InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 4: Justification ❯ Swan Song ( Chapter 86 )

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

Gray, overcast, gloomy, dreary.

Cain aimlessly wandered the streets, hands jammed deep into the pockets of his rumpled slacks.  He'd come to town for some groceries, but those were long since forgotten.  The sky opened up above him, and the rain had started to fall.

'What's she doing now?  Does she miss me at all?'

For once his youkai didn't answer.

He'd broken down and tried to call her before heading out to town.  Somewhere in the back of his mind, he'd realized that it was very late in Tokyo.  He wasn't sure he had expected an answer from her at all.  That didn't mean he shouldn't try . . .

'God, I miss her.'

He missed her more than he could credit.  There wasn't a moment that went by when he wasn't thinking about her; about her smile; about her laughter . . . about everything that made her his baby girl.

'We could always go back.'

Shaking his head, sending droplets of water flying from his bangs, Cain grimaced and heaved a sigh.  'I can't go back—not yet.  Too many things to catch up . . . Too many things that I neglected to do.'

'What about Gin?'

Cain let his head fall back, staring up at the lackluster sky.  Somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbled precariously.  A streak of lightning split the heavens, leaving behind a dull gray that blended into the bland buildings lining the street.  He'd lost track of how long he'd wandered.  Aimless, weary, his feet carried him forward along the meandering paths.  Soaked to the bone, staring at faceless images that he couldn't quite discern, the rain was welcome; his friend—maybe the only real friend he had left.

Wincing as he rubbed the moisture out of his eyes, Cain scrunched up his shoulders and shuffled forward.  He felt oddly feverish, almost sickly.  It had to be his imagination.  He wasn't sleeping right.  Hell, he hadn't had a decent night's sleep since before he'd left Tokyo nearly four weeks ago.  He sighed and shook his head to clear his foggy mind.  'That had to be it . . .'

The brilliant flash of lightning streaked across the sky as Cain caught the door handle and pulled.  Stepping inside the small establishment, he barely noticed his surroundings as he strode toward the counter.

'Gin . . . are you thinking about me at all?'

"Can I help you, Mr. Zelig?"

"Uh, yeah . . . Can I see that one?" he asked, pointing down at the glass cabinet display.

'Do you think about us?'

'Sure, she does, Cain . . . You know she does.'

'Do I?  She seems . . . so far away.'

'Half a world away, but that's really not so bad.'

'Seems further . . . a lifetime away . . .'

'But she doesn't have to be, does she?  She could be right here with us.  That's where she belongs.'

'Gin belongs . . . with me?'

Scratching his temple as he handed over his credit card and waited, Cain scowled out the window.

'If not you, then who?  She's your mate.'

'My . . . mate . . .'

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he turned without a word and headed for the door again.  Back into the rain, into the rising gale with the vicious bite of the autumn ocean breeze, he wandered down the street again.  Pathways he'd traveled so many times over the years, down backstreets lined with little houses, with warm lights, with happy families.

Blinking in surprise as he cocked his head to the side and stared at the squat brick elementary building—Bellaniece's school—Cain pulled his hand out of his pocket.  With a start, only then did he realize that he was holding something in his hand—something that he only vaguely remembered purchasing just minutes before.

Smiling sadly as he flipped back the lid on the royal blue velvet covered jeweler's box, he stared at the brilliant diamond solitaire—the ring that could only be meant for one hand, one girl—one woman.

Cain dug his cell phone from his other pocket and hunched over, shielding the device from the rain as best as he could as he shuffled toward the pitiful shelter of the crossing guard's hut as he hit speed dial and lifted the receiver to his ear.

It rang four times before the voicemail picked up.  Sighing in frustration—would it be too much to ask that she pick up the damn thing?  That he could hear her voice just once?  Cain snapped the phone closed and shook his head.

'We've got to go back, you know?'

'Go . . . back?'

'Duh, Cain . . . Of course we have to.  How the hell else are you going to claim your mate?'

Scowling at the falling rain splattering in misshapen puddles on the blackened street, Cain opened his phone and dialed information.

"Information.  City and location, please."

"Portland . . . Portland International Airport."

"Just a moment, please."

Wrinkling his nose as he waited to be connected, Cain tapped his foot as he stared at the ring box in his hand.  Ten minutes later, he was booked on a flight to New York City, and from there, on to Tokyo, Japan.  The earliest international flight he could get was early next week.  Stifling a sigh, he hit speed dial again as he slumped against the little building.  'It'll have just have to do . . .'

"Hello?"

Straightening up so quickly that he nearly tripped over his own feet, Cain gripped the phone tight as he felt his mouth go bone-dry.  "Gin?  Gin!"

". . . Who is this?"

Scowling at the vague confusion in Gin's paper-thin voice, Cain cleared his throat.  "It's me: Cain . . . Are you all right?"

"Cain?  Oh, hi . . ."

"What's wrong?  Baby girl?"

"Nothing's wrong . . . It's late . . . early . . . um, I was sleeping."

"I'm sorry.  I just . . . Gin?  I . . . I miss you."

She didn't answer, and for a moment, he almost thought he'd lost her connection.  The line cut out for a moment as thunder cracked somewhere in the distance, and he winced.

"Are you there?  Can you hear me?"

"Cain?  Is that . . . you?"

"Yeah, it's me.  Of course it's me . . ."

"I can't hear you very well . . ."

"I'm coming back," he blurted, voice rising as the rumble of static filled his ear.  "Coming to get you, okay?  Gin?"

". . . Can't hear y—Have to go—Sorry I . . ."

"Gin?  Gin, don't hang up!  I—damn it!" he bellowed, fighting to repress the desire to smash the phone to pieces as the line went dead moments after another crack of thunder rumbled through the air.

He tried the phone again only to find that he'd lost signal completely.  With a frustrated growl, he stuffed the phone into his pocket and started walking again.

Somehow her voice had given him a singular goal in the darkness.  He could see her face in his mind—smiling, laughing, calling him home.

'Five days,' he thought as he broke into a sprint.  'Five days . . .'

Why did five days seem like a lifetime?

Five days until he'd see her again, and this time he wasn't taking 'no' for an answer.


'The air feels so . . . heavy.'

Bellaniece stepped off the steps onto the landing and frowned as she glanced up and down the abandoned hallway.    'Why don't I sense Daddy near?'

Brushing off the unsettling feelings, Bellaniece hurried toward the apartment door as she dug the key out of her purse.

Rattling the handle as her scowl deepened, she jiggled the key and tried the lock again.

'What in the—?'

'Think, Belle . . . Your key doesn't work.  The lock's been changed, and just where is your father?'

She shook her head as she pulled the key loose and hesitantly lifted her fist to knock.  'He . . . He has to be here, right?  Daddy wouldn't have left without telling me . . .'

The commercial flight had left her senses a little off-kilter, and since she'd been in such a hurry to come over to see her father, Bellaniece figured she hadn't given her body enough time to return to normal before she'd hopped into a taxi and rushed across Tokyo.  As nice as Paris had been, she had to admit that she'd really missed her father . . .

"May I help you?"

Bellaniece blinked and shook her head as she gazed at the small woman who answered the door.  "I-I'm sorry . . . I'm looking for Cain Zelig . . . He lived here . . .?"

The woman shook her head, frowning in obvious confusion.  "My husband and I moved in here almost three weeks ago," she said.

"Thank you," Bellaniece remarked absently as the woman bowed and closed the door.  'Maybe . . . Maybe he's staying with Gin . . .?'

Turning on her heel, she strode toward Gin's door only to slow as she bit her lip, as she tried to make sense of the heaviness that seemed to weigh her down as she drew closer.  The normally tranquil feel of the aura surrounding Gin's apartment was missing, and Bellaniece forced herself to knock on the door.  "Gin?  Gin, are you there?"

'Belle . . .'

She waited a moment before she knocked harder.  "Is Daddy here with you?  Gin . . ."

'It's not right, is it?  Something doesn't seem quite right . . .'

Bellaniece stepped back suddenly, shaking her head as she stared at the closed door.  'Not quite right?  But—'

'Call Kichiro.  Maybe he's heard something . . .'

Digging her cell phone out of her purse, Bellaniece dialed the number and slapped the heel of her hand against her thigh.

"Izayoi."

"Kichiro?  Daddy's not here . . ."

"What do you mean, he's not there?  Maybe he's at Gin's."

She shook her head and winced as she stared at the door.  "That's just it . . . I . . . I don't think he is.  I can't . . . I can't sense him here at all . . ."

Kichiro stopped shuffling papers.  She could have heard a pin drop on his end.  "Is Gin home?" he asked slowly.

"I . . . I think so, but . . ." She trailed off, shaking her head as she tried to find a way to describe what she felt deep down.  "It's weird.  Kichiro, do you think Daddy . . .?"

Kichiro was quiet another moment before he heaved a sigh.  She could hear him throwing the door open, heard the soft click of his shoes on the stone steps of the front porch.  "Listen to me, princess: come home, okay?"

"Shouldn't I—?"

"No.  Straight home, Belle.  Do you hear me?  I'm on my way over."

"There's something really wrong, isn't there?"

"Now, wench, now.  Call your father on the way, will you?  Find out when he left, if he did, and promise me you'll stay home till I get there."

"Okay," she agreed, staring at the door for another moment before forcing herself to turn toward the stairs again.  "I promise . . ."

The line cut off, and Bellaniece clutched the phone tight in her hand as she ran down the stairs.  What was it that Kichiro didn't want her to see?  What was he afraid he'd find?

'Don't answer that, Belle.  Just do as he said.'

Bellaniece bit her lip and didn't slow her pace as she raced toward the doors and back onto the street below.


Kichiro touched the door and shook his head, jerking his hand back as the tinged aura surrounding his sister's apartment permeated his mind.  As though he'd been burned, he scowled at his hand with an odd sort of dismay while he flexed his fingers.  Something about it felt wrong, and the foreboding that crept over him, that sent shivers down his spine, gave him pause.

'Gin, damn it . . .'

The door was locked.  He hadn't really thought it would be otherwise.  He could feel the fluctuations in Gin's youki, and that, at least, gave him a measure of relief.

"Gin, open the door!" he hollered, brushing off the nagging thought that she wouldn't be able to hear him.

"Outta my way!"

Turning and jumping back moments before InuYasha raised his foot to kick the door in, Kichiro scowled at his father and shook his head.  "What are you doing here?"

The door slammed open, bouncing off the wall and snapping back.  InuYasha stuck out his hand and shot Kichiro a cursory scowl.  "The university called your mother.  Gin's not been in class for nearly four weeks, and Kagome . . .."

"Damn it . . ."

Grimacing as he entered the dismal apartment, Kichiro strode after InuYasha as the two ran down the hallway toward Gin's bedroom.  The aura that filled the small space was much worse inside.  The stench of dying flesh filled his nose and brought bile rising in his throat.  Staggering into Gin's room behind his father, Kichiro couldn't contain the string of expletives as he stared in shock at the withered body of the sister he adored.

Lying in the copious folds of the blankets that nearly hid her from view, if he hadn't seen the silver wisps of hair tangled around her, he might have missed her completely.  Wasted away to little more than a shadow of her former self, her chest barely fluctuated with the soft whisper of shallow, labored breathing.  The stale stench of burnt cigarette butts hung in the air, and he gaped at the bedroom that he knew his sister would have normally kept immaculate.

The stench of death hung thick in the air, choking him as he shook his head, as he tried in vain to understand just what was going on.  The eerie tableaux laid out on the nightstand . . . burnt cigarette butts spilling out of the ashtray . . . the pale pink envelope leaning askew against the porcelain base of the lamp . . . the half-full glass of water teetering precariously on the edge of the nightstand . . . the fragile wire frame of transparent wings carefully laid out on the bed beside her that seemed both stunningly beautiful and yet completely horrifying at the same time . . . Hurrying to her side, he knelt beside her, grasped her painfully bony wrist to check her weak, thready pulse.  ". . . Gin-chan . . ."

"What the—?"

InuYasha shoved Kichiro aside as he strode over to the bed and yanked back the covers.  "How the hell . . .?  What the fuck is going on?" InuYasha rasped out, the gruffness in his tone completely at odds with the gentleness with which he lifted his daughter off the bed.

Swallowing the edge of nausea, Kichiro cleared his throat and carefully avoided his father's sharp gaze.  "She needs him—Zelig.  You have to bring him back."

"Zelig?  Why—?"

"Come on, old man.  Don't say you don't know what I'm talking about."

He could feel InuYasha's glower rake over him.  He could sense the tenseness in his father's every movement.  "What the hell do you know?"

Kichiro shrugged, eyes trained on the pale pink envelope before he slowly, hesitantly reached out, snagging it between his index and middle fingers, and stuffed it into his pocket.  "She chose him," he heard himself say, his voice oddly calm despite the lingering tinge of remorse that lurked around the edges of his control.  "She chose him, and he chose her . . . She needs him."

"What the fuck is going on?"

Turing slowly to stare at his twin, Kichiro clenched his jaw as InuYasha, sparing one last moment to glower at him, pushed past him.  "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Ryomaru shrugged as Toga peered over his shoulder, his breath escaping in a sharp hiss of air.  "Mother called me," he growled.  "She couldn't get a hold of oyaji."

"I'm right here, ain't I?" InuYasha snarled as he snapped his head to the side to glower at his youngest son.  "I'll go get him," he promised with a grimace.  "I'll bring that bastard back, and when she's safe, I swear to kami, I'll rip him limb from fucking limb."

Toga muttered into his cell phone as Kichiro slowly shook his head.  "I'll come with you."

InuYasha snorted and opened his mouth to speak.  Toga closed the phone and laid a hand on InuYasha's shoulder.  "I'll go with Yasha-jiji.  You need to stay here.  Gin needs you.  Keep her alive.  Father says to give him an hour to have the plane readied."

"Fuck that, baka!" Ryomaru hollered.  "I'll go with the old man, damn it."

Toga shook his head, staring at Gin with a deep scowl.  "Two hot heads?  I don't think so . . . You have to bring Zelig-san back alive, right?  I'm going."

"Take my daughter home," InuYasha growled, sparing a moment to kiss her forehead before carefully handing her over to Ryomaru before rounding on Kichiro again.  "You . . . you keep her alive.  I don't give a damn how you do it—just do it.  When I get back, you're going to tell me just how fucking long you've known about this, and why you didn't fucking tell me."

Kichiro stared at his father for a moment before nodding curtly and letting his gaze drop to the floor.

Toga brushed his knuckles over Gin's sunken cheek, grimacing at the pronounced hollows, at the blackened half-moons under her eyes.  "Let's go, jiji."

"Don't let your mother worry," InuYasha told Ryomaru as he leaned closer and kissed Gin's temple.  "Hang on, baby girl.  I'll be back soon."