InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Strictly Taboo ❯ Wasn't It a Strange Way Down ( Chapter 36 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

*Song for the chapter: Dress Rehearsal Rag by Leonard Cohen*

Inuyasha sat at his desk, staring at the blurred image of its surface. Was it tears this time or just exhaustion? He wasn’t sure. Sleeping was done fitfully, and he hadn’t had any for the past week. It had been three months in total since Onigumo had taken Kagome away. Every day without her just made it all so much worse. At first, he had gotten over the blow of sadness life had dealt him and hired several men to track Kagome down and find Onigumo’s home. None of them came back. Inuyasha wished he had just gone after her as soon as she had been taken, followed the car, stealthily hiding in the woods and eventually taking them by surprise. But he was smart enough to know that Onigumo hadn’t come unprepared. Just because he hadn’t seen any specific weapons made to target demons didn’t mean the bodyguards didn’t have any. In all likelihood, he had avoided a trap. He hadn’t spoken to Kikyo since, and she had given up trying to get through to him after the first few weeks. His arm felt like lead as he pressed the red button that paged his secretary and assistant into his office.

Myoga sighed wearily as he entered the room.

“Yes, Master Inuyasha?”

“Reconsider,” was all he said, bitterly glaring at the flea demon with all the energy he had left in him.

“I already told you no, sir.”

“Then you’re fired!” he shouted, throwing a stack of papers at him and missing by about a foot. Grief and exhaustion were making him sloppy.

His assistant just sighed again and bent down to gather up the important documents.

“Master Inuyasha, I have explained this to you. I serve not only you, but your family line. The Higurashi girl is too much trouble. Onigumo is a very powerful man. It would be best to just forgive this and live happily with the woman you already have. What is it the humans say? If you can’t love the one you want, love the one you’re with?”

Inuyasha laughed harshly between clenched teeth, his claws digging into the wood of his expensive desk that he had used for over two-hundred years.

“If you serve my bloodline, then you serve Kagome as well, flea. She is my daughter.”

“That is not possible, Master Inuyasha,” Myoga said sadly, shaking his head. “I would have smelled it. You would have sensed it and smelled it. And Onigumo would know if she wasn’t his. He is a half-demon as well.”

“An artificially made one,” Inuyasha pointed out. “His senses wouldn’t be like a genuine half-demon’s. And I can feel that Kagome is mine. She’s mine in every way. She even bears a resemblance to my human form!”

“Wishful thinking.”

“What kind of sick bastard would I be if I wished the love of my life was my daughter?!” Inuyasha cried, admitting only to himself that it was true.

Myoga finished with the papers and set them in a nice stack on Inuyasha’s otherwise messy desk.

“I’m sorry, Master Inuyasha, but I cannot allow myself to assist you on your journey towards self-destruction.” Myoga bowed his way out.

Inuyasha hit his head on the desk so hard he left a crack in it. There was no way to get her back if he was alone. He possessed enough self-awareness to know that. There had always been someone to do something for him, someone to pay to make the bad guys go away when he couldn’t do it himself. He lacked the necessary planning, patience, intelligence, and coolness to carry out the operation successfully. He needed a partner.

“Hey, Mr. Taisho. Myoga let me in. You’ve been ignoring my calls for almost a year now, so I decided to drop by and discuss your financial—“

“Miroku!” Inuyasha shouted, interrupting and startling his pervert accountant. It was like a light bulb went on over his head. Miroku Houshi was closest thing he had to an actual friend. Granted, he ignored him most of the time, but still. He was of the old school belief that a boss shouldn’t be a pal to his employees. Then they’d just get all soft and feely and want dental benefits and crap. He didn’t get rich by handing out healthcare willy-nilly like some kind of bleeding heart idiot. Miroku was an accountant, so he had to be smart, and during his interview he had childishly tried to impress Inuyasha by telling him he was a black belt in some kind of martial art, he’d even gotten up and demonstrated a few moves for him, so Inuyasha knew he’d be a good fighter.

“Er, sir, why are you staring at me like that?” Miroku asked uneasily, glancing back at the door before looking back at him.

Inuyasha smiled, feeling the happiest he had since he had last been with Kagome.

“Miroku, how’d you like to hang out tonight? Just you and me?”

The look on Miroku’s face almost made him want to take it back. The nerd’s expression lit up and he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose excitedly, probably salivating as he thought about all the Star Trek episodes he could force Inuyasha to sit through.

“Definitely! But I think you should know, that although I do not and never will judge you and your preferences, I am strictly women only, so don’t be expecting too much of me.”

“That’s not what I mean, you fucking pervert,” Inuyasha barked as he got to his feet. “I need your help.”

“With what?”

“Inuyasha, I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Miroku whispered, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose again, the beads of sweat that covered it immediately making them slide down again.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Just this one time, couldn’t he have worn fucking contacts? He glanced over at his “partner” and fought the urge to punch him in the face. Miroku was wearing what appeared to be a leather jumpsuit made for a woman. Why he owned that, Inuyasha didn’t want to know.

“Shut the fuck up,” he hissed as he used his claws to carefully cut a hole in the window large enough for him to pass through. He felt like goddamned Cat Woman. At least he wasn’t in a leather jumpsuit. Black jeans and a black t-shirt were good enough for him.

“It’s just, what makes you think Onigumo will be keeping what he took from you in his office? What about his home?”

“I can’t find his home,” Inuyasha growled, sweating with restraint. It was all he could do to not just punch through the window, but that would certainly set off some sort of alarm and he didn’t need that. “So I started thinking. What if he doesn’t have one?”

After a small pause, Miroku said, “Inuyasha, with all respect, that’s incredibly fucking stupid.”

“You don’t understand. Nobody has ever seen him leave the building for anything other than meetings at other businesses and meals. I’ve had people watching him for months. It was only when I told them to try and get close that they didn’t come back.”

“That just sounds like he has a private exit and entrance somewhere. I mean, the guy’s a multi-billionaire, he’s gotta have at least a couple homes in swanky locations.”

“Once again,” Inuyasha said as he delicately used the tips of his claws to get the severed pane of glass away from the window and outside, “shut the fuck up. Hurry and get inside, and keep your fucking ski mask on.”

Miroku kept the mask pushed up on the top of his head and Inuyasha didn’t insist again. If he wanted to go to prison, that was his right. As for him, he’d make sure he was never affiliated with his nerd accountant. If they were caught, he’d bust out and all records of Miroku’s employment would vanish. He’d even applied a temporary tattoo so that the cops who looked at the surveillance footage would be searching for someone with a barbed wire design on their left arm.

Inuyasha immediately knew he was on to something when he smelled her, sensed her. She was here, or had been recently. Kagome was close. He turned to tell Miroku, but was shocked to see someone he hadn’t ever expected to see again standing next to his partner in crime.

“Sango?!”