“It's been long enough!” Renzo growled. “My family wants revenge.”

 

“Don't be stupid, Renzo! Revenge is good, but so is breathing. If you aren't careful, you'll expose us all.”

 

“Are you calling me stupid, Kenichi? I've killed for less than that . . .” the fire-based youkai spat.

 

“Calm down . . . No one was calling you stupid. Kenichi is right, and you know it. We have to be careful. Attacking at the wrong time won't help us. There are too many of those damn dogs. The Inu no Taisho and his family . . . and the hanyous are almost worse than the youkai.”

 

“Izayoi Ryomaru killed my brothers,” came a rasping voice from the shadows. The assembly turned, stared into the darkness as they tried to discern the voice, the face. The neko-youkai, who emerged from the shadows, bedraggled and gaunt, seemed half-dead. Eyes lit with a strange sort of fire, he was existing on simple, seething hatred. “I will kill him, not you.”

 

“Izayoi killed all your brothers in one fight,” Akinoka pointed out reasonably. “You think that he cannot take you down? Calm yourself, Shiro. Listen to reason. We all want vengeance for one thing or another. If we continue to work together, we cannot lose.”

 

Shiro's wild yellow eyes rounded in outrage, and he extended a razed claw. “You make plans and plot in the shadows! I'm tired of waiting! I want him dead, and I want him dead now!”

 

“And you think that he will be that simple to destroy? Are you so stupid that you'd risk us all for your foolish pride?”

 

Shiro shot forward, his body a streak of movement, clawed hand wrapping around Akinoka's neck. He squeezed. Akinoka laughed and heaved the neko-youkai, sending him sprawling on the filthy floor. The rain-sodden boards creaked and groaned as Shiro sprang into a crouch. “You stupid bastard! Don't come after me unless you have the balls to finish the job,” Akinoka taunted.

 

“This isn't helping, is it? Fighting amongst ourselves won't do a damn bit of good,” Kenichi interrupted. Shiro bared his fangs menacingly as Akinoka narrowed his eyes in silent warning. “I heard something . . .”

 

The mention of more information was enough to silence the hostility. Waiting until everyone was quiet, Akinoka nodded for Kenichi to continue.

 

“He's marking his mate as we speak, at his brother's clinic. There'll never be a better time. He'll be weakened from the process. He'll be vulnerable.”

 

“How do you know this? It's not something that would be common knowledge,” Akinoka pointed out. “They would guard this information with their lives.”

 

Kenichi shrugged, his smile wolfish, fangs glinting in the filmy light that penetrated the crusty windows. “I have my ways,” he goaded. “The information is reliable. The one who told me . . . she works for the Inu no Taisho, though I doubt she realized what she was telling me.”

 

“It sounds too good to be true,” Akinoka remarked slowly. “Kenichi, go and check this. If your information is correct, they'll be there at the clinic now.”

 

Kenichi nodded and darted off into the darkness. Shiro stood up, face contorting in a twisted smile. “You can have the others. I just want the hunter.”

 

Akinoka smiled tightly, gazing around at the remaining youkai as he rehashed the plan that really mattered. If they were successful, the inu-youkai would fall. Inutaisho Sesshoumaru and his clan would be demolished, starting with that sanctioned murderer, Ryomaru.

 

Common sense kept him from being overly confident. The tai-youkai and his renegade half-brother would doubtless put up a decent struggle, and Akinoka wasn't fool enough to lapse into complacency, as far as they were concerned. True enough, it had been years since either Sesshoumaru or InuYasha had been in actual combat situations, but one couldn't discount the hanyou who brought down Naraku centuries ago. As for the Inu no Taisho . . . there was a reason that the youkai was still the undisputed leader, and even if Izayoi Ryomaru was out of the picture, Sesshoumaru would definitely prove a worthy adversary . . .

 

The real reason that Akinoka put up with the others wasn't because he wanted them around. `There is strength in numbers,' he thought as he considered his plan. The rag-tag assembly might not be able to do anything on their own but banded together . . .

 

`First we take out the Tokyo dogs, and then . . .'

 

Akinoka's gaze narrowed as the enigmatic smile on his face shifted into a calculated grin.

 

`Then all bets are off. It's every youkai for himself, and that is how it ought to be.'

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

Nezumi opened her eyes slowly, shaking off the disorientation and the dullness that wrapped around her mind from the anesthetic. She felt remarkably good though when she shifted her left arm to sit up, she winced at the soreness on her shoulder blade.

 

Ryomaru's eyes were dull, but he smiled when her gaze met his. “Oi, Nez. You feel okay?”

 

“Yeah,” she replied. “I do . . .”

 

“It's done,” he mused. “No regrets?”

 

Nezumi craned her neck to look at her shoulder. A thin silvery scar was starting to form on her shoulder, and Ryomaru leaned in closer to inspect it, too. “That wasn't so bad,” she remarked absently. “Do I need to regret something?”

 

“Kami, I hope not,” Ryomaru grumbled but couldn't hide the smug little grin as he looked at her shoulder. “That's my mark, Nez. That means you're my mate. That means you're stuck with me forever.”

 

She rolled her eyes at the unmistakable gloating in his tone but smiled anyway. “Stuck with you, huh?”

 

“Yep, completely stuck. Anyway, I think you should note: you got the better twin.”

 

“Did I really? How do you know?”

 

Ryomaru shrugged and stifled a yawn with the back of his hand. “I'm older, I'm stronger, I'm just better. Didn't you know?”

 

“I noticed you didn't mention smarter,” she pointed out.

 

“Well, that goes without saying, don't it?”

 

“How does that work?”

 

“I wasn't stupid enough to make fun of my bigger, badder, tougher brother . . . and I fully plan on kicking his scrawny little ass in the very near future.”

 

“Why?”

 

He snorted, making a face as he flattened his ears. “Never mind. I just owe Kich a beating, that's all.”

 

She tried not to smile. “Okay.”

 

“It's too late to change your mind. Hell, it's been too late awhile now . . .”

 

Grimacing as she pushed herself up on her elbow, Nezumi rolled onto her side and watched silently as Ryomaru gently caught the thin hospital gown and tugged it back up over her shoulder. “I guess I can live with that,” she allowed.

 

Ryomaru sat down on the bed then lay back, resting his head on her pillow as he stared up at her. “I guess you'll have to.”

 

“You're not a complete baka,” she went on, trying to lighten his pensive mood. “You've got a few saving graces, I guess.”

 

“Like what?”

 

She shrugged. “Well, like . . . like . . . umm . . .”

 

“Yeah?” he prompted.

 

“Let me think . . .”

 

Ryomaru snorted. “Feh! Wench.”

 

“Good, you're awake . . . Ryomaru, get the hell off her bed, will you?” Kichiro grumbled as he strode into the room.

 

Ryomaru shot his twin a scathing look but didn't comply right away. In fact, he seemed to scoot in closer, and as Kichiro pulled back Nezumi's gown to check her shoulder, Ryomaru rumbled out a low growl. Kichiro swatted him with the clipboard he held in his free hand. “Knock it off. I'm not doing anything but making sure your marking didn't have any adverse effects.”

 

“Adverse effects?” Nezumi echoed before Ryomaru could retaliate. She pushed his hand aside as he tried to grab the clipboard without moving off the bed. `What sort of adverse effects?”

 

Kichiro watched the exchange as Ryomaru caught Nezumi's hand and pinned it so he could take another swing to intercept the clipboard again. Nezumi rolled her eyes and slapped Ryomaru's other hand away, too.

 

“Like the sharing of his baka gene. It doesn't look like it affected you, though, thank kami . . .” Striding toward the door again, Kichiro paused long enough to call back, “I'll send Mother and the old man home. They were worried that you'd do something stupid, like pass out.”

 

“Oi! Get back here! I ain't done with you, Kich!”

 

Seeing no other way to calm the hanyou, Nezumi heaved a loud sigh and scooted a little closer to him. Ryomaru's tirade ended abruptly, and he gave up on the idea of maiming his brother, opting to cuddle with Nezumi, instead. “We can go home when you're ready,” he remarked as he rubbed his fingertips over the mark, careful not to push hard enough to hurt her.

 

“Can we?” she murmured, closing her eyes. The rhythm of his touch was lulling her, and she smiled when she felt his lips on her forehead.

 

“Sure . . . Kich said that we should probably stop and get something to eat. I'm starving.”

 

“Okay,” she agreed, loath to end such a peaceful moment.

 

Ryomaru sat up suddenly, ears twitching as he glanced around the room.

 

“What is it?”

 

He shook his head and shrugged but continued his slow perusal. “I don't know . . . I thought I smelled . . . something . . .”

 

“Like what?”

 

He shrugged again and shot her a look, but the smile on his face was thin, strained. Golden eyes tinged with a hint of apprehension, he waved his hand and stood up. “It was nothing. I think my senses are off. Come on, Nez. Let's go home.”

 

She watched him as he headed for the doorway to give her privacy to dress. Maybe she'd just imagined his preoccupation. The emotion had been gone as quickly as it had come, and sure, Kichiro had mentioned that Ryomaru would probably take a little longer to recover than she would.

 

`It's nothing. He said so,' she chided herself as swung her legs off the bed and shuffled over to retrieve her neatly-folded clothes. It didn't take long to dress, but she caught a glimpse of the silvery mark in the mirror before she pulled her shirt over her head. Turning to the side to get a better look at it, Nezumi smiled. The slight bruising she felt couldn't be seen, but the smooth lines of the whitish-silver streak---roughly two inches long and no wider than her pinkie---were quite evident.

 

`Forever,' she thought as her little grin widened. Pulling the shirt over her head, Nezumi suddenly wanted to laugh. For the first time in her life, the idea of anything lasting forever seemed real, and she had Ryomaru to thank for that.

 

 

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A/N:

I'm opening a website to archive my stories. While I've not yet gotten around to putting the stories in PDF format for download, I'm doing this to put everything together in one place. Feel free to stop by and to sign the guestbook. Also hosted on site are Duckie's awesome fanarts!

www(dot)suericfanfictions(dot)com …

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Final Thought fromRyomaru:

Fat ass? Kich is dead …

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Forever): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~