InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stealing Heaven ❯ Broken Myth ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter Seven

Broken Myth

Professor Taisho's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, the skin beneath them tightening minutely, as he looked over this most recent rendering. He did recall seeing the bizarre and out of place-seeming clay containers. They did look correct, but somehow- in a way that he just could not put his finger on- he felt the image to be . . . empty. He wasn't entirely certain why that word seemed to fit, but it was simply as though the jars were lacking in something that he, himself, could not recall seeing at the time.

"And you're positive there was nothing else? Nothing at all?" he finally asked, remaining bent over the sketch as he was.

Kagome exchanged a quick glance with Sango behind his back. They had spent the last two days going over their fabricated details. The jars seem to have been empty, they were forced to conclude that the tragic story portrayed on the temple interior was only some terrible ancient fairy tale- akin to a Greek myth. And the only place The Thief of Bliss existed must have been in the minds of this long forgotten tribe.

Because of the state of the chamber, they would not be able to do a proper, possibly more simple reenactment. Professor Taisho was going to go on camera and walk an imaginary audience through the incident and Kagome, because she had been there at the time- and had not lost consciousness- was tasked with aiding him in this retelling. Her sketch would serve to provide the viewer with a more accurate impression of what they had seen at the actual moment they had made the find.

It was also important- not only to Professor Taisho's credibility and Kagome's future prospects, but for the entire team- that they establish that neither of them had done something to cause harm to the ancient tribal artifacts.

"Yes, I'm absolutely positive," she said firmly, Kagome was able to pull off fibbing if it was a rehearsed stretching, or even out right breaking, of the truth. "They were most likely just ceremonial pieces and the people choose to hide the jars because of their spiritual significance to them shortly before they disappeared from the area. . . . Right?" She wanted to make it perfectly clear that she was asking him if her assumption was correct, not telling him how things were.

Letting out a heavy breath, he nodded finally, straightening and rolling the page up. "Right. I suppose now we have no choice but to go and be done with this atrocity. Shall we?"

Kagome nodded in response, falling into step behind the professor. She held in a cringe when he did a slow double-take over his shoulder at Sango trailing after them.

". . . Ryoushi?"

Sango blinked up at him as she and Kagome both froze in their tracks. "Hmm?"

His brow furrowed lightly. "I was under the impression that since that section came down there have been no further visual anomalies in the recordings."

Sango forced herself not to give any telling glance in Kagome's direction. They didn't want to give Professor Taisho any reason to be suspicious. They also didn't want him to think that there was some reason they were wary of him being alone with Kagome.

"Yes, well that does seem to be the case, but I figure that if we're wrong, then I'll be right there to catch any defects as they occur so we can just re-shoot that part rather than cutting it later and having to come back just to redo one sentence or something like that." As predicted the sheer tedium of that notion had the professor giving a faint scowl- he wasn't a big fan of wasting time over anything that wasn't considered strictly essential. ". . . Oh, and Kagome had suggested that presentations along the lines of reenactments might feel less tiresome and monotonous if the camera was manned . . . you know, so that it would seem like you're explaining things to the person behind the camera, rather than just the camera itself."

Sango finished with a casual shrug, ignoring that Kagome was staring daggers at her for a split-second and shaking her head vehemently. Why would Sango think she wanted some of the credit for this? Kagome just barely stopped herself in time, forcing a light, and as relaxed as she could pull off, smile as Professor Taisho turned to her with a nod. On an ideal dig, a person manning the camera would be a give-in, but as they were such a small crew it had become something considered a luxury they had learned quickly to do without, but if the professor wasn't going to question why Sango would suddenly have free time then Kagome wasn't going to draw his attention to it.

"Alright, Higurashi," he said after a moment's thought. "We'll give this a try and see how it goes."

With that, Professor Taisho was striding through camp toward the trail, Kagome and Sango following. Sango hung her head nearly the whole trek to avoid glimpsing the scowl her friend was wearing.

* * *

Sango watched the two walk through the discussion that had led to the examination of the now-shattered section of wall. It was almost odd to her to see Kagome so at ease around Professor Taisho, knowing that that thing was hiding within him somehow. She hated to think it, but she had to wonder how the girl was coping with the entire mess. Granted, she had always been quick to adapt to things and she'd had a few days to firmly set in her mind that though the professor and The Thief shared a single form, they were worlds separated from being one-and-the-same.

It was like a split-personality disorder on crack. She blinked hard a few times, trying to banish the head ache this sort of tangled thinking was likely to cause.

As they retold of Kagome handing over the translator's notes and Kagome's initial explanation to the professor of the similar positioning of the anomalies Sango got the oddest impression that they were omitting something. Not intentionally, but it was simply as though they were both skipping over some part of their original discussion and going directly onto the translation. Sango pushed the impression aside- they had likely figured out separately that whatever it was simply had no bearing on the actual incident.

Kagome and Professor Taisho- after relating both the horrifying and tragic tribal myth and their initial reactions to the tale- crossed the chamber, detailing their slow, deliberate and delicate examination of the wall. It was at this point that the professor allowed Kagome to take lead of the discussion. He stated that this was because it was drawing close to the moment when he had been rendered unconscious and so he could not be entirely positive of the moment when his cognitive memories left off and his carefully ordered mind's necessity to fill in any perceived blanks might begin.

The girl might not like being put on the spot, perhaps it was the presence of the camera, or the notion that she was aiding to shape the education of other future archeologists, whichever the reason, Higurashi Kagome was now authoritative and confident, despite an almost uncharacteristic soft-spokeness. This was the way she would hold herself when she gave lectures or spoke in front of a class. In a way, she reminded him a little of his younger self.

Kagome began by pointing out how the wall had splintered, lightly glossing over just how she and the professor had gotten out of the way just in time as that chunk of stone had slammed into the temple floor. She stepped into the small, recently cleared alcove, outlining for the imaginary future audience as well as Sango where the jars had been place precisely and their arrangements. Stepping out again, she held out a hand, causing Sango to quirk a questioning eyebrow, but Professor Taisho wordlessly reached back, retrieving her rolled up sketch from the altar and placing it in her hand.

Kagome unfurled the page and explained to the camera the conversation they'd had in regards to their unusual craftsmanship with respect to the native culture's traditions. She rolled the paper up once more, clasping it in one hand as she described their quick side-step and swept her free hand outward, illustrating the manner in which the final piece had smashed down, destroying the jars so it was nearly impossible to tell what was wall and what was academically priceless artifact. She was well aware how devastating that simple accident of environment had been as she was one of the team members tasked with sorting through the tiny mountain of jagged debris and grainy dust that had been carted back to the research tents.

"Then Professor Taisho hurried back to the alcove to check the damage and, quite literally, the next thing I knew he was hitting the ground." Kagome was focused on the details of the amended time line she had worked on with Sango, running it over in her mind again and again to keep her voice from faltering or any unwanted, too-vivid, memories connected to those un-chronicled moments from working their way into her head.

"I checked his pulse," she went on, "and then was preparing to exit the site to call for help when he woke up. I remember being startled and," Sango, watching Kagome like an over-protective mother hawk the entire time gave her a reassuring nod, "dropping my walkie. He had already gotten up by the time I turned around. He took a few steps and I had thought he was alright, but then he collapsed. Again, I checked his pulse and at that time I did leave to fetch assistance."

Professor Taisho nodded, a barely visible hint of a smirk pulling up one corner of his mouth. "Well, we could have been a little more vague about that last part, don't you think?"

Kagome shrugged. "I wanted to make it crystal clear that no inappropriate measures were taken at any time, Professor."

He nodded and then Sango piped up, "Well you know, I can edit that part out, if you like."

Again the professor gave a small nod. "Let's play it through and see how it all works well first, I think. One final thing, Higurashi."

"Hmm?" Her eyebrows went up a little in question.

She was relieved she had gotten through this all without so much as a trembled word, but she really just wanted to get out of here now. It wasn't as though she believed that The Thief would dare emerge when there was a witness- and it was daytime. She wasn't positive, but she hoped his visits would be nocturnal, that had to be why a crescent moon was part of his name. She couldn't help that being back at, what she couldn't stop herself from thinking of as, the scene of the crime kept her feeling as though the demon would erupt from the professor at any moment.

"For the sake of the recording," he began, folding his arms across his chest, "about how much longer do you think it will be before the remnants of the artifacts are completely sorted from the rubble?"

Blue eyes widened a hint. "Oh, but Professor I am hardly any sort of expert. I would think it would be better if you were to give the time estimate."

He gave a half-nod. "You are working on that project directly and I would like to hear your best guess."

Kagome offered a small shrug. "At the moment it's only myself, Ayame and two or three others at most handling the sifting and Shippo is alternating cataloging duties with us when he can. So because it is such a painstaking process . . ." she nodded firmly, "I would say another three days, four at the outside?"

After a long and painfully silent moment, Professor Taisho responded, "I arrived at the same estimate." Amber eyes shifted toward the camera as Kagome heaved a quiet sigh of relief. "I believe that's it."

Nodding, Sango stopped the recording and began rewinding the footage. "Do you want to give this a quick review now? I can note any frames you want cut. That might actually make the editing a little less time-consuming."

He seemed to give this a moment's consideration before stepping over to Sango to watch the replay over her shoulder.

Kagome fidgeted a bit. She wanted to go, but she didn't feel entirely certain that she could fully trust that The Thief would keep his word, her hopes about the schedule he kept notwithstanding. And even if she thought he would, she understood that Sango would feel awkward about being alone with the Professor knowing what the demon was using the man's form for.

She leaned against the wall were it curved into the chamber's entry way. Distantly she could hear Dubios and Bruckner in another chamber. Then she heard something that tugged at her heart just as it set a tiny, trembling chill into the base of her spine.

It was faint and muffled, but definitely the sound of someone weeping.

Glancing over, she saw Sango and Professor Taisho distracted with going through the recording. Crossing her arms beneath her breasts, she bit deep into her lower lip, forcing herself to ignore it. The sound became more insistent, the frequency of the hiccupped cries only made the sorrow of it seem all that much deeper.

She tried to put it out of her mind, telling herself it was nothing more than a distorted noise- water dripping somewhere in the temple, or even in the outer cavern, and echoing strangely off of the walls.

But . . . her conscience was nagging at her suddenly. What if it was someone crying? One of the other interns sneaking into the depths of the temple to have some place to be alone? Ayame was always worrying about the strain this long trip was putting on her relationship with her boyfriend. What was his name? . . . Ookami Kouga? If she recalled correctly, he ran track. Ayame had seemed more cranky than usual as of late, what if her call back to Tokyo on their last town run had given her bad news?

Kagome sent another quick sideways glance at the two glued to the camera's tiny viewing screen. She'd just pop out to track down the noise and be right back. If she were to find out later that it had been someone sobbing and she hadn't gone to check on them and offer a shoulder to cry on- whether it was accepted, or even welcome or not- she would never be able to forgive herself.

Leaning down subtly, she squirreled a hand-held glow rod out of her pack- thinking that it her lantern would be too bulky and be noticed. The last thing she felt like dealing with was having Sango make her feel bad for having a conscience. She slipped it into her pocket and side-stepped around the entrance and out into the corridor.

She was quiet as she followed the sound down the corridor, peering into chambers and small nooks as she passed them. She didn't dare call out. Not only would that alert Sango and Professor Taisho that she'd sneaked off and make her feel like an idiot if it was just some distorted environmental sound, but that it was how people in cheesy horror movies got killed. Even beyond such foolish reasoning, she didn't want to frighten whoever it might be.

But then . . . she paused, drawing out the glow rod and cracking it to shake it into illumination and hold it out before her. After what had happened when she had last been in this temple, she wasn't certain she could consider any sort of cautionary reasoning foolish. She could still hear the mournful sound echoing lightly off of the rough stone walls. Why was no one else hearing this? Her mouth pulled tight to one side as she hmphed inwardly at herself, ignoring that emitting that noise was a habit she'd picked up from Professor Taisho. It was probably because she was the only one not distracted with working on something.

She reached the end of the corridor and still hadn't found anything, yet the sound persisted. A frown tugged at the corners of her lips. Perhaps she had missed something? Kagome turned on her heel, freezing instantly as she heard a sound like stone grinding against stone. Her brow furrowed as she looked over her shoulder. At the base of the wall, just behind her feet a trap door had opened.

The crying became louder suddenly as she stared into the deep blackness the door had revealed. She felt cold creeping around in the pit of her stomach- the sound couldn't be coming from down there, it just couldn't. Turning her head forward again, she dropped her gaze to her feet. She needed to leave, but professionally, no matter how she felt or what she was hearing, she couldn't just go back and potentially let the door close again without figuring out how it had opened. She'd not felt or seen any pressure triggers . . . and as far as they had found to this point there were no booby traps in the structure.

And what was that sound?

Letting a slow breath ease out from between lightly parted lips, she lifted one foot and there, beneath her heels was the vague outline of a small diamond-shaped stone. It was so indistinct, so little that it was possible no one had noticed . . . no one had stepped on this exact spot.

Nodding slowly to herself, she set her foot back down. She was going to get the Professor and Sango right now.

She took a step and immediately her legs went out from under her. Kagome hit the temple floor on her abdomen, the wind getting knocked out of her lungs. She sucked in a breath to call for help as she scrambled to get to her feet, but suddenly she was slipping backward and down through the trap door. It all happened so fast that she didn't even have time to let out a scream before she landed on some sort of dry, rustling cushioning that crinkled and crunched beneath her as she pulled herself to sit up.

It was pitch black and she realized she must have lost her grip on her glow rod when she'd stumbled. Gods was she a klutz. Shaking her head at her own stupidity, she was about to stand up when she realized . . . .

The crying had stopped.

Placing a hand down to steady herself a little, she turned slowly listening intently. Her skin crawled instantly and every inch of her went numb as she felt a skeletal hand snake its way around her wrist.

* * *

A muffled and distant shriek rang out and Sango jumped. She exchanged a brief, confused glance with Professor Taisho. Another shrill scream sounded and they both turned their attention to the place where Kagome had been.

"Higurashi." Suddenly the professor was across the chamber and heading into the corridor.

Sango rushed to catch up to him and nearly collided with Bruckner and Dubios. They hurried down the corridor in time to see Professor Taisho reach the end of the passage. He stooped to pick up a seemingly discarded glow rod. The other three looked around in confusion as a hiccuping voice sounded from somewhere, but Professor Taisho was staring intently at something on the floor. He sat on his knees and brought a fist down on the strange, tiny stone diamond. The trap door grated open and the sound of hysterical sobbing filled the air.

"Higurashi!"

"Professor! I- I c-can't see!" Kagome shrieked- her mind was too numb by now to care about how unprofessional this would appear later. "There's something down here with me!"

Sango couldn't believe what she was seeing as the professor, seemingly without a second thought, jumped down through the trap door and she bolted forward, slamming her heel down on the little stone to keep the door from closing again. Dubios and Bruckner were right behind her, but she could only barely feel one of them bump her shoulder as they halted. They looked down into the eerie green hue of that sparsely illuminated darkness to see Professor Taisho with a supportive arm around a bawling Kagome . . . and there, on the floor barely visible from their vantage point through a heavy scattering of tattered rags and ancient, dried leaves . . . .

Sango felt her heart crash down into her stomach as she clamped a hand over her mouth. Kagome wouldn't even look at it- she couldn't, it felt like it was glaring accusingly at her.

"If the story of this place was a myth . . ." Professor Taisho said slowly, letting the girl cry into the hollow of his shoulder as he took in the disturbing visage of the skeleton chained to the floor, decayed and dehydrated bits of flesh still clinging stubbornly to bone here and there, "then why do I feel like we just found The Thief's high priest?"

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