InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Archangel ❯ Into the Night ( Chapter 5 )

The Archangel

By; U.C.

AN: Just a quick thank you to all of you out there that have reviewed. I've got some really great responses and I truly appreciate each and every one of you. Please continue to let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy the story!!!! U.C.

Chapter 5

Into the Night

New York City, Corner of East 64th and 78th Streets

Yellow Cab, license plate # 267-KJZ

Saturday, June 18th 9:15 pm Eastern Pacific Time

The cool press of steel against her ribcage stung even through the material of her blouse. Kagome sat rigid with fear against the weathered vinyl back seat of the cab, the man with the bad hair piece sat next to her grinning with maniacal glee as he casually ran his hand through her hair with one hand while the other pressed a pistol to her side.

The tall, well muscled man was seated upfront next to a cabbie who looked just as nervous as she did. She could see the mans dark braid slung casually over his shoulder while his arm rested across the back of the seat, a small black 9mm in his hand.

The man beside her was frightening without a doubt, but the man up front was the one that really had her worried. He had such an air of casual indifference about the whole thing, like he was on a Sunday drive instead of partaking in kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon.

"Isn't she pretty Hiten?" the man beside her cooed, the smell of alcohol on his breath was enough to knock her out. He was obviously very drunk.

"She's ok." Hiten said offhandedly with a bored gesture from the front.

`Ok!' Kagome thought indignantly, though she was too frightened to speak.

"Such lovely hair." The large man commented to himself.

"Eh…I've seen better." Hiten added his two cents. Kagome was incensed. How dare they kidnap her then insult her. They were probably going to kill her anyway, might as well speak her peace.

"How dare you! If I'm nothing special then why the hell did you kidnap me?!" She demanded, shying away when her captor leaned forward and took an obnoxiously loud sniff of her hair.

Hiten turned around in his seat and gave her a steady glare. At first she was afraid he would turn around and shoot her right there and then. That is until a wide grin broke out on his maliciously handsome face.

"She's a feisty one Manten. I think we will take her to Lord Naraku. He is always looking for a good woman or two."

"But I want to keep her." Manten whined, giving a lock of Kagome's hair a not so gentle tug for emphasis causing Kagome grimace.

"Too bad, you know the rules. Who knows, maybe Naraku will reward us for this one. He likes them fiery."

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New York City; 37 East 64th Street

Hotel Athenee Plaza, Room 346

Saturday, June 18th, 9:18 pm Eastern Pacific Time

Everyone watched in silence as Sesshoumaru stripped off all of his gear dropping it in the floor in a heap of cloth, wire, plastic, and metal. He even went so far as to pop the lens out of his eye, dropping it onto the pile paying no attention to the millions of dollars worth of equipment he was ruining.

Sango seemed to be taking it the hardest. The look on that poor girls face was heart wrenching. The heartache she must be going through right now. She fidgeted nervously in her evening gown, unsure of what to say or do. How do you console someone who may have just lost the love of their life forever. They were waiting for Miroku to arrive, he was the last in the operation to pull out.

When the door opened Miroku strode in and froze at the sight before him. Sesshoumaru stood in the center of the room in only a pair of dress slacks, having shed everything else including his shoes which were equipped with stealth daggers and untraceable homing beacons. He was throwing away everything that distinguished him as an agent.

Once he was finished he reached around to the back of his neck and dug his claws into his flesh. Sango gasped, Koga looked away as Ayami buried her head in his shoulder, Shippo seemed to drain of all color, and Miroku just looked on with a grave expression.

Bloody fingers pulled out a small piece of plastic, his regulator chip that had been embedded at the base of his skull. He added the bloodied microchip to the pile and with out so much as a goodbye pulled on his white dress shirt and stormed out the door.

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New York City; Lower East Side Manhattan

Unmarked Warehouse on Riverdale St.

Saturday, June 18th, 9:38 pm Eastern Pacific Time

The cab pulled up in front of an old abandoned looking warehouse. What few windows it had were bricked up and the only light came from a dim, murky light over the door that only added to the macabre scene.

Kagome felt the gun press harder against her side as Manten reached over her, his face purposely brushing against her chest making her shudder in disgust, and opening the door.

"Out girlie." He emphasized with a not so gentle shove with the barrel of his gun.

Kagome obediently climbed out of the cab standing on the curb contemplating escape as Manten clumsily pulled himself out behind her. Surely they wouldn't really shoot her, if she ran they would yell and chase her, but not shoot her.

Hiten's door swung open suddenly startling her, if she was going to run she needed to do it now. Manten was one thing, she could out run him with out really trying, but Hiten was another story all together. He was all sinewy muscle and long lines, he'd catch her in a heart beat. She watched in nervous indecision as Hiten leaned down and looked at the cabbie.

"Thanks for the ride." He said politely before turning his gun on him and shooting him point blank in the head.

Kagome screamed, her fist coming up to her mouth in horror. He…he just shot him. Her mind screamed for her to run yet her body remained frozen in place. Manten leaned heavily on her, his drunken breath spilling across her neck and collar bone. Bile rose up in her throat when Hiten turned to her with a smug look of satisfaction on his face.

How could anyone look so content and happy after murdering someone in cold blood, Kagome just couldn't understand. He grinned when he saw the horror stricken look on her face and sauntered up to her.

"What's the matter girlie? Never watched a man die before?" He purred with an almost seductive tone, acting as if he were whispering sweet nothings to her instead of sadistic utterances. "Its invigorating, no?"

"You murderer!" She spat in his face, the precipice of her patience breached. As soon as the words left her mouth Kagome knew she'd made a mistake. Her body stiffened of its own volition, awaiting for his retaliation. She expected him to hit her, or shoot her, or at least yell at her.

What she didn't expect was for him to laugh, but he did and he kept laughing even as the door to the ware house opened and two young men came out and began cleaning up the mess he'd made in the cab. Kagome wasn't sure exactly what to do. It was obvious that Hiten was criminally insane, but had no experience in dealing with such `delicate' people. Any wrong move could get her killed or worse.

Manten was of no help what so ever. In fact he seemed to be passed out on his feet, now leaning heavily on her shoulder for support. Not at all a welcome gesture seeing as the man had to weigh almost three hundred pounds and compared to Kagome's slight 120, well it put her at a disadvantage.

Just as suddenly as he'd started Hiten's manic laughter came to an abrupt halt. Suddenly Kagome found herself caught by the front of her shirt and being held uncomfortably close to the insane man before her. Manten swayed unsteadily having lost his prop and grumbled a few unintelligible words. Kagome's eyes were drawn to the gleaming white of Hiten's fangs, which were bared in extreme displeasure.

`So he is a Youkai.' Kagome thought dismally, realizing that there was no way she would be able to get away now. The two had given off an odd vibe, but unlike most Youkai they were virtually undistinguishable from humans, possibly elementals.

`Sesshou,' Kagome thought dismally. If he were there…hell thinking about him only made it worse. It hurt to think that he'd been using her, lying to her all this time. She had to wonder, all those times he went out of town on business, was he really going home to his wife? Oh god, did he have children too? Was she just one of many mistresses he had put up in swank apartments around the world?

Hiten's face smoothed back out into the coldly handsome lines as he took a delicate sniff. "Argh… Manten you got your stink all over her, she reeks of cheap scotch."

"Sorry brother." Manten managed to slur out, though he sounded like he was about to hurl at any given moment.

Hiten let go of the front of her shirt, opting to take a firm hold of her upper arm instead. Kagome grimaced as he squeezed her painfully, but refused to cry out. She would not let him intimidate her, tonight she'd been through hell and there was nothing they could do to make it any worse.

"Come girlie, time for you to meet the boss."

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New York City; Upper East Side Manhattan

18th floor, apartment 4D

Saturday, June 18th, 11:45 pm

For the first time in over a year Sesshoumaru Takishima came home to an empty apartment. There was no note on the board, no meal in the fridge for him to `nuke' as Kagome called it, and no soft, warm body in his bed.

Sesshoumaru felt for the first time at a complete loss of what to do and realized with startling force that Kagome Higurashi was his life.

He was sitting exactly where he had been since he got home over an hour ago, on his balcony with a glass of rum. The wound on the back of his neck had long since healed, the only proof that it was ever there to begin with was the dried blood on the collar of his shirt.

The ring, his mothers ring and now Kagome's, was fitted snugly on his pinky finger and he would glance down at it every few minutes. The look on her face…it tore at him even thinking about it now. Thinking he had betrayed her, thinking he had lied to her, but it was all true in away. He could have told her he was an agent, but not only do regulations forbid it, it would have also put her in direct danger if she knew too much.

That was something her refused to do.

Now the big question was what to do now? He was no longer an agent, and if his strip down at the check point wasn't clear enough he would give them something a bit more unmistakable. He glanced down at his watch, nearly midnight. It was still too early to call and see if she made it to her mothers alright. If she left right after their little encounter she wouldn't get there until at least 5 am, if she even left tonight.

Beep, Beep, Beep

Sesshoumaru's glass shattered in his grip. How dare they call him after what happened tonight. He told them he was through after this mission even before all this mess.

Beep, Beep, Beep

Without any second thoughts Sesshoumaru indulged in something he'd wanted to do for years. He heaved the phone off the balcony as hard as he could. From what he could tell it landed somewhere in central park, probably giving some hobo a rather rude wake up call.

With a small amount of satisfaction Sesshoumaru headed in the apartment, not bothering with any of the lights. He just wanted to crash right now. He would find Kagome tomorrow and explain everything, regulations be damned.

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New York City; Lower East Side Manhattan

Unmarked Warehouse on Riverdale St.

Saturday, June 18th , 10:22 pm Eastern Pacific Time

Kagome was dragged roughly through the warehouse toward the back. The front room looked just as she'd expected it too. Cement floor, bare walls, a few dusty crates here and there, but once they passed through a heavily guarded door at the back things looked a little different.

It was like she just walked out of the gutter and into the Ritz Carlton. Plush oriental rugs adorned highly polished wood floors, beautiful paintings lined the walls, and a huge mahogany desk large enough for her to lay flat upon and not have any part of her hanging off the edge.

An imposing leather chair was turned away from her exposing its wide, flat back. It was easily the largest desk chair she had ever seen, looking more like a thrown than a seat. Hiten shoved her roughly ahead of him and kicked her knees out from under her, forcing her to kneel before the desk.

Kagome grimaced as her knees dug into the soft rug, Hiten's grip on her shoulder hadn't let up and she was fairly sure it would leave marks.

She thought that he was just trying to humiliate her until he dropped to his knees beside her and removed his hand from her arm to push her head down into a bow.

"I come bearing a gift Lord Naraku." Hiten's voice rang out, the shaky, slightly nervous quality did not escape Kagome's attention making her anxiety build even higher.

Slowly the chair began to turn. Kagome's breath hitched as she watched the best she could from the harsh angle Hiten was holding her head. What she saw made her gasp. Sitting in that monstrous chair was what appeared to be a…. man in a monkey suit!

What the hell?! Was this some kind of joke. He had some sort of whitish pelt with a baboon face draped over him, his hands held together in front of him in a contemplative gesture. She couldn't see his face due to the baboon mask and Hiten still had a firm grip on the back of her head.

Everything about the man seemed to scream in bold letters his agitation, though whether it was at Hiten and herself or from another situation she couldn't tell.

"Hiten." His voice was so cold, it sent trickles of fear down her spine like ice water. "Leave now before I kill you." He paused. "Take the wench with you."

Kagome was suddenly jerked up on her feet. She gasped and looked frightened at the man behind the desk. She could barely see his eyes behind the mask, but they were so malevolent glowing with an almost crimson light.

Hiten turned pulling her along behind him, a sadistic smirk spreading across his face. "Guess we'll get to have some fun after all."

The door on the left side of the room suddenly swung open and a tall, elegant woman swept into the room with a small stack of papers under her arm.

Kagome was doing her best to drag her feet and slow her captor down as much as possible, but his grip on her arm was painful enough to make her whimper.

"Here are the pictures of the suspects from this evening." The woman crooned in a deep, sultry voice. Her black hair was swept up into an elegant bun with a strange ornamental feather tucked in.

"That will be all Kagura." Naraku looked down at the large blown up pictures in front of him. They were all candid shots of different people attending the charity ball this evening and they were all completely worthless. All but one that is.

"Hiten, bring the girl to me."

Hiten's smile disappeared, he had his hand on the door and was fully prepared to take off with Kagome. He roughly turned around and pulled Kagome back to Naraku's desk.

"Leave."

Hiten seemed a bit hesitant, but relented and left. Now it was just Kagome and Naraku. Kagome fidgeted nervously, fighting the urge to run. She couldn't tell if the man before her was demon or human, but the dark feeling of evil rolled off him in waves.

Once the door closed behind Hiten Naraku pushed the baboon pelt off his head revealing a devastatingly beautiful man. Long dark hair fell in waves behind him and startling crimson eyes set in an oddly familiar face.

"You-your …"

"Onigumo Hashinuba, yes a rather good public facade if I do say so myself." He crooned with a humorless smirk. He picked up a photo from the stack in front of him and slid it across the desk in front of her. It was a picture taken earlier in the evening in the alley next to the Onigumo Grand Hotel and Suites on 64th Street.

Kagome felt the sting of tears prickling the corners of her eyes. It was an 8X10 black and white of Kagome confronting Sesshou and his…wife. Sesshou…or who ever he really was.

"Can you tell me who this is?" Naraku asked smoothly, smiling outright when a tear slipped down her porcelain cheek.

"That's me." Kagome whispered.

"And this? Who is this man?"

Her tears burst forth an abided and her body trembled under the full force of her pain and fear.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk…" Naraku seemed to be reveling in her suffering. "Who is this?" He repeated picking a dagger up off the desk and began twirling it menacingly between his hands, the shiny blade catching the light as it spun.

"Why do you want to know?" She demanded weakly, using up the last of her bravado.

Naraku's smile slid off his face replacing it with something much more sinister. With a nearly imperceptible flick of his wrist he flung the dagger, the blade grazing her cheek leaving a trail of blood before sticking in the wall behind her.

"Now, lets try this again. Who is this?" He said slowly, pulling out a long barreled pistol from the top drawer. Kagome whimpered at the sight of it, she didn't doubt for a minute that he would shoot her.

"S-Sesshou Tadiama." She whispered brokenly, tears streaming down her face. No matter what he did to her, she didn't want to betray him, but she couldn't seem to keep the words from spilling out. Of course if that wasn't his real name then it didn't really matter did it?

Naraku sat back in his chair, a true look of surprise on his face. Then he started to laugh. The sound only made Kagome cry harder. Suddenly the door burst open and a very drunk Manten stumbled in. With out even pausing in his laughter, Naraku shot him point blank in the head, dropping him on the spot. Kagome screamed and sunk to her knees, Naraku just laughed harder.

When Kagome thought she could take no more of the horrible noise he slammed his hands flat down on the desk making her cry out. Kagome looked up at him startled. He had a horrible smile, full of malicious intent. He was grinning like a mad man. Looking down at the picture on the desk he whispered darkly.

"Sesshoumaru."

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AN; So, what do you think? Intense enough for you yet? Just wait, the fun is only beginning. Poor Kagome is only a pawn in my twisted little game, but she seems to have to suffer the most. Next chapter is going to be a very intense one, so pregnant women and people with a heart condition may want to consult a doctor before reading! He he he! Any ways, don't forget to review!