InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Second Chance ❯ Family ( Chapter 37 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Striking Falcon 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Hentai | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.15.2008 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 2.9K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Hentai | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.15.2008 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 2.9K | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: No!. Don’t own it. Oh well. Le Sob! Le Cry! Le Whimper!!
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Family
Awkward. . .
If there was a better word in the dictionary to describe the evening, then it escaped Inuyasha as he sat at his end of the cozy little table in Kagome’s dining room. His gaze shifted, first from Ginta as the ookami youkai busied himself with his dinner, his eyes never straying from his plate as he stuffed and slurped himself into a delighted fog. Every now and then a happy little sigh would escape his lips, his eyes closed in what appeared to be culinary ecstasy before returning to his plate.
Jininji sat nearest to the blissful youkai, his head shaking in amazement and disgusted wonder before glancing at Inuyasha. Inuyasha quickly looked away, not wishing to explain for the fourth time that evening how a ningen woman and a mischievous kitsune caught him tweaking his glamour spell. For that reason, and that reason alone, he sat as he had been caught a couple of weeks before hand; his hair and ears, naturally snow white and wild about his head, now a deep raven with indigo undertones. His eyes, their natural shade a burnished amber that smoldered in light as subtle as the afternoon, were now a bewitching shade of purple twilight.
‘Next time,’ Inuyasha grumbled with a disgusted sigh. ‘I will triple sutra my front door. . .useless kitsune and their miko attendants.’
“I‘m telling you,” Jininji mentioned before the beginning of the meal. “Its more refined, more dignified and serene. I think this look is more becoming of you. Its less of a warning to those of us who remain unaware of how much of a snarling pug you can be.”
Kagome sat between Shippou and Inuyasha, nervousness swirling deep patterns in her aura. Still, she maintained herself fairly well for a ningen seated at a table with youkai on the edge. . .
And all because of the grumpy bear at the head of the dinner, his irritable ruby orbs pinned on the little woman on the opposite side of the table. His agitation crashed into her with tsunami like fierceness, waves that she shouldn’t have been receiving but was.
“If anyone would like any seconds,” Kagome began as her nerves finally pulled her to her feet in a nervous jerk. “I would be more than happy to-“
“Yeah, I’ll take some more!” Ginta enthusiastically replied, his empty plate out and his mouth crammed full of food. He scowled at Shujin’s grumph of disapproval. “You can be a snit if you want to but I’m not. The miko’s cooking is superb!”
“Thank you Ginta-sama,” Kagome replied as she accepted his plate. “Anyone else?”
“Yeah, me too Ma-I mean, Kagome,” Shippou corrected and bashfully handed Kagome his plate. “I can help if you want me t-”
“No true lord would ever assist in such mundane nonsense as ‘kitchen duty’,” Shujin-sama snuffed disapprovingly. “Such work is for servants and onna. Allow the Sunset miko to further practice her given station. Kami knows she needs it,” the great bear advised. Kagome visibly stiffened, her eyes briefly closed as she struggled to control her temper.
“Are you alright Kagome-san?” Jininji asked, his large furry paw resting comfortingly on Kagome’s hand. “My apologies if Shujin-sama offende-”
“Of what should she have taken offense to?” Shujin demanded with a bored glare at the otter youkai. “I merely told the young Eastern lord of her place in the world, despite the foolishness the ningen men allow their onna to spout at them. As for the miko, she should be thanking me. I assume she’s been raised at that doctrine of nonsense and she should be thankful to have things cleared up for her.”
“But Kagome isn’t a servant,” Shippou disagreed. “Kagome’s my friend. She’s my best friend and-”
“When you are a lord you will have no need of friends,” Shujin replied with stern disapproval. “Ningen and youkai cannot be friends.”
“Why not?” Shippou asked as Kagome turned on her heels and left the room. “Kagome’s my friend. She’s always been my friend! And Mrs. Takisai was my friend! Who says that youkai and ningen can’t be friends?!”
“You misunderstand,” Shujin admonished with a gentler tone. “You assumed that ningen and youkai would not wish to be friends. I merely said that youkai and ningen cannot be friends. Youkai live entirely too long, especially now in this time of universal peace.”
“I don’t see anything peaceful about our time,” Kagome responded as she came back in the room, a large bowl made of jade green glass in her hands. Whatever was in the bowl looked grand, smelled wonderful but was forgotten as furious sapphires clashed with arrogant orbs of ruby superiority. “War still rages, even in this time. Innocence still suffers because of the cruelty of others. Just because youkai no longer fight doesn’t mean that fighting period is history.”
“You speak of mankind’s lust to destroy itself,” Shujin said with a flippant wave of his hand. “And there is little youkai kind would wish to do in the face of such nonsense. If ningen choose to destroy one another then who are we to stand in their way. Their lifespans are but a wink of a youkai’s eye, so it makes no difference either way.” He leveled her with his gaze, his full attention and his swirling youki settling like the proverbial ton of bricks on her shoulders.
“Someday you and all of your race will be extinct, and I for one will be thankful for it.”
Kagome opened her mouth, intent to say something, anything to put this arrogant youkai in his place when the glass bowl in her hands snatched itself away from her. She gasped, then gaped as it flew with the speed of a cruise missile across the table, past Shippou, Ginta, and Inuyasha’s surprised faces and slammed with a juicy-
PLOOP!!!
Into the proud kuma youkai’s face.
“My word,” Kagome gasped, her fingers pressed to her lips as the cole slaw, with its beautiful colors of yellow, purple, and green, oozed down Shujin’s sharp, handsome face to land with soft plops in his lap. The bowl itself sat like in the cockeyed style of Yankee Doodle and Caribbean pirates of long past.
“OH great!” Ginta suddenly cried out. “I wanted some of that! Don’t want it now that it’s been on his head!!”
“How dare you,” Shujin snarled, his back ramrod straight as he slowly plucked the bowl off of his head and sat it on the surface of the dining room table. “Do you not value your life, wretched onna. . .”
“I-I-I-I don’t know what happened!” Kagome assured him as she rushed to the kitchen. She came back with a large kitchen towel and started toward the youkai, with all intentions of helping him clean himself off, when Inuyasha grabbed her wrist.
“Not the wisest thing to do at the moment,” he assured her as Shujin continued to pick bits of cabbage from his chocolate brown hair. “But why, why did you do that? Kami knows he deserved it but-”
“That’s the thing,” Kagome replied in a heated whisper. “I didn’t do it! The bowl just kinda jerked away from me! It was on him before I could reach out to stop it!”
Inuyasha stared at her, reading her vital signs and aura for signs of dishonesty. When he found none he glanced at the others at the table, wondering to himself if Ginta, Jininji or Shippou could possibly have a clue. Ginta still looked pissed, Jininji and Shippou seemed to be on the edge of choking in their laughter, but neither looked as if they would-
“Woof!”
Inuyasha turned, violet orbs wide with surprise as ‘Chance’ sat down in the center of the threshold leading to the kitchen. He glared across the table at Shujin before padding across the room to Kagome’s side. She reached down to pet him, her hands hovering mere inches from his ears when Inuyasha snorted in barely suppressed laughter. The others in the room stopped to look at him, Shujin’s earlier ire rising to extreme displeasure when Inuyasha cracked and finally broke down into rowdy hiccups of breathless laughter.
Inuyasha ignored their questions, their inquires of what was going on, and stared down at the canine nearly nestled in Kagome’s lap. Golden eyes looked up at him with mild irritation, then rolled like beautiful golden coins before secreting themselves away from the rest of the world.
It would seem Sesshoumaru, not Shujin, would have the last word.
Just like old times. . .
I
“You old dog you,” Kikyou teased while Sesshoumaru warmed his fur in a sunny spot in the middle of the living room floor. “Do you even care that you embarrassed the old youkai?”
“Not particularly, “ he yawned in mild disinterest. In his opinion the arrogant kuma deserved it, and it was fun to see how well the few spells he still commanded worked on those around him.
“Don’t you think you made things harder for Shippou then” Kikyou reasoned. “He does have to submit himself to their approval. What if they decide that living with Kagome would only corrupt the kit’s young, impressionable mind?”
“He is a kitsune,” Sesshoumaru replied with less interest as the conversation wore on. “They expect him to be a mischievous runt. So shall it be, by my example or his own is own is of no consequence.”
“You are such a pain,” Kikyou groaned in frustration. She went to say more when the minute ringing of a bell sounded, alerting Sesshoumaru to the arrival of the elevator. The doors opened slowly and Kagome stepped out with Shippou and Sango close behind. They carried bags of groceries between them, and they laughed and talked as they entered the apartment and made their way to the kitchen.
“Hi Chance,” Shippou greeted and rubbed the pooch’s head while the adults walked past him. “Whatcha do all day, man?”
Sesshoumaru merely yawned, the nap he intended to take on pause as he and Shippou went into the kitchen. Kagome and Sango were still talking, so they didn’t seem to notice Shippou or his canine companion. Shippou watched them a little while longer, his eyes darting from the two women to the cookie jar sitting on the counter on the other side of the room. It was a massive piece of porcelain made in appearance of a large red top hat with a lavender ribbon and gold buckle. The hat had a cartoonish feel to it, like something out of an old MGM production that used to play in movie theatres back when movies were twenty five cents a show.
Shippou glanced at the women one more time, then gestured for Sesshoumaru to be quiet before tip toeing across the room. His movements were stealthy and slow, his emerald green gaze constantly aware of the others in the room as he made his way to the cookie jar. He braced himself on the counter and stood on his tiptoes, short clawed digits struggling valiantly to reach the elusive lid of the cookie jar. He grasped it with a relieved sigh and lifted it free. He set it down as softly as he could and grinned, thrilled with his sneaky triumph and was just touching one of the many chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies when-
“Put it down mister or you’re toast.”
“Aw. . . .but I’m hungry Kagome!”
“Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes,” Kagome replied sternly. She set down a package of beef and continued to put the rest of the groceries in their proper cabinets. “The cookie will ruin your dinner.”
“Nuh-uh,” Shippou quickly disagreed. “Not with your cooking Kagome. I could eat a thousand cookies and still have room for anything you make.”
“Aw, that’s sweet,” Sango said and quickly sided with the cute little kitsune. “Come on Kagome. If anything he deserves a treat for that compliment. “
“Good grief.” Kagome gently sat the knife in her hands down onto the kitchen counter, turned to them and said, “You want a cookie too, don’t you Go-Go-chan?”
“You damned right I do,” Sango said and, without any guilt, reached inside the funny little cookie jar and scooped out two cookies. “So stop being all ‘mom-ish’ and let the little guy have one.”
“Fine,” Kagome finally relented. “Get your cookie-ONE cookie thought- and get out of here. I’m trying to cook you know and-”
“Yeah, yeah, we know,” Sango replied. She winked at Shippou, who winked back at her, and ran out of the kitchen to play video games on the massive flat screen tv in the living room.
“And make sure someone calls Inuyasha!” Kagome shouted after them. “I don’t want him to miss dinner again!” She grinned and shook her head at their hurried “OK!” and turned back to her vegetables, her eyes briefly glancing toward the calendar.
II
Inuyasha glared at the glowing screen of his laptop, violet orbs narrowed in aggravation as he read the stock reports for the day. There was a pharmaceutical company in the United States that he had his eye on since the company opened a few years ago. From the beginning the company showed great promise with fresh young minds employed with some of the best technology in the world. The trouble was that they only had some of the best technology, not anything like the technology at the research center Inuyasha already owned. If he purchased enough stock in the company then he could have enough influence to purchase better equipment, and better equipment meant faster advances in modern medicine.
Now if only the stock prices would go down. . .
Inuyasha glowered, both at the stock for being so expensive and at himself for being so cheap before closing the laptop and glanced up just as the elevator doors opened. Shippou stuck his head out, then bounced out of the elevator.
“Hey kit,” Inuyasha greeted and placed the laptop on his desk. “Whatcha doin’ down here huh?”
“Kagome said to come on and eat dinner,” Shippou reported dutifully. “She said to not be late like you were the past couple of days or she’ll flay you like a fish. . .or something like that. I’m not really sure.”
“Ok. . .” Inyasha replied, his brow knitted together in confusion. “Hey, have you started your prep for your Walk of the Warrior yet?”
“How do you know about that?” Shippou wondered and crossed the office toward the older hanyou. “I thought only the taiyoukai knew about that kind of stuff.”
“Yeah, well I’m an older youkai,” Inuyasha explained with a careful grin. “I’m from a time when the taiyoukai practically bragged about stuff like the Walk, stuff that ordinary youkai didn’t get a chance to do. So what’cha got for it, squirt?”
“OK, watch this!” Shippou jumped onto the top of Inuyasha’s desk, bouncing from one foot to the other in his excitement to show someone his skills. He cupped his tiny paws and concentrated, emerald orbs burrowing fiercely into his palms as he began to mutter an odd little chant. The empty space between his paws rippled like water, then began to glow a pale, iridescent blue. The wave flashed like lightening, but made no sound as it warped itself and formed a radiant ball-like mass.
“Well?” Shippou breathed excitedly.
“Well what?”
“What do you think?”
“Eh,” Inuyasha replied with a flippant wave of his hand. “It’s alright, I guess.”
“What do you mean, ‘alright’?!” Shippou demanded in hot outrage. He glanced up and glared at the inu as he yawned and closed his eyes in boredom. “I bet you can’t do this!”
“it’s a manifestation of your youki, right?” Inuyasha guessed and nodded when Shippou responded. “Well, I’ve seen lots of that. Some youkai like to make theirs into something more solid, like a pelt or a weapon. Just because yours is an energy ball means that you’re a novice in using it.”
“Huh,” Shippou sighed dejectedly. “I guess it’s not good enough huh?”
“Hey kid, don’t get so down,” Inuyasha admonished gruffly. “You’re just thinking about this whole Walk thing the wrong way.”
“Then how am I supposed to think about it?” Shippou wondered miserably. “Isn’t the Walk about whether or not you can protect your people?”
“Well yeah,” Inuyasha assured him. “Hell yeah, but that’s only half of it! The Walk of the Warrior should be called the Great Show-Off Championship cause that’s mostly what it is: a bunch of powerful taiyoukai showing off in front of each other.”
“Eh, I thought it was about-”
“Nope,” Inuyasha quickly interrupted. “Not even in the least. You want to make a good impression? Then you’ve got to do something extreme, something so different they would never expect it?”
“But where would I find something like that?” Shippou wondered miserably. “I mean, I don’t have anyone to teach me. . .” The kitsune’s demeanor changed almost instantly, the happy go lucky boy vanished to sullen melancholy in seconds. Inuyasha noticed the change and mentally berated himself, wondering when he became such a jerk to pick apart the earnest trying of a little pup.
“Look, runt, I’ve got an idea,” Inuyasha said and gave Shippou’s shoulder a heavy-handed pat. “Why don’t you ask Kagome if there are any books at the shrine that can help you?”
“But Kagome’s ningen and I doubt that there are any youkai manuals on the shrine grounds.”
“Keh,” Inuyasha huffed and folded his arms across his broad chest. “I don’t see why not, as crazy as that grandfather is of hers. But hey, I’m just trying to help. Never mind then.”
“No, thanks Inuyasha!” Shippou chirped gratefully, his earlier sadness an instant memory. “I’m glad you said something! I might have done something stupid if it weren’t for you! Now come on!” He hopped down from the desk and scurried to the elevator. “You heard what Kagome said. Come eat.”
“No, I heard what you said Kagome said. . .but I’m coming.”
III
They led him down the hallway, his steps shortened by his leg shackles and chains as they passed the row of darkened bullet proof windows that lined the narrow walkway. The guards at his sides and back stared straight ahead, their grip on his arms firm as they slowly made their way down the hall toward a large green door at the other end.
“Prep prisoner 17359-A for release,” one of the guards said to his co worker on the other side of the door. The other guard nodded and with a loud buzzer the green door swung outward. The guards and their prisoner stepped inside into a brightly lit entranceway where the guard in attendance pulled a cardboard box from underneath the desk and sat it before the prisoner.
“Here’s your stuff,” the guard snarled as the others removed the prisoner’s leg shackles and handcuffs. “There’s a changing room on the other side of this one, so hurry up and be quick. Your ride is waiting outside.”
The prisoner accepted the box graciously and entered the opposite room, where he quickly shed his prison issue orange jumpsuit for his finer, more elegant attire. Everything slipped on easily, better than it did before and the silk of his shirt, the linen of his pants and the thickness of his tie all felt like little pieces of long denied heaven, even if they did smell of liquor and soot.
But that kind of thing can be overlooked if one is of the present of mind.
He dressed quickly but relished the feel of his clothes as they slipped across his skin, the comb as it lightly scratched his scalp and the solidness of his watch as he fastened it to his wrist. He walked out of the room a new man, a better man than any of this lowly public servants ever hoped to come in contact with. He signed his release forms and left the building where a small, darkly painted coupe idled near the entrance. He opened the door and quickly glanced inside before taking a seat in the passenger’s side. The car backed out slowly, made a slight u turn and left the prison grounds, pausing long enough for the officer at the gate to glance the pair over before giving them the go-ahead and raising the gate.
The drive back to the city was slow, slower than he anticipated as he squirmed in his seat besides the older gentleman like a small child. Ages past and still they sat in silence.
“Sir, I-”
“Do you know how much it cost me to bail you out?” the older gentleman interrupted, the good humor that usually resided in his hazel brown orbs displaced by a quiet fury that festered into a malignant aura that threatened to chock the life from the small compartment. The prisoner glanced down at his hands and shook his head.
“I thought not.” The older man sighed as if weary, both with the prisoner and with himself before stopping for a red light. “Our little venture was fun, was it not?”
“Yes sir.”
“Yes, I thought you enjoyed it,” the older man said with a laugh. “And I admit, when you first suggested it to me I was repulsed. Imagine, spying on others, hidden cameras in the condos. It sounded too much like a spy novel. There was so much that could have gone wrong? But do you know what you said?”
“I assured you,” the prisoner began. “That everything would be fine.”
“Yes,” the older man nodded and lifted a large cigar from its resting place in the cigarette holder. “And for a while there everything was. . .then what happened?”
“That Higurashi onna,” the prisoner snarled hatefully. “She-”
“She may have found the cameras,” the older man replied. “And she may have taken them to the police. She may have even broken into your apartment, though how she would have managed such a thing is beyond me. She is such a petite little thing. But you, my friend-” He pointed the glowing red end of the cigar toward the younger man, a slow grin on his thin lips as the young prisoner shuddered with fear. “You are the one who gave her reason to fear, reason to doubt her own safety. Had you not fallen for the onna we could have enjoyed ourselves and her little playmate. Instead you were rash, foolish and ruined a perfectly good thing and managed to get yourself arrested!”
“I’m sorry
“I’m sure you are boy,” the man nodded, returned the cigar to his lips and continued down the road. “But I want to know what you plan to do about it.”
“Do, sir,” the prisoner repeated. “I don’t understand. I don’t think there’s anything I can do. I don’t know where she is and if I did, I wouldn’t know how to get to her.”
“Let’s say I knew of a way,” the man supposed. “Would you be willing to handle the young Higurashi onna accordingly?”
“Sir, if you would let me, I would handle her tomorrow.”
“Excellent!” the older man laughed happily. “That’s what I like about you, Naraku my boy. You’re full of drive, initiative! Why leave for tomorrow what you can do today! And please stop calling me sir,” the man reproached and handed Naraku a cigar. “It makes me feel soo old.”
“Ok then Charles.”
“Good.” He flicked open a silver lighter and patiently waited until Naraku’s cigar was lit before putting it away. Naraku inhaled deeply, then scent and the smoke quickly going to his head as he and Charles drove down the highway into the night beyond.
(End Chapter)
Silver: What happened to that last lemon?!
SF: (yawn) Huh?
Silver: The last lemon you birdbrain! Where is it?
SF: I TOLD YOU I was updating today and what did you say? “Eh, I’ll be finished by the time you are”. But you’re NOT. So what are you yelling at me for?
Kagome: Guardian-sama?
SF: Yes dear, there will be a lemon sooner or later.
Kagome: (blush) Yes, I know, but I was actually wondering about the next chapter.
SF: The next chapter? Oh, I haven’t written the script for that yet. You’ll just have to wait and see.
Inu-chan: You need to get off your lazy ass and WRITE, bird!
SF: And you need to kiss my-
Shippou: Can I do the summary for this chapter?
SF: Huh, um. . .no, not this time dear.
Inu-chan: Good. I’m doin’ it then-
SF: There isn’t a summary. All I have is the title:
Next Chapter: Chapter Thirty-Eight: A Song For You
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Family
Awkward. . .
If there was a better word in the dictionary to describe the evening, then it escaped Inuyasha as he sat at his end of the cozy little table in Kagome’s dining room. His gaze shifted, first from Ginta as the ookami youkai busied himself with his dinner, his eyes never straying from his plate as he stuffed and slurped himself into a delighted fog. Every now and then a happy little sigh would escape his lips, his eyes closed in what appeared to be culinary ecstasy before returning to his plate.
Jininji sat nearest to the blissful youkai, his head shaking in amazement and disgusted wonder before glancing at Inuyasha. Inuyasha quickly looked away, not wishing to explain for the fourth time that evening how a ningen woman and a mischievous kitsune caught him tweaking his glamour spell. For that reason, and that reason alone, he sat as he had been caught a couple of weeks before hand; his hair and ears, naturally snow white and wild about his head, now a deep raven with indigo undertones. His eyes, their natural shade a burnished amber that smoldered in light as subtle as the afternoon, were now a bewitching shade of purple twilight.
‘Next time,’ Inuyasha grumbled with a disgusted sigh. ‘I will triple sutra my front door. . .useless kitsune and their miko attendants.’
“I‘m telling you,” Jininji mentioned before the beginning of the meal. “Its more refined, more dignified and serene. I think this look is more becoming of you. Its less of a warning to those of us who remain unaware of how much of a snarling pug you can be.”
Kagome sat between Shippou and Inuyasha, nervousness swirling deep patterns in her aura. Still, she maintained herself fairly well for a ningen seated at a table with youkai on the edge. . .
And all because of the grumpy bear at the head of the dinner, his irritable ruby orbs pinned on the little woman on the opposite side of the table. His agitation crashed into her with tsunami like fierceness, waves that she shouldn’t have been receiving but was.
“If anyone would like any seconds,” Kagome began as her nerves finally pulled her to her feet in a nervous jerk. “I would be more than happy to-“
“Yeah, I’ll take some more!” Ginta enthusiastically replied, his empty plate out and his mouth crammed full of food. He scowled at Shujin’s grumph of disapproval. “You can be a snit if you want to but I’m not. The miko’s cooking is superb!”
“Thank you Ginta-sama,” Kagome replied as she accepted his plate. “Anyone else?”
“Yeah, me too Ma-I mean, Kagome,” Shippou corrected and bashfully handed Kagome his plate. “I can help if you want me t-”
“No true lord would ever assist in such mundane nonsense as ‘kitchen duty’,” Shujin-sama snuffed disapprovingly. “Such work is for servants and onna. Allow the Sunset miko to further practice her given station. Kami knows she needs it,” the great bear advised. Kagome visibly stiffened, her eyes briefly closed as she struggled to control her temper.
“Are you alright Kagome-san?” Jininji asked, his large furry paw resting comfortingly on Kagome’s hand. “My apologies if Shujin-sama offende-”
“Of what should she have taken offense to?” Shujin demanded with a bored glare at the otter youkai. “I merely told the young Eastern lord of her place in the world, despite the foolishness the ningen men allow their onna to spout at them. As for the miko, she should be thanking me. I assume she’s been raised at that doctrine of nonsense and she should be thankful to have things cleared up for her.”
“But Kagome isn’t a servant,” Shippou disagreed. “Kagome’s my friend. She’s my best friend and-”
“When you are a lord you will have no need of friends,” Shujin replied with stern disapproval. “Ningen and youkai cannot be friends.”
“Why not?” Shippou asked as Kagome turned on her heels and left the room. “Kagome’s my friend. She’s always been my friend! And Mrs. Takisai was my friend! Who says that youkai and ningen can’t be friends?!”
“You misunderstand,” Shujin admonished with a gentler tone. “You assumed that ningen and youkai would not wish to be friends. I merely said that youkai and ningen cannot be friends. Youkai live entirely too long, especially now in this time of universal peace.”
“I don’t see anything peaceful about our time,” Kagome responded as she came back in the room, a large bowl made of jade green glass in her hands. Whatever was in the bowl looked grand, smelled wonderful but was forgotten as furious sapphires clashed with arrogant orbs of ruby superiority. “War still rages, even in this time. Innocence still suffers because of the cruelty of others. Just because youkai no longer fight doesn’t mean that fighting period is history.”
“You speak of mankind’s lust to destroy itself,” Shujin said with a flippant wave of his hand. “And there is little youkai kind would wish to do in the face of such nonsense. If ningen choose to destroy one another then who are we to stand in their way. Their lifespans are but a wink of a youkai’s eye, so it makes no difference either way.” He leveled her with his gaze, his full attention and his swirling youki settling like the proverbial ton of bricks on her shoulders.
“Someday you and all of your race will be extinct, and I for one will be thankful for it.”
Kagome opened her mouth, intent to say something, anything to put this arrogant youkai in his place when the glass bowl in her hands snatched itself away from her. She gasped, then gaped as it flew with the speed of a cruise missile across the table, past Shippou, Ginta, and Inuyasha’s surprised faces and slammed with a juicy-
PLOOP!!!
Into the proud kuma youkai’s face.
“My word,” Kagome gasped, her fingers pressed to her lips as the cole slaw, with its beautiful colors of yellow, purple, and green, oozed down Shujin’s sharp, handsome face to land with soft plops in his lap. The bowl itself sat like in the cockeyed style of Yankee Doodle and Caribbean pirates of long past.
“OH great!” Ginta suddenly cried out. “I wanted some of that! Don’t want it now that it’s been on his head!!”
“How dare you,” Shujin snarled, his back ramrod straight as he slowly plucked the bowl off of his head and sat it on the surface of the dining room table. “Do you not value your life, wretched onna. . .”
“I-I-I-I don’t know what happened!” Kagome assured him as she rushed to the kitchen. She came back with a large kitchen towel and started toward the youkai, with all intentions of helping him clean himself off, when Inuyasha grabbed her wrist.
“Not the wisest thing to do at the moment,” he assured her as Shujin continued to pick bits of cabbage from his chocolate brown hair. “But why, why did you do that? Kami knows he deserved it but-”
“That’s the thing,” Kagome replied in a heated whisper. “I didn’t do it! The bowl just kinda jerked away from me! It was on him before I could reach out to stop it!”
Inuyasha stared at her, reading her vital signs and aura for signs of dishonesty. When he found none he glanced at the others at the table, wondering to himself if Ginta, Jininji or Shippou could possibly have a clue. Ginta still looked pissed, Jininji and Shippou seemed to be on the edge of choking in their laughter, but neither looked as if they would-
“Woof!”
Inuyasha turned, violet orbs wide with surprise as ‘Chance’ sat down in the center of the threshold leading to the kitchen. He glared across the table at Shujin before padding across the room to Kagome’s side. She reached down to pet him, her hands hovering mere inches from his ears when Inuyasha snorted in barely suppressed laughter. The others in the room stopped to look at him, Shujin’s earlier ire rising to extreme displeasure when Inuyasha cracked and finally broke down into rowdy hiccups of breathless laughter.
Inuyasha ignored their questions, their inquires of what was going on, and stared down at the canine nearly nestled in Kagome’s lap. Golden eyes looked up at him with mild irritation, then rolled like beautiful golden coins before secreting themselves away from the rest of the world.
It would seem Sesshoumaru, not Shujin, would have the last word.
Just like old times. . .
I
“You old dog you,” Kikyou teased while Sesshoumaru warmed his fur in a sunny spot in the middle of the living room floor. “Do you even care that you embarrassed the old youkai?”
“Not particularly, “ he yawned in mild disinterest. In his opinion the arrogant kuma deserved it, and it was fun to see how well the few spells he still commanded worked on those around him.
“Don’t you think you made things harder for Shippou then” Kikyou reasoned. “He does have to submit himself to their approval. What if they decide that living with Kagome would only corrupt the kit’s young, impressionable mind?”
“He is a kitsune,” Sesshoumaru replied with less interest as the conversation wore on. “They expect him to be a mischievous runt. So shall it be, by my example or his own is own is of no consequence.”
“You are such a pain,” Kikyou groaned in frustration. She went to say more when the minute ringing of a bell sounded, alerting Sesshoumaru to the arrival of the elevator. The doors opened slowly and Kagome stepped out with Shippou and Sango close behind. They carried bags of groceries between them, and they laughed and talked as they entered the apartment and made their way to the kitchen.
“Hi Chance,” Shippou greeted and rubbed the pooch’s head while the adults walked past him. “Whatcha do all day, man?”
Sesshoumaru merely yawned, the nap he intended to take on pause as he and Shippou went into the kitchen. Kagome and Sango were still talking, so they didn’t seem to notice Shippou or his canine companion. Shippou watched them a little while longer, his eyes darting from the two women to the cookie jar sitting on the counter on the other side of the room. It was a massive piece of porcelain made in appearance of a large red top hat with a lavender ribbon and gold buckle. The hat had a cartoonish feel to it, like something out of an old MGM production that used to play in movie theatres back when movies were twenty five cents a show.
Shippou glanced at the women one more time, then gestured for Sesshoumaru to be quiet before tip toeing across the room. His movements were stealthy and slow, his emerald green gaze constantly aware of the others in the room as he made his way to the cookie jar. He braced himself on the counter and stood on his tiptoes, short clawed digits struggling valiantly to reach the elusive lid of the cookie jar. He grasped it with a relieved sigh and lifted it free. He set it down as softly as he could and grinned, thrilled with his sneaky triumph and was just touching one of the many chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies when-
“Put it down mister or you’re toast.”
“Aw. . . .but I’m hungry Kagome!”
“Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes,” Kagome replied sternly. She set down a package of beef and continued to put the rest of the groceries in their proper cabinets. “The cookie will ruin your dinner.”
“Nuh-uh,” Shippou quickly disagreed. “Not with your cooking Kagome. I could eat a thousand cookies and still have room for anything you make.”
“Aw, that’s sweet,” Sango said and quickly sided with the cute little kitsune. “Come on Kagome. If anything he deserves a treat for that compliment. “
“Good grief.” Kagome gently sat the knife in her hands down onto the kitchen counter, turned to them and said, “You want a cookie too, don’t you Go-Go-chan?”
“You damned right I do,” Sango said and, without any guilt, reached inside the funny little cookie jar and scooped out two cookies. “So stop being all ‘mom-ish’ and let the little guy have one.”
“Fine,” Kagome finally relented. “Get your cookie-ONE cookie thought- and get out of here. I’m trying to cook you know and-”
“Yeah, yeah, we know,” Sango replied. She winked at Shippou, who winked back at her, and ran out of the kitchen to play video games on the massive flat screen tv in the living room.
“And make sure someone calls Inuyasha!” Kagome shouted after them. “I don’t want him to miss dinner again!” She grinned and shook her head at their hurried “OK!” and turned back to her vegetables, her eyes briefly glancing toward the calendar.
II
Inuyasha glared at the glowing screen of his laptop, violet orbs narrowed in aggravation as he read the stock reports for the day. There was a pharmaceutical company in the United States that he had his eye on since the company opened a few years ago. From the beginning the company showed great promise with fresh young minds employed with some of the best technology in the world. The trouble was that they only had some of the best technology, not anything like the technology at the research center Inuyasha already owned. If he purchased enough stock in the company then he could have enough influence to purchase better equipment, and better equipment meant faster advances in modern medicine.
Now if only the stock prices would go down. . .
Inuyasha glowered, both at the stock for being so expensive and at himself for being so cheap before closing the laptop and glanced up just as the elevator doors opened. Shippou stuck his head out, then bounced out of the elevator.
“Hey kit,” Inuyasha greeted and placed the laptop on his desk. “Whatcha doin’ down here huh?”
“Kagome said to come on and eat dinner,” Shippou reported dutifully. “She said to not be late like you were the past couple of days or she’ll flay you like a fish. . .or something like that. I’m not really sure.”
“Ok. . .” Inyasha replied, his brow knitted together in confusion. “Hey, have you started your prep for your Walk of the Warrior yet?”
“How do you know about that?” Shippou wondered and crossed the office toward the older hanyou. “I thought only the taiyoukai knew about that kind of stuff.”
“Yeah, well I’m an older youkai,” Inuyasha explained with a careful grin. “I’m from a time when the taiyoukai practically bragged about stuff like the Walk, stuff that ordinary youkai didn’t get a chance to do. So what’cha got for it, squirt?”
“OK, watch this!” Shippou jumped onto the top of Inuyasha’s desk, bouncing from one foot to the other in his excitement to show someone his skills. He cupped his tiny paws and concentrated, emerald orbs burrowing fiercely into his palms as he began to mutter an odd little chant. The empty space between his paws rippled like water, then began to glow a pale, iridescent blue. The wave flashed like lightening, but made no sound as it warped itself and formed a radiant ball-like mass.
“Well?” Shippou breathed excitedly.
“Well what?”
“What do you think?”
“Eh,” Inuyasha replied with a flippant wave of his hand. “It’s alright, I guess.”
“What do you mean, ‘alright’?!” Shippou demanded in hot outrage. He glanced up and glared at the inu as he yawned and closed his eyes in boredom. “I bet you can’t do this!”
“it’s a manifestation of your youki, right?” Inuyasha guessed and nodded when Shippou responded. “Well, I’ve seen lots of that. Some youkai like to make theirs into something more solid, like a pelt or a weapon. Just because yours is an energy ball means that you’re a novice in using it.”
“Huh,” Shippou sighed dejectedly. “I guess it’s not good enough huh?”
“Hey kid, don’t get so down,” Inuyasha admonished gruffly. “You’re just thinking about this whole Walk thing the wrong way.”
“Then how am I supposed to think about it?” Shippou wondered miserably. “Isn’t the Walk about whether or not you can protect your people?”
“Well yeah,” Inuyasha assured him. “Hell yeah, but that’s only half of it! The Walk of the Warrior should be called the Great Show-Off Championship cause that’s mostly what it is: a bunch of powerful taiyoukai showing off in front of each other.”
“Eh, I thought it was about-”
“Nope,” Inuyasha quickly interrupted. “Not even in the least. You want to make a good impression? Then you’ve got to do something extreme, something so different they would never expect it?”
“But where would I find something like that?” Shippou wondered miserably. “I mean, I don’t have anyone to teach me. . .” The kitsune’s demeanor changed almost instantly, the happy go lucky boy vanished to sullen melancholy in seconds. Inuyasha noticed the change and mentally berated himself, wondering when he became such a jerk to pick apart the earnest trying of a little pup.
“Look, runt, I’ve got an idea,” Inuyasha said and gave Shippou’s shoulder a heavy-handed pat. “Why don’t you ask Kagome if there are any books at the shrine that can help you?”
“But Kagome’s ningen and I doubt that there are any youkai manuals on the shrine grounds.”
“Keh,” Inuyasha huffed and folded his arms across his broad chest. “I don’t see why not, as crazy as that grandfather is of hers. But hey, I’m just trying to help. Never mind then.”
“No, thanks Inuyasha!” Shippou chirped gratefully, his earlier sadness an instant memory. “I’m glad you said something! I might have done something stupid if it weren’t for you! Now come on!” He hopped down from the desk and scurried to the elevator. “You heard what Kagome said. Come eat.”
“No, I heard what you said Kagome said. . .but I’m coming.”
III
They led him down the hallway, his steps shortened by his leg shackles and chains as they passed the row of darkened bullet proof windows that lined the narrow walkway. The guards at his sides and back stared straight ahead, their grip on his arms firm as they slowly made their way down the hall toward a large green door at the other end.
“Prep prisoner 17359-A for release,” one of the guards said to his co worker on the other side of the door. The other guard nodded and with a loud buzzer the green door swung outward. The guards and their prisoner stepped inside into a brightly lit entranceway where the guard in attendance pulled a cardboard box from underneath the desk and sat it before the prisoner.
“Here’s your stuff,” the guard snarled as the others removed the prisoner’s leg shackles and handcuffs. “There’s a changing room on the other side of this one, so hurry up and be quick. Your ride is waiting outside.”
The prisoner accepted the box graciously and entered the opposite room, where he quickly shed his prison issue orange jumpsuit for his finer, more elegant attire. Everything slipped on easily, better than it did before and the silk of his shirt, the linen of his pants and the thickness of his tie all felt like little pieces of long denied heaven, even if they did smell of liquor and soot.
But that kind of thing can be overlooked if one is of the present of mind.
He dressed quickly but relished the feel of his clothes as they slipped across his skin, the comb as it lightly scratched his scalp and the solidness of his watch as he fastened it to his wrist. He walked out of the room a new man, a better man than any of this lowly public servants ever hoped to come in contact with. He signed his release forms and left the building where a small, darkly painted coupe idled near the entrance. He opened the door and quickly glanced inside before taking a seat in the passenger’s side. The car backed out slowly, made a slight u turn and left the prison grounds, pausing long enough for the officer at the gate to glance the pair over before giving them the go-ahead and raising the gate.
The drive back to the city was slow, slower than he anticipated as he squirmed in his seat besides the older gentleman like a small child. Ages past and still they sat in silence.
“Sir, I-”
“Do you know how much it cost me to bail you out?” the older gentleman interrupted, the good humor that usually resided in his hazel brown orbs displaced by a quiet fury that festered into a malignant aura that threatened to chock the life from the small compartment. The prisoner glanced down at his hands and shook his head.
“I thought not.” The older man sighed as if weary, both with the prisoner and with himself before stopping for a red light. “Our little venture was fun, was it not?”
“Yes sir.”
“Yes, I thought you enjoyed it,” the older man said with a laugh. “And I admit, when you first suggested it to me I was repulsed. Imagine, spying on others, hidden cameras in the condos. It sounded too much like a spy novel. There was so much that could have gone wrong? But do you know what you said?”
“I assured you,” the prisoner began. “That everything would be fine.”
“Yes,” the older man nodded and lifted a large cigar from its resting place in the cigarette holder. “And for a while there everything was. . .then what happened?”
“That Higurashi onna,” the prisoner snarled hatefully. “She-”
“She may have found the cameras,” the older man replied. “And she may have taken them to the police. She may have even broken into your apartment, though how she would have managed such a thing is beyond me. She is such a petite little thing. But you, my friend-” He pointed the glowing red end of the cigar toward the younger man, a slow grin on his thin lips as the young prisoner shuddered with fear. “You are the one who gave her reason to fear, reason to doubt her own safety. Had you not fallen for the onna we could have enjoyed ourselves and her little playmate. Instead you were rash, foolish and ruined a perfectly good thing and managed to get yourself arrested!”
“I’m sorry
“I’m sure you are boy,” the man nodded, returned the cigar to his lips and continued down the road. “But I want to know what you plan to do about it.”
“Do, sir,” the prisoner repeated. “I don’t understand. I don’t think there’s anything I can do. I don’t know where she is and if I did, I wouldn’t know how to get to her.”
“Let’s say I knew of a way,” the man supposed. “Would you be willing to handle the young Higurashi onna accordingly?”
“Sir, if you would let me, I would handle her tomorrow.”
“Excellent!” the older man laughed happily. “That’s what I like about you, Naraku my boy. You’re full of drive, initiative! Why leave for tomorrow what you can do today! And please stop calling me sir,” the man reproached and handed Naraku a cigar. “It makes me feel soo old.”
“Ok then Charles.”
“Good.” He flicked open a silver lighter and patiently waited until Naraku’s cigar was lit before putting it away. Naraku inhaled deeply, then scent and the smoke quickly going to his head as he and Charles drove down the highway into the night beyond.
(End Chapter)
Silver: What happened to that last lemon?!
SF: (yawn) Huh?
Silver: The last lemon you birdbrain! Where is it?
SF: I TOLD YOU I was updating today and what did you say? “Eh, I’ll be finished by the time you are”. But you’re NOT. So what are you yelling at me for?
Kagome: Guardian-sama?
SF: Yes dear, there will be a lemon sooner or later.
Kagome: (blush) Yes, I know, but I was actually wondering about the next chapter.
SF: The next chapter? Oh, I haven’t written the script for that yet. You’ll just have to wait and see.
Inu-chan: You need to get off your lazy ass and WRITE, bird!
SF: And you need to kiss my-
Shippou: Can I do the summary for this chapter?
SF: Huh, um. . .no, not this time dear.
Inu-chan: Good. I’m doin’ it then-
SF: There isn’t a summary. All I have is the title:
Next Chapter: Chapter Thirty-Eight: A Song For You