InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Strike By Night ❯ Naraku's Dead?! ( Chapter 2 )

Strike By Night

Chapter 2: Naraku's Dead?!

Disclaimer: Still don't own Inu Yasha, the series, or Sesshoumaru, the person. For more info, see last disclaimer.

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Last Chapter:

Sesshoumaru and Kagome met on the plane trip to Kyoto to assassinate their newest target. Unfortunately or fortunately, fate works in confusing ways, they had seats next to each other, and sparks flew, well, it was more like tempers and near punches, but it was certainly one flight they'd never forget. Now they're both in Kyoto, each looking for the perfect opportunity to kill their target, homicidal playboy, Naraku Shinigami. Mwhahaha.

(Moving on…)

Grabbing a cab to the luxurious ten-story Maple Hotel, Kagome stepped out in front of the grand entrance. She had changed clothing once again, this time opting for a more executive look: pale blue form fitting suit and skirt with matching heels and purse. Hot, important, sexy, not trashy. Alright, let's go, Kagome thought in encouragement as she stroke into the decorated lobby after she paid the cabbie, leaving a generous tip. She could see his eyes light up and his numerous thanks as she walked off.

Heading directly for the concierge while the bellhop carried in her bags, she asked for a room. "Your name please?" the concierge asked without even bothering to look at her, obviously he considered himself too important to seriously deal with her.

"Kaede Hayami" Kagome replied and delighted as the man's head shot up and suddenly, he was all respect and caring. She had just given him the last name of one of the most influential families in Japan. The first name though, was just something she thought was pretty on the plane ride over. Between the glares and remarks she had shared with her seat partner, there had been some time to think.

"Oh of course, Ms. Hayami, how nice to see you. Are you doing well?" the concierge fawned thinking she was a relation to the aforementioned influential family. It was just the effect Kagome had hoped for when she chose the name.

"Quite" Kagome quipped, stating her patience was wearing thin, but not from the sycophant concierge. Rather, she had a nagging feeling that she was being watched.

Sensing her impatience, the concierge continued. "We have several rooms available on the seventh and eighth floors, do you have a preference Ms. Hayami?"

"Well, I do love a room with a view," gushed Kagome "And I've heard room 713 has a beautiful view, is it available?"

"It seems the occupants have just checked out earlier today. It is being cleaned right now," stated the concierge, carefully hiding his confusion. He was rather confused because room 713 has the same view as every other room on the floor, but oh well, the customer is always right. Who was he to argue?

"Well then perfect, I'll take it." Kagome replied quickly handing him her debit card along with identification. The debit card is listed under the account of K. Hayami, one she had created specifically for this case. And the identification, which she wrangled from her friend Shippo, will show her as her alias. Thank god for Shippo, thought Kagome as she watched the concierge check her in. Taking the keys he handed her she thanked him and headed up to her room, noting the security cameras at the ends of the halls along the way.

There was a reason she wanted this hotel, and more importantly this room, reasoned Kagome as she walked into her room; it was right under Naraku's. People would always keep track of their neighbors on both sides, but rarely the one downstairs. She smiled as she lifted her head to observe the high ceiling, of which only a few feet separated her and her target. Also, this allowed her to see what the hotel locks were like.

The watched feeling had disappeared, well at much as it can with all the security cameras in the building, but it never hurts to make sure. Making a sweep around the room, living room, and connecting bathroom to check for bugs, but finding none, she quickly unpacked. There were only three days left until the seventh.

Sesshoumaru rounded the corner and approached the famous Maple Hotel on foot. He had his cabbie drop him off a few blocks past, preferring to check out the target site from the comfort of his own solitary presence. Sesshoumaru nonchalantly strolled around the building, eyes analyzing every available angle to enter, everything from windows and walls to the nearby buildings, his youkai eyes noting the location of Naraku's rooms.

As he passed the front doors, something caught his eyes. A girl stood in front of the registration desk, obviously asking for a room. He frowned as he recognized the girl as the same one from the plane. As fond as he was of seeing her again, this was no place for her to be, not with what's going to happen. The girl seemed to feel the intensity of his frown and her body noticeably tensed. Out of the corner of his eyes, Sesshoumaru noticed that he wasn't the only one watching the girl. Leaning nonchalantly against a support column just inside the doorway was a man, whose eyes, despite his acting the indifferent visitor, never left the girl's body. However, he lost contact with either of them when a valet asked him to move so the baggage cart could move through. When he looked up next, the girl was gone, and so was the man. Still frowning, he continued on his original course to a neighboring building whose roof had a perfect view of Naraku's room.

Upon reaching the roof, Sesshoumaru quickly located Naraku's balcony. Careful to keep out of sight, he studied the view. Unfortunately, The darkly tinted windows of the screen door prevented any sight of the room within, even with Sesshoumaru's eyes. The glass of the windows, as he had researched earlier was made of a special bulletproof mixture and at least a foot thick. Nothing short of a bazooka was getting through it. This would have to be up close and personal, Sesshoumaru thought, not a bit disappointed. Turning around, still careful to keep out of sight, Sesshoumaru left.

Night found Kagome on her bed chomping on crackers and pouring over the schematics of the state-of-the-art alarm system in Naraku's suite, courtesy of Miroku. He was a close friend of Kagome's, along with Sango and Shippo, and a genius when it came to intelligence research. It's hard to believe he used to be a priest before he found, as he called it, his "true calling". Though Kagome suspects that the change of career was more likely caused by his roving hands and perverted habits than by a change of beliefs. Despite all, Miroku is probably the only person who knows what she actually does for a living. Though she told everyone she worked for the JCIA, she wouldn't have put it past Miroku to do a background search on her, if only for her measurement and inadvertently found out the truth. There would be times when he'd look at her oddly, but he'd never say anything and always provided her with the information she asked for, making Kagome wonder just how much he actually knew.

Turning back to the subject at hand, Kagome raked her eyes over the perfect as always, detailed schematic of the alarm system. She swears that Miroku could find out what Naraku had for lunch yesterday if he wanted. The alarm system was the best private system she'd ever seen, hair trigger silent alarm fused with a current of electricity strong enough to knock a muscleman out around every window, door, even the ventilation system. But it had one fatal error: it only stops "unauthorized" entries and is linked to the hotel's system. All she needed was an employee passcard, even one from housekeeping would work, and she'd be in. Simple, she thought. The security cameras might pose a problem, but she'd take care of it in the morning yawned Kagome as she prepared to turn in for the night. After she showered and brushed her teeth, Kagome climbed in bed wondering just where the hell Naraku was; she hadn't heard movement from upstairs all day!

Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps. Speak of the devil, thought Kagome as she heard not only one, but two sets of footsteps, one distinctly male and one distinctly female, head for the bedroom, which unfortunately, happened to be right above her bedroom. The footsteps, followed by many banging sound, were a lot louder than Kagome anticipated. "You'd think with all the money they're charging for a room, they'd be able to afford solid stone between the floors," grumbled Kagome, though secretly delighted at being able to track Naraku's movements so clearly. Suddenly, the realization of what those banging sounds meant dawned on Kagome. (use your imagination) Blushing scarlet, she dived onto the bed and pulled the covers over her head, hoping to drown out the sound.

Sesshoumaru checked into a nearby hotel for the night. He never stayed more than one night in any hotel, preferring not the deal with the hotel's housekeeping crew, which invaded his privacy far more than he liked. His plan was set in his head. Now, all he needed was a time, which he'll deal with tomorrow, Sesshoumaru thought as he fell asleep, not even bothering to unpack the few bags which consisted of his entire luggage. Three more days.

Two days later: the Sixth

Morning missed Kagome completely and it was now late afternoon. Last night, when she finally managed to block out the banging from upstairs, again, (thank god for thick blankets) she managed to come up with a plan for the security cameras. Now, it was time to put her entire plan into action. The job was tonight.

Pulling on a jacket, she headed downstairs. Kagome strolled idly around looking for the surveillance room. Ten minutes later, she finally found it, tucked into a corner on the first floor. Seeing no one around, and no cameras around, she slipped inside. Seeing no one inside, she quickly snapped two pictures of the monitors with her instant camera. Slipping the developed photos in a pocket, Kagome made to open door to slip out, but was shocked when it flew out of her hand to reveal the security officer in charge. Thinking quickly, she made up a story about getting lost when looking for the bathroom. Hearing this, the security officer's face brightened, as if catching someone in your office who was looking for the bathroom happened everyday, which it probably did. Guess the rich are dumber than they look when it comes to navigating directions, Kagome thought as the officer guided her to the nearest bathroom.

After staying a full minute inside just to make it convincing, Kagome then walked out of the restroom and headed for the maids' quarters. From her careful observation days before, Kagome knew now would be when the maids finished their cleaning and left for the day. Casually strolling in, she picked the lock on the drawer and grabbed a passcard before just as casually strolling out again. She went back up to her room to hide the passcard then went out for dinner; just to show the pompous concierge that she had a life. Kagome really hated that man.

At half past ten, Kagome returned. Making sure the cameras caught her entering her room, she went in to wait for midnight. From her unfortunate experiences, Kagome knew the bangings stopped around midnight. It would be best to kill him then, pondered Kagome. Yes, it was low to kill someone who just had sex, but it would be easiest then. She was an assassin, not a combatant. The girlfriend would have a nasty shock in the morning, but that couldn't be helped, Kagome reasoned within herself.

Sure enough, around eleven, the banging started, however, this time, it sounded just a little different.

At quarter till midnight, Kagome got into action. Standing on a chair, she crawled into the ventilator shaft. Plodding quietly, Kagome crawled through the ventilation system until she was just beside the security cameras, a blind spot. Removing then loosely replacing the grate, Kagome crawled out of the ventilation shaft. She quickly made for the staircase nearby, which was deserted at this time of night. Quietly moving up a flight of stairs, Kagome arrived under the security camera of the eighth floor. Removing a Polaroid of a monitor that she took in the security room from her pocket, she jumped up and stuck the adhesives she had placed on the photo to both sides of the camera lens, allowing the camera to forever see a clear hallway. Taking out her gun, Kagome ducked behind the stairway and took a shot at the other camera at the other end of the hallway. The bullet, bypassing the camera, took out its wire connection, effectively knocking the camera out, before imbedding itself in the wall. Grinning, Kagome sprinted toward the disabled camera. Mom always did say I have good aim, thought Kagome, thinking back to her practices at archery. Within seconds, she had pasted her second Polaroid of a monitor on the lens and reconnected the wiring.

Looking around to make sure the hallway was still clear, she strode toward the door of room 813. Hearing no sounds from within, Kagome slid the passcard into the lock. When the light flashed green, Kagome pushed on the door and slipped inside. Quietly closing the door behind her, Kagome allowed her eyes to adjust to the foreboding darkness while every hair on her body tensed to alert her to the slightest sound or movement from within the rooms. When she could see again, Kagome held her gun in front of her and crept in the direction of Naraku's bedroom.

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Up on the roof again, Sesshoumaru stood facing Naraku's balcony. Cloaked in black with a hood to cover his silvery mane, Sesshoumaru leaped off the roof. Using his youkai abilities, he landed gently upon the balcony; despite the fact nearly fifty feet separated the two buildings. Putting an ear just millimeters from the screen door, Sesshoumaru listened, but heard nothing, only the near invisible hum of electric currents running through the wiring on the door. Drawing out a small circular device, Sesshoumaru set it to fifteen seconds and placed it on the wall beside the screen door. When he felt the electric currents disappear from the screen door and saw the device start to count down, he dripped the poison from his claws onto the latch, dissolving it. Then he slid back the screen door, preparing to enter.

Kagome had reached Naraku's bedroom, but was surprised to find him the only occupant of the bed. Instantly, she looked around, wondering where his companion had gone. Until something caught her eye, Naraku was sleeping in a very unnatural position. His hands were on his face as if holding it and something dark was flowing down his chest. Moving closer, stopping almost beside him, the sight Kagome saw almost made her turn away. Naraku's throat was slashed, a very deep cut by the looks of it, from which blood had gushed and covered his entire chest. His hands were holding the remains of his face, of which the acid, which had obviously been thrown at him, were still eating away at it. The once handsome face of Naraku Shinigami had now been disfigured beyond recognition. It has to be him, thought Kagome; there could be no other identity to the body before her

Kagome was snapped out of her shock when she felt the cold muzzle of a gun against her temple. Looking out the corner of her eyes, Kagome met the cold gaze of a pair of very familiar golden eyes.

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A/N: don't you just love cliffhangers? What will happen next? Will Sesshy kill Kag? (runs away from mob) uh…

Anyway, this chapter was mostly serious, but it is vital to the story. It took me a while to finish b/c I got a little distracted with the new Harry Potter book. Gomen ne.

I know Kagome is OOC, but if I kept her in character, she wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. She's be too sweet, so I had to make her stronger ...kinda.

YAY! I got reviews!!! Thank you SO much. Keep `em coming. ^_^

sesshyangel: you do carry out your threats.

Saiyuna-san: I know Sess seems a lot older than Kag, but I had to make it that way because he is very mature and it provides more conflict before they get together. BTW, Inu Yasha's 25.

MoonBunny14: I was hoping to reveal this later, but oh well. Kagome is third, Sess is first, and Inu Yasha is second. Kinda runs in the family, ne? Inu Yasha will get a bigger part as the story continues. He'll be there for entertainment.

Ja ne

--hitokiri*seraphim