InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Smokes and Mirrors ❯ Truth be Told ( Chapter 16 )

Smokes and Mirrors

 

 

Chapter 16: Truth be Told

 

He's never been the type to easily be fooled. It would take more than some pathetic undercover cops to bring him down. For a minute there, he almost believed the act, almost fell for it. That is, until he said the two special words.

 

By the mere mention of a girl's name, recognition flickered across all their faces as shock and horror slowly filtered through. If they were real bad guys, then it shouldn't have affected them so. Come to think of it, it was a major risk on his part. They could have easily brought him down and it could have been all over. He could see every thing he planned on doing go up in smokes thanks to some careless discussion. However, the look in their eyes just made it all that much more satisfying.

 

Telling the press was another one of his more brilliant ideas. Now they will jack-up security around the shrine and probably assign a watch-dog for the girl. He didn't mind, though. It made the chase that much more exciting and it would be so much easier for him to reach his goal.

 

All he had to do now was keep a close eye on his beloved niece. The media, the police, as well as the people surrounding her on a daily basis will do the rest of the work. Sooner or later, they will all drive her crazy and she'll go running to the person they least expected.

 

It was a perfect plan and it was already set into motion.

 

***

 

“WHAT?”

 

He felt like the entire world was thrown on top of his shoulders. This wasn't part of their agreement! The kids were supposed to attend different schools at all time. He didn't know why, but he did know it was Ms. Higurashi's idea in the first place. Whatever argument she used against his father she was able to win him over. And now she's doing a one eighty? Turning on her own words no less!

 

“Fuck man! Chil!l Will ya?” Inuyasha was taken back by the sudden outburst. That was by far the most emotions he's seen his brother illustrate and it seriously worried him.

 

Sesshoumaru ignored the look he was getting. He wanted answers and he wanted them now. “Since when?”

 

“Thursday. Why? What's so special about her?” He was positive now his brother knew something about the family. Besides, the media said the police were reviewing the case and since two out of their family of four worked in that field, Sesshoumaru just had to know something, or at least heard something. Unlike himself; he knew nothing more than the fact that Mr. Higurashi died and the daughter was known to be mentally insane. But the latter was simply a false rumor passed around school.

 

Sesshoumaru remained quiet, eyes locked on his younger brother. He realized he lost complete control of his emotions. He let it be known he knew more than he let on in the first place. He had an inkling feeling his father would be sorely disappointed in him.

 

He knew the teenager would start asking questions. It was written all over his face. What should he do now? He more or less blew the cover. First thing first, though: he had to inform his father of what is going on. With calculating steps, he walked out of the living room.

 

“Here.” Sesshoumaru shoved the forgotten remote control into Inuyasha's chest, trusting he would catch it before it fell. The boy made a quick grab for it. “I don't have time to answer your questions.” The young adult continued in his stoic tone.

 

“What?” Outraged, Inuyasha dropped the offending object on the couch and ran after his brother. Before he was able to say anything else, Sesshoumaru cut him off.

 

“Father needs to be warned about the false data being passed to the media.” Without further ado, he kept his steady pace towards the front door. As the brothers reached the front hallway, the main doors to the house burst open.

 

An enraged Toga and a highly worried Izayoi walked in. Toga didn't bother to greet anyone as he stormed past his family and locked himself up in his study. From behind the closed door, the boys could hear obstinacies off all kind, the words strong enough to make a sailor blush. Izayoi calmly closed the door and made her way towards the study.

 

Looking once over her shoulder, she locked eyes with the eldest son. “Be ready to leave A.S.A.P.”

 

Sesshoumaru curtly nodded and continued on his way to the front of the house. With the parents in the study and the eldest waiting outside, Inuyasha found himself alone. He was still waiting for answers to his questions, but none seemed forthcoming. He solemnly walked back to the living room and was contemplating hearing what the news reporter had to say about this. False info or not, it certainly got the police's attention.

 

He heard the door to the study room open up. Turning towards the source of the sound, he noticed his father step out slightly calmer than before. Their gaze fell on each other for an instant. Toga looked far more worn out than usual while Inuyasha was silently asking a million questions a minute.

 

The old man sighed. He was the first to break the eye contact and quietly left the house, leaving Inuyasha once again in the dark. The next to greet the teen's eyes was his mother. The women would always lighten anyone's grim mood. However, looking at his mother now, he noticed she too seemed exhausted. She wore a sad smile and motioned for her son to come forth.

 

Doing as told, Inuyasha followed her into the study. She asked him to take a seat behind the desk and proceeded to bring something up on the computer screen. Inuyasha did as told and watched as files after files were being opened by a click of the mouse. More questions filled his slowly aching head as seconds passed by.

 

The last file open, the first thing that popped out was a picture of four. A father with a proud smile; a mother with delicate features; a baby boy content to be held so lovingly by his mother; and a little girl with so much innocence and fire burning behind those dark orbs. All in all, they looked like one big happy family. Underneath the picture were some names.

 

From left to right, top to bottom: Yoh Higurashi, Anna Onigu, Kagome Higurashi, Sota Higurashi.

 

Scanninbg the page some more, he realized these files were police records of the Higurashi case. Confused, Inuyasha turned to his right.

 

A set of dark violet eyes acknowledged him, silently giving him permission to read the classified informations. “Make sure you close everything and turn off the computer when you're done.” The bittersweet smile never left her face as she exited the room, leaving her son alone to do his much needed research to find his own answers.

 

Once again alone, Inuyasha's eyes fell on the picture. Finally he could solve the mystery behind the girl. Looking more closely at the screen, he started feeding his curiosity.

 

The first file, the one with the picture on top, explained where they lived, how long, how many... In simple it was the who, what, where, when and how of the Higurashi family. It also named a few relatives with both members of the Onigu family highlighted.

 

The next file was about the father, Yoh Higurashi. The first page held detailed description of the man in question. The guy was tall and apparently strong, being a part time teacher at a local dojo. But all the practice didn't help him from whatever tragic end he met. The second page had pictures, except they were both the same with a slight difference. Both pictures were of the father in his early thirties, but the second picture had deceased written in big bold capital red letters. Further down were more details on the reason. Mutilation. Somehow, the man fought off the urge to succumb to his injuries to call the police. He finally passed away in the dead of night at the hospital.

 

`Damn,' Inuyasha thought. `He held out long enough to save his family.' He's mind went back to the tree in the school courtyard. It stood out strong and proud, just like the deceased father. `No wonder Sota likes it so much.'

 

The next file was about the mother, Anna Onigu. It had details about her date of birth, her physic and her past. Once again highlighted in yellow were the names of the Onigu family and their relation to the woman. The second tab on the file had two different pictures: one of before the incident and on of after. Before, the woman looked young and alive, joyful and strong willed. On the next picture she looked battered and fragile, tattered and aged beyond her years. A little lower, it said she experience memory lose thanks to a major blow to the head. She didn't remember who her attacker was, even after most of her memory came back.

 

Turning to the next file, he read the name Sota. Skipping page one, Inuyasha went directly to the second. The first picture was that of a little five year old boy, smiling ever so innocently at the cameraman. The second photo held a beaten-up boy; he had a blue, practically black, eye that was barely concealed by the eye patch and part of his head shaved off to show a few stitches trailing behind his ear. Reading the lower half, the teen found out the boy had had speech problems and was in a rehabilitation center for the first few weeks after the attack. According to the doctors, Sota's assailant must have been a teenager or someone of the sort. For the longest time, the boy refused to talk or even look at teenage boys with a certain height and hair style. However, no one took that into account. The report said the boy was mentally unstable and his fright could have affected his memory of the aggressor. After all, a teen couldn't have caused so much damage to anyone.

 

Closing the file, Inuyasha's eyes fell on the last profile. He read her name, absentmindedly read through the first page. He wasn't quite sure what he was expecting and he didn't know what he was looking for either. Slowly bringing the pointer to the next tab of the file, Inuyasha clicked.

 

***

***

 

A.N.

 

I know, it's a sucky ending, but it was seriously beginning to be long. This chapter has taken up four and half pages in my note book when the chaps usually take a three and a quarter. Since it was mostly description and fewer dialogs (or practically none @.@ ) I guess it took up less space in MS Word… Anyway…

 

This was a more in dept view of what happened. I repeat, bad ending and I'm sorry. I hope I haven't lost anyone's interest in this story. I find the story is developing rather well. What do you think?

 

Shout-out! YAY!!

 

Anime Lady P.I.M.P: Good to hear from you again! Thanks for keeping up with this. I don't know why it's so hard to find this story when searching for it. I've tried typing it up in the search, but it was nowhere near the first few result found… strange… Anyway. Thanks again!

 

And thank you to my readers. Please R&R! I'm Begging here!!! PLEASE!! lol thanks again! Take care ^_^

 

Quote: I live in a small house, but my windows look out on a very large world. - Confucius.