InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Six Feet ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

“Are you sure about this?”

Kagome paused to listen as Hiroshi and another inuyoukai conversed quietly with each other. Normally, she wouldn't eavesdrop on a conversation. Normally. However, she had a feeling that this conversation pertained to Inuyasha and his possible whereabouts and she wanted to know where he was at, make sure that he was, in fact, okay and not Naraku's captive.

It had been nearly a month since the hanyou had disappeared without a trace. Everyone's initial fear had been that Naraku had captured Inuyasha while he was in a distraught state and that he'd be able to manipulate their friend into doing whatever his twisted mind could come up with. However, in that month, they'd not heard anything from the dark hanyou and it was odd in their minds. They all knew that it would have been a perfect time for him to attack, especially since they knew that the Tetsusaiga was the only thing that could defeat him.

However, because Naraku hadn't made a move or had given any indication that he had, in fact, taken Inuyasha captive, they had soon come to hope that their hanyou friend had not been captured, that it was just another mind game on Naraku's part. It was just a matter of finding out where Inuyasha had gone to.

'Which is what I hope they're talking about,' Kagome thought as she held her breath.

“Hai, otouto,” the inuyoukai confirmed. “I'm sure.”

“Well,” Hiroshi mused. “This definitely changes everything, doesn't it, Akira?”

To that, the one addressed as Akira nodded.

“We should inform them of what's been happening . . . at least, of what's happened.”

“And why do you say that, aniki?” Hiroshi folded his arms. Akira then shrugged.

“A moral sense of obligation? I'm not sure, Hiroshi. I'm not happy with how things have turned out and with where he's at. But they should know of this at the very least. Perhaps they'll know of a way to get to him.”

“Hmmm.”

Whatever it was that Akira had told Hiroshi, it now had the hanyou thinking. Kagome could see that. She glanced back and forth between the two, barely noticing the resemblance between them or the similarities between Akira and Sesshomaru. All her mind could think of was what it was they were discussing and how it pertained to their strange little traveling group.

Hiroshi and Ayame now traveled with them, as did Kouga, Ginta, and Hakkaku. Sesshomaru, Kikyou, and their small group had disappeared shortly after Inuyasha's disappearance and it had made Kagome a little glad to see them go. For some reason, after a few days, Sesshomaru's attitude towards her had changed. He'd always been cold and distant towards ningens in general but towards her, he was even more so. She'd even thought she saw something akin to malice in his eyes before he'd left. However, it had come and gone quickly, leaving her to wonder if she'd actually seen it.

“We can tell them,” Hiroshi said finally. “Perhaps they will know how to get to him. However, given where he's at and his current state, I don't think he cares much anymore.”

“I know he doesn't,” Akira replied grimly, his golden eyes glittering. Hiroshi then smirked.

“I see. So that is why you wish to tell them? To show them what they have truly done to him?”

“Hai.”

Kagome felt her heart sink at those words. If she'd had any doubts before that they'd been talking about Inuyasha, she didn't anymore. Given Akira's cold tone, she knew that, whatever he had to say, it wasn't good. As if her heart couldn't take anymore of the guilt. Once it had been pointed out to her about Inuyasha trusting her not to hurt him like that, she mentally berated herself and had continued to do so over the last month. Even her mother had been upset with her when she'd finally confessed what had happened on one of her trips home.

“Very well then. We'll tell them.”

“You tell them, Hiroshi. I do not wish to be near them right this moment. I do not wish to see their looks of remorse and regret. And I wish to return to the North. The warmth is getting to me,” Akira murmured. To that, Hiroshi nodded.

“As you wish, aniki.”

With that, the inuyoukai, who Kagome now noticed as having the same blue crescent moon in the center of his forehead like Sesshomaru had and a single blue stripe on each arm and cheek, turned and headed for the forest. Hiroshi's own form moved until he faced her, his blue eyes glittering.

“Spying, miko?” he inquired, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

“N-no,” she quickly stammered. “I just . . .”

“It doesn't matter, girl. You're going to find out anyway.”

He quickly breezed by her and sat down on a nearby log. Whatever had been told to the inu hanyou, he wasn't going to say. Not until everyone else had come back from their hunting and gathering chores. Kagome sat quietly across from him, her gaze never leaving Hiroshi's stoic form.

'I've got a very bad feeling about this.'

* * *

Akira quickly strode away from his youngest brother had made camp with the wolf and ningen, trying his best to keep his anger reined in. He would never forgive them for what they had done to his nephew. Never.

'And I will never forgive you, Tai, for making me promise never to interfere in his life. Never.'

If it hadn't been for InuTaisho making he and Hiroshi promise never to have anything to do with Inuyasha, Akira would have gone to the boy as soon as his mother had passed on and taken the child into his care. It would have been much to Hiroshi's dislike but then Akira wouldn't have cared. He had wanted that boy to be an active part of his life, someone whom he could cuddle and to teach. Unlike his brothers, Akira wanted to have a child in his life, someone whom he could mold in his own image. He just hadn't found the right female to settle down with so he could have pups of his own. If it hadn't been for that promise . . .

'I hope you're happy, Tai,' Akira thought darkly. 'Wherever you're at, I hope you're happy. Your youngest son has been broken, by the ningens who claimed to care for him.'

Akira walked on.

* * *

Naraku let out a growl of frustration as he resisted the urge to strike the hanyou that sat before him. The hanyou that had yet to say more than two words to him. The hanyou that had yet to react to anything that he did.

In the month that he'd taken Inuyasha captive, Naraku had done his absolute best to get the boy to react to him. He'd tried a mind fuck then had changed his tactics, being the nicest that he could possibly be to Inuyasha. He'd bathed the inu hanyou, clothed him in the finest of silks, and had brushed out the boy's hair and pulled it up into a likeness of his own. Naraku had even made his miasma disappear completely and had given Inuyasha the best foods and drinks to consume.

Inuyasha had done nothing. Barely ate, barely drank, only doing so if Naraku or Kagura brought the food or the cup to his lips and even then it wasn't much. He either sat there (doing so only if someone pulled him into that upright position) or lay there listlessly, his golden eyes pale and dull. His lethargic behaviour was starting to grate on Naraku's nerves.

'Why is he like this?' his mind demanded of him. 'This isn't right. No one's this lethargic.'

'I don't know,' he told himself. 'I can't figure it out.'

'He's messing with us,' came the statement. 'That has to be it. He's messing with us. Just like we've been trying to mess with him. He's after the Shikon.'

'Can't be,' Naraku frowned. 'If that was the case, he'd have tried to do something by now.'
'Are you sure?' his mind spat. 'He's up to something. He's being tricky. You can't afford to be nice to him anymore. Now's the time for action. Do what you've been wanting to do. Get it over with. He'll react then. I'm sure he will.'

“Kagura.”

“Yes, Naraku?”

The wind demoness moved from where she'd been lounging, her slender form now straight. Naraku kept his gaze on Inuyasha.

“Do what we discussed. Take Kohaku with you but don't get caught. Understood?”

“Hai.”

She immediately dashed out of the room, leaving him alone with Inuyasha. Even though that he now had his mind made up, Naraku still couldn't control the anger that he felt. He hated to think that the hanyou before him was simply duping him just get to the Shikon no Tama. Of course, it would be the only way Inuyasha would be able to get his hands on the jewel. Once the miko got it, it would be all over for Inuyasha. He wouldn't be able to become full youkai, like he'd been intending all along.

For that's what Naraku believed. Inuyasha still wanted to become full youkai and he was just biding his time until Naraku lowered his guard long enough for him to attack. He began to circle the silver-haired male the same way a predator circled its cornered prey.

“I think the time for games has ended, Inuyasha,” he purred smoothly. “Because that's what you've been doing, hasn't it? You've been playing with me, the same way I've been trying to play with you.”

A ragged sigh escaped Inuyasha at that moment, and Naraku narrowed his eyes. That was all he was going to get out of Inuyasha and he knew it. The last month had told him as much. Letting out the feral growl from before, Naraku's arm swung out, striking Inuyasha across the cheek and sending the boy sprawling across the floor. If anything, he figured, that would spark Inuyasha into action. The hanyou wasn't one to let anyone beat on him. Not even Sesshomaru could get away with hitting Inuyasha like that. He stood there, waiting for the growl that he'd come to associate with Inuyasha becoming angry and getting ready to fight, his fists clenched at his sides.

It never came.

Instead, Inuyasha remained where he lay, slightly curled on his side. Tears, as they had often done before in the last month, formed in his eyes but he still refused to cry, to weep, as if he were incapable of such a simple task.

In that moment, Naraku knew that Inuyasha wasn't playing a game. How or why he knew, he couldn't say. He just knew and he felt . . . guilty, an emotion alien to him, for having struck the boy. His anger evaporating, Naraku knelt next to him and brushed his fingers against the bruise that was forming on Inuyasha's cheek. The inu hanyou flinched but otherwise did nothing.

“You really would let me do anything to you, wouldn't you? Anything at all,” he murmured. “Anything I do to you would preferable than what happened with the miko, isn't it? Have you fallen that hard, Inuyasha? Is her betrayal running that deep into your soul?”

As he spoke, Naraku knew the answers to those questions. Inuyasha had fallen that hard, having put his faith and trust in the miko. He truly had not seen it coming . . . and it had destroyed him, shattered him as the Shikon no Tama had been shattered. Gone was the strong and proud warrior Inuyasha had been and in his place was a lost little boy. It nauseated Naraku to think of what she had done, even though he had, at one point, relished in what it was going to do to his nemesis. This, however, this broken-spirited boy was too much for him. Quietly and carefully, he pulled Inuyasha into his arms and cradled him close.

Somewhere along the way, in his attempts to elicit a reaction out of his enemy by trying to kill Inuyasha with kindness, something had been sparked within him. What, Naraku didn't know yet, but he was willing to find out. He gently kissed Inuyasha on the forehead, and whispered two words in a heartfelt sincerity that surprised even him.

“I'm sorry.”

* * *

“I'm sorry.”

Something about the kiss to his forehead and those two little words triggered something in Inuyasha and he felt his breath hitching into his chest.

They weren't something he'd been expecting coming from Naraku. He hadn't been expecting the soft, gentle tone that his nemesis had spoken with nor the sincerity that he heard in that tone. It was so unlike the dark hanyou to be so tender, so caring and it literally stunned Inuyasha. And those words had another reaction he hadn't been expecting, either.

The ball that had formed in his chest had begun to melt away. As it did so, it left in its wake all of the tears Inuyasha had not been able to shed before. It freed him, made it easier for him to breathe.

For the first time since his mother had died all those decades ago, Inuyasha broke down . . . and cried.