InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 5: Phantasm ❯ Damning Evidence ( Chapter 36 )

~~Chapter 36~~

~Damning Evidence~

 

Bas groaned and jerked his head to the side in a vain effort to avoid the gentle yet stinging slaps that kept trying to jar him out of his forced incoherence.

 

“Come on, Bas the Hunter . . . you're stronger than that . . .”

 

`Sydnie?'

 

He could hear the worry tingeing her voice, could sense the underlying panic. `Panic? Worry? Why . . .?'

 

“Fine, then I will!” The angry flash of her brilliant green eyes burned into his skull as he watched her glare at him just before carting around and dashing into the trees . . .

 

`The bounty hunters . . .'

 

Bas' eyes snapped open as he jerked upright, grabbing Sydnie's wrist as he glanced around wildly. She gasped but didn't try to pull away. Bas winced, temple protesting the jarring motion as the slow realization sank into his confused brain. They were in the car, weren't they? They were in the car with the engine running though they weren't moving. “Wh . . . what happened?” he whispered, unable to bear the idea of raising his voice.

 

Sydnie choked out a little sound and tried to throw herself against Bas' chest. The seatbelt caught her and held her back. She unfastened the latch with a frustrated little growl and leaned over the console to hug him. “You're okay?” she demanded, her voice thick, breaking.

 

“Yeah, fine,” he grumbled despite the nagging ache in his head, the pervasive pain in his thigh. His stomach felt queasy, and his back and chest hurt, too, but he wasn't teetering on the brink of death. “Where are we?”

 

She sniffled. “I had to wake you up,” she babbled. “You have to stay awake until we reach Chicago.”

 

“Awake?” he echoed vaguely, eyelids drifting closed as he slumped back against the seat. “All . . . right . . .”

 

Sydnie sat up, brushing his bangs out of his face as she stroked his cheek and grimaced. “No, Sebastian . . . don't close your eyes,” she demanded.

 

He thought he nodded.

 

Sydnie tapped his cheek again. “I mean it, puppy!”

 

“Okay,” he mumbled, forcing his eyes open. She bit her lip and scowled at him before settling back into the driver's seat and tugging the seatbelt back into place.

 

“I set the automap,” she went on as she put the car into gear. “At least, I think I did.”

 

Bas nodded, unable to summon the strength to answer her properly. Sydnie shot him another worried glance and sighed. “Talk to me, Sebastian. Just talk.”

 

“Talk . . . about what?” he asked, his voice thick; his words slurred.

 

“Anything, anything . . . whatever you want . . . Tell me about your family?”

 

“Family . . .” he repeated. “Got lots of . . . family.”

 

“Does everyone in your family look like you?”

 

Bas forced his eyes open again. Sydnie reached down to hit the selector button on the automap monitor. He wasn't sure what sort of course she'd set, but the left turn signal flickered to life, and she slowed the vehicle to turn at the next crossroad.

 

“No,” he replied. “Just my sister and Dad and me . . .”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Ev'ryone else looks . . . like Mom . . . Mom's side of the family.”

 

“What does your mom look like?”

 

Bas heaved a sigh, wondering vaguely why Sydnie was being so insistent that he keep talking. “Mom? Silver hair . . . dog ears . . . hanyou . . .”

 

“Silver hair?” she asked sharply, casting him a curious glance.

 

Bas smiled wanly. “They say I have her eyes . . .”

 

“She has golden eyes, too?”

 

He missed the calculated casualness in her tone as a fine sheen of sweat broke out on his brow. “All of `em . . . same eyes . . . like the old man—m' grandfather . . . and Uncle.”

 

“Golden eyes . . .”

 

Bas winced as a stabbing pain shot down his leg. “Mmm.”

 

Sydnie didn't respond right away. Lost in thought, she drove in silence. Bas was almost asleep again when he heard her voice—gentle yet insistent—calling out to him. “This grandfather of yours . . . he's youkai?”

 

“N-n-n . . .” He trailed off. Talking took too much effort.

 

“Don't go to sleep, Sebastian . . . you can't go to sleep.”

 

Bas opened his mouth to answer but yawned instead.

 

“Don't make me pull over, Bas the Hunter!” she said sharply, her voice cracking as it rose in pitch.

 

He grimaced but sighed, forcing his eyes open again. “I-I-I'm awake, Sydnie,” he muttered, lifting his right hand to rub his temple and being rewarded with a stabbing pain in his shoulder for the effort. `Damn fire-youkai . . . fire spears . . . what a bitch . . .'

 

Bas frowned as another thought permeated his sluggish mind. Forcing himself to turn enough to stare at Sydnie, Bas shook his head and gritted his teeth. “What happened to the rest of the bounty hunters?”

 

Sydnie shot him a cursory glance before turning her attention back to the road once more. “Don't worry, puppy. I took care of them.”

 

Bas blinked. “You did.”

 

She nodded. “I did.”

 

Craning his neck despite his body's fierce protests to the contrary, Bas surveyed the area then growled in frustration. It was too dark to see anything, and even if he could, the car was moving much too fast for him to discern any real movement. Settling back with a worried scowl, Bas reached out, catching Sydnie's icy fingers and giving them a little squeeze. “You got me out of there, didn't you?”

 

“Of course I did, puppy. Did you think I'd just leave you?”

 

He sighed. “Tired,” he mumbled, eyes drifting closed once more.

 

“Don't go to sleep, Sebastian,” she said quietly. “You can't . . . the rattlesnake-youkai bit you. You can't go to sleep . . .”

 

“No sleep . . . poison . . . right,” he murmured. “Damn it . . . so that's why . . . I feel like . . . shit.”

 

“Just don't go to sleep, puppy,” she said, her voice low, raw with unvoiced emotion. “Please don't go to sleep.”

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

“How's the arm?”

 

Izayoi Ryomaru glanced up at his father and shrugged. “I'll live. She's just a little thing,” he replied evenly. “Everything look okay?”

 

InuYasha grunted as he crouched on the branch of the tall tree just outside the high wall that surrounded the Zeligs' Wake Forest estate. “He's sleeping now. Looks like hell, but he'll live.”

 

Ryomaru nodded sagely. “Good.”

 

“Crazy wench . . . just what the fuck did she think she could've done with his sword, anyway?”

 

Shaking his head, Ryomaru let his legs dangle on either side of the branch where he'd been waiting for InuYasha's return. “What do you think, old man? She was protecting her mate.”

 

“Keh! Mate, eh? A dog and a cat . . . that's just wrong.”

 

“Wrong or not, I'd say it was pretty evident, wouldn't you?”

 

InuYasha shrugged, stuffing his arms together under the sleeves of his old fire-rat haori. He'd taken to wearing the youkai garments after they'd located Sebastian and Sydnie, not that Ryomaru blamed him. The clothing was basically like armor, and since they'd been sticking to the areas outside of the towns where Bas and Sydnie stopped, they had been relatively unnoticed, anyway, which was how Gin and Cain had wanted it. The few times Ryomaru had ventured into civilization, InuYasha had stayed behind.

 

“Anyway, does it matter if she makes him happy?”

 

“Matters,” InuYasha grunted, golden eyes casing the surroundings for any trace of potential threats. “She's accused of murder.”

 

Ryomaru shrugged. “Bas says she ain't a murderer,” he contended. “Cain trusts his judgment.”

 

“Maybe; maybe not. Why ain't the human authorities looking for her?”

 

Scratching his neck, Ryomaru grunted. “Cain's like Sesshoumaru, I'd guess. Got spies in places to cover things up so he can deal with certain things without involving humans.”

 

“Deal with stuff? He didn't even come after his own pup, damn it.”

 

Ryomaru didn't reply to that. InuYasha had been overly irritated when Gin had explained that Cain couldn't trail Bas. Having too many other things that needed his attention and not wishing to draw undue attention to Bas' situation, Cain had also been afraid that Bas would find out and think that he didn't trust his son, and as much as it might irk InuYasha, Ryomaru had to concede to Cain's logic. His own son, Morio would have been livid if he had been the one sent out on a hunt only to find out that anyone had doubted his abilities.

 

In any case, Ryomaru had been the one who had called to tell Cain about the bounty hunters' latest ambush. It had been close—too close. InuYasha and Ryomaru had decided to try to intercept and take care of the hunters without Bas being any the wiser. At least, that had been the plan until Bas had decided to stop in the middle of nowhere. As it was, InuYasha had been sorely put out that he couldn't do much more than stand around and watch while Bas took on the bounty hunters, and he hadn't done badly, either, taking down four of the eight of them single-handedly. Ryomaru had taken care of the two who had given chase when Sydnie sprinted into the trees, and InuYasha had cut down the remaining two after Bas had been knocked out cold.

 

She was smart, that cat-youkai. Whether she realized how much she had helped Bas or not, she'd gained Ryomaru's grudging respect with her actions. Taking off by herself might have seemed a little foolhardy, but standing her ground over Bas' fallen body with a sword that she obviously didn't know how to wield . . . Ryomaru didn't have a doubt in his mind that she would have fought tooth and nail to protect Sebastian, even from them. What was more, InuYasha had even given his grudging approval of the feline later. Watching the car slip back onto the road and disappear in the distance, InuYasha had grumbled that Sydnie `had guts', which, in the hanyou's terms, was high praise . . .

 

InuYasha heaved a sigh and pulled Tetsusaiga, the legendary Sword of the Fang, from his waistband and wrapped his arms around it, obviously settling in for the night's vigil. Ryomaru followed suite with his sword; two sentient beings perched in the high branches of the tallest pine tree.

 

“We'll make sure he comes home,” Ryomaru had promised Gin just before he and InuYasha had set out to trail the future tai-youkai.

 

Gin had smiled sweetly, her eyes bright, clear. “I know you will. I trust you both.”

 

It was a promise that they intended to keep.

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

Sydnie slept fitfully in the hard wooden chair beside the huge bed in the silent room. She'd lost count of the numbers of times she'd woken up during the day and night. Afraid to disturb Sebastian by lying beside him, she had pulled the chair across the room from the desk near the floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side of the room after listening to him babble incoherently for nearly twenty-four hours. She'd rifled through the tidy bathroom adjoining the bedroom for the poison salve that the younger hanyou had told her to find.

 

Opening her eyes when Bas groaned softly, Sydnie leaned forward to touch his clammy skin. `The fever's broken,' she thought with a sigh of relief. `Thank God.'

 

She'd never been so scared in her life. Sparing a moment to stroke Bas' cheek, she pushed herself out of the chair and hurried into the bathroom for a cool washcloth, ignoring the throbbing ache in her burned hands.

 

The two hour car ride had felt as though it had taken forever. Sydnie hadn't been prepared for the drive around Chicago, and she had to struggle to retain a semblance of calm while the traffic had surged around her. Telling herself over and over that Bas just wasn't in any condition to drive, she had done it with the help of the automap. Bas rarely used the feature though it was standard in all the vehicles they'd rented. All she had to do was key in the physical address of their destination, and the navigational system—she wasn't sure exactly how it worked—took over, indicating directions both on the LCD monitor built into the dashboard as well as activating turn signals and such things via satellite, she supposed. In any case, all she had to do was stop at lights and make sure she turned where she was told to, and they'd reached the house on the outskirts of Chicago—Wake Forest, to be exact—safely enough.

 

Getting Sebastian out of the car had been another ordeal, entirely. It had taken nearly half an hour to rouse Bas enough to coax him out of the vehicle since he was just too large for her to pick him up, and even after she'd managed to help him stand, his left leg was almost entirely useless. She could have lifted him, she supposed, if he weren't almost seven feet tall. His weight coupled with his towering height made it simply impossible for Sydnie to negotiate without his aid, but he'd finally regained enough composure that he could make it inside the door and up the stairs under his own steam though leaning heavily on her for support.

 

She later regretted his having to move himself. Traveling in the car had been enough to spread the rattlesnake-youkai's poison through his system. The fifteen minutes it took to get from the car to Bas' bedroom on the third floor of the mansion had done much worse. By the time he'd collapsed on his bed, his skin had been burning to the touch, face pale and drawn. Shivering profusely, he'd sweated under the covers that she'd carefully tucked around him, mumbling incoherent words and sentence fragments that made little sense. She'd hurried off to find the salve, returning just in time to shove him onto his side to keep him from choking helplessly on his own vomit.

 

It had been a long night. After the tenth bout of vomiting, she'd given up changing the sheets. He only had one clean set left in the air-tight, thick plastic bags stacked inside the closet on the shelf. She'd finally changed them that a few hours ago, just after his fever had finally broken. Opening the windows a crack to air out the stagnant space, she'd run downstairs long enough to locate the washing machine, and despite the ten minutes it took to figure out how the thing worked, Sydnie was relieved to find Bas sleeping comfortably, his coloring slowly returning to a normal shade as the dark circles under his eyes diminished. He hadn't stirred while she'd carefully wiped him off as best as she could. He'd need a shower, certainly, but for now, at least, he was clean enough. That done, she'd curled up in the wooden chair as best as she could, napping off and on while trying to keep an eye on Sebastian, too.

 

His wounds weren't healing the way they ought to. Sydnie frowned, carefully pulling the blanket back with a shaking hand. The hole in his right shoulder, while not bleeding, wasn't closing up, either. Clear fluid seeped from the wound, and Sydnie had to wonder if the poison weren't retarding the healing process a little, and she winced when she peeled back the gauze she'd carefully taped over the puncture wounds on his left thigh. The skin around the holes was greenish-black, but the coloring was a little paler than it had been when she'd first cleaned it.

 

Biting her lower lip, Sydnie gently wiped the residual salve off the wound. Bas' leg jerked though he didn't wake, and Sydnie made quick work of applying more salve to the punctures before applying clean gauze from the first aid kit she'd found under the sink in the bathroom.

 

The handwritten instructions taped to the white plastic jar had explained how to mix the powder with water to create a salve that could draw poison out of an open wound. Sydnie had followed the instructions to the letter then had reread them for good measure before applying it to Bas' leg.

 

Deliberately ignoring the surge of late panic that welled up inside her every time she remembered seeing Bas flying back from the impact of the energy blast, Sydnie swallowed hard and blinked back the burning sensation prickling her eyes and nose. He was fine now, wasn't he? He was safe, and he was going to be all right.

 

She sat back with a heavy sigh, closing her eyes for a moment as she thought fleetingly that she really ought to go check on the sheets. The house, itself, bothered her. It was his house, right? The tai-youkai's house . . . Bas' room didn't upset her so much. It smelled like Sebastian—felt like Sebastian. The rest of the house, however . . . it frightened her. She'd forced herself to find the laundry room, true enough, and she'd poked around the kitchen long enough to find a glass to get Bas some water though he hadn't been coherent enough to try to drink any of it. Still the place was too overwhelming with the scent of so many people who smelled like Bas yet didn't, and knowing that Cain Zelig was one of the scents . . . it just didn't sit well with Sydnie at all . . .

 

The idea of leaving the sheets in the washer wasn't good, however, and she sighed. Leaving them there would only make them smell dank and musty, and the last thing she wanted to do was ruin his sheets since that particular stench, she knew, was one that was much, much harder to wash out later. `I'll check them in a few minutes,' she told herself, leaning her forehead on her propped fingertips but careful not to touch her still-sore palm.

 

The sound of Sebastian's light, even breathing soothed her, and Sydnie crossed her arms on the bed, resting her head on her forearms. `Just . . . a few minutes . . .'

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

Bas groaned and pushed himself up on his left elbow, blinking rapidly to dispel the lingering traces of fogginess that clung to his mind. Sydnie slept in a chair beside the bed, slumped over and so forlorn looking that Bas grimaced just before he reached over and tapped Sydnie's knee. “Sydnie?”

 

She jerked upright and quickly shook her head, her startled gaze clouded with concern as she shot to her feet. “Are you okay? Do you need something? Water? Washcloth? Trash can? You're not going to puke again, are you?”

 

“Puke?” he echoed weakly. “Sydnie . . . what?”

 

She sank down in the chair as though her legs had suddenly given out on her. Shoulders slumping, chin dropping as she stared at her hands, clasped in her lap, Sydnie heaved a weary sigh moments before—and to Bas' absolute horror—the cat-youkai burst into a very loud wail.

 

“Wh—? Hey . . . it's okay . . . don't . . . don't cry, all right?” he muttered, rubbing her knee since it was the only part of her he could comfortably reach.

 

Sydnie sniffled loudly and shot him a fierce glower. “You jerk!” she screeched, half-sobbing, half-yelling, dashing the back of her hand over her eyes. More tears washed into her gaze, completely undermining the mutinous expression that she was so obviously striving for. “You're stupid, did you know? Just stupid! I hate you sometimes; I really, really do!”

 

Bas drew away from her, her anger crackling in the air surrounding her. Wincing as she slowly stood, Bas dropped onto his back, unable to do more than blink at the angry woman. “Now, Sydnie . . . calm down . . .”

 

“Calm down?” she sputtered indignantly. “Calm down? How dare you tell me to calm down! I was calm, you dog! I got you out of there, didn't I? I drove you here, didn't I? I made sure you didn't choke, and I cleaned your wounds, and—” She cut herself off abruptly and planted her hands on her hips. “And just what do you think you're doing? Lie down before you hurt yourself again!”

 

Heaving a sigh as he complied with her order, Bas obediently lay back, knitting his hands together atop his chest as he waited for her irritation to subside. Oddly enough, he had a feeling that she wasn't mad at him in the least. No, his instincts told him that she was more relieved than anything, and that maybe it was just her overwrought emotions that were airing themselves at the moment.

 

“—Scared me half to death, and I'll have you know that I just spent eight of my nine lives worrying about you! Don't you do it again, Bas the Hunter! Don't you dare make me worry like that ever again!”

 

“Sydnie,” he murmured, refusing to raise his voice or antagonize the cat in any way. “I'm sorry.”

 

She sniffled, scowling at her feet before slowly sinking onto the edge of the bed. “You should be,” she grumbled haughtily.

 

“I am.”

 

She sniffled again. Bas reached over and gently took her hand. “Come here, kitty.”

 

She shook her head mulishly, stubbornly refusing to let him pull her close. Bas gritted his teeth and forced himself to sit up, ignoring the various pains that shot through his body in lieu of making sure that Sydnie wasn't upset anymore. “You scared me, you know,” she whispered.

 

Bas nodded as he pulled Sydnie against his chest. “I know,” he told her, kissing her temple. “I really am sorry, baby.”

 

“You should be,” she said with a defeated sigh, letting her temple fall against his shoulder. “I didn't know . . . you got sick . . .”

 

“It's okay. I'm fine now.”

 

She shook her head but let him hold her close. Slipping her arms around his waist, she sighed again and relaxed a little. “I just kept thinking,” she finally admitted.

 

“About what?”

 

She shrugged, her face nearly crumpling despite the stubborn resolve not to let anything of the sort happen. “Who'd get me milk if you weren't here? Who would buy me useless spoons?”

 

“I told you,” he assured her, glad that she couldn't see the grimace that he couldn't hide. “I'll never leave you. You believe me, right?”

 

She didn't answer, but she did relax completely, content to let him hold her, at least for the moment.

 

“How are your hands?”

 

She blinked and shook her head. “My hands?”

 

“Yes, your hands. You burned them, pulling that spear out of my shoulder, didn't you?”

 

She grimaced then shrugged in a show of more bravado than actual nonchalance. “They're healed.”

 

He narrowed his eyes on her. “Let me see.”

 

She snorted indelicately but held out her hands. The flesh was still a little reddened, but there didn't seem to be any real damage. “Satisfied?” she demanded.

 

“Yes,” he replied, kissing her temple as he pulled her close and ignoring the twinges in his shoulder that protested the movements. “So tell me, kitty . . . how did you get me out of there?”

 

She sat back far enough to grin up at him though he could still see the vaguest sense of worry behind her crystalline gaze. “I scared them off, puppy.”

 

“You . . . scared them off?” he echoed, careful to keep his expression blank.

 

Nodding, she cuddled against his shoulder again. “Yes. I'm fearsome; didn't you know?”

 

“Okay, I'll bite. How did you scare them off?”

 

“Easy, puppy . . . I threatened them with your sword.”

 

He blinked in surprise and bit his cheek. “Really . . . you mean you can lift it?”

 

She wrinkled her nose and snorted indelicately. “I am youkai, Bas the Hunter,” she reminded him.

 

“Yeah, yeah . . . you know how to hold a sword?”

 

“Sure . . . I've watched you enough times.”

 

He chuckled. “Okay, warrior-woman . . . let's see it.”

 

“See what?”

 

He rolled his hand and nodded. “Show me how you threatened them.”

 

He didn't think she was going to comply. Scrunching up her face in a determined little scowl, she rolled onto her knees and crawled off the bed, sauntering over to retrieve Triumvirate.

 

She had to wrap both hands around the weapon's hilt and strained just to get the blade onto the bed. Bas jerked his feet out of the way before it smashed his toes. With a loud grunt and a great heave, she swung the sword up over her shoulder, letting it rest there as she refreshed her grip, holding Triumvirate like a baseball bat instead of a sword.

 

Bas coughed indelicately into his fist and thoughtfully scratched his chin. “Oh, yes, now I see it . . . completely fearsome, Sydnie.”

 

“Isn't it?”

 

“Did you smack one out of the ballpark?”

 

She blushed but uttered a terse `hrumph'. “It worked, didn't it?”

 

He grinned as she leaned to the side, allowing the blade to fall against the floor with a loud `thump'. “I suppose it did, Sydnie,” he said, holding out his hand to her once more. She leaned the sword against the bed and slipped her hand into his, letting him tug her back onto the bed and against his chest once more. “Thank you.”

 

“Don't mention it, puppy.”

 

He kissed her forehead as the soothing sound of her purr surrounded them.

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~ *~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

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Reviewers

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MikoTen:

Hawt Hanyou Sword Action...wait, that doesn't sound right. LOL. I loved this chapter and can't wait for more. Quick question, approximately what year is P5 set in? I seem to have lost track somewhere along the lines. LOL.

 

The year is 2056. Bas just turned 25 in September (September 12, 2031, to be exact.) Sydnie is 20, born August 28, 2036. Heh heh heh … Thank melzilla for that bit of info.

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MMorg

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Final Thought fromBas:

…Interesting form, kitty …

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Phantasm): 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~