InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Book of Shikon ❯ Crescendo ( Chapter 10 )

The Book of Shikon

 

Chapter 10

 

Crescendo

 

Inuyasha sat back in his seat as Kagome followed Kikyo's limo through the French countryside. He pulled open the glove compartment, pulling out a large blue handkerchief, a length of garden hose, and a pair of scissors before finding a roadmap. He pulled it open and traced the map with his fingertip, tracking their location. He looked up and sighed, glaring at the back of Kikyo's ride.

 

“If we keep trailing them they're bound to smell a rat. We'll have to pass them.” He muttered.

 

“This will be the third time now I've helped you, they're know me by now.” Kagome reminded. Inuyasha nodded and sighed, looking around the car for a solution.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

Tsubaki kept pace on the road, looking out the window as a sports car passed by. She frowned at the odd ensemble of a blue turban with a green binding as the driver drove ahead of her. She shrugged and kept driving.

 

Ahead, Inuyasha slowly slid back up in his seat, casting a discreet glance behind him.

 

“How do I look?” Kagome asked. Inuyasha snorted.

 

“Like an idiot.” He replied. Kagome grinned

 

The drive continued for an hour, when an exit turned to the right. Kagome kept going straight as Kikyo's limo drove up the ramp. Kagome slowed down and stopped, backing up and getting a honk from a trailer-truck behind Kikyo, before turning right and driving again.

 

“He's too slow, pass him.” Inuyasha instructed. Kagome pulled to the left, and the truck swerved to cut her off. Kagome pulled right, and the truck followed suit. Kagome went left again as Inuyasha leaned over to hammer the car horn. The driver leaned out the window and jammed his finger up into the air. Inuyasha sat back and groaned. Some 2 minutes later, the truck turned left, revealing a ramp down to the highway and a street heading left and right.

 

“Which way?” Kagome asked.

 

“You pick, you have all the answers.” Inuyasha replied.

 

“If you say so.” Kagome said, turning right.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

An hour later, dusk had fallen as Kagome and Inuyasha had kept driving. The road was fairly linear, and what few turns there had been Kagome had ignored. Inuyasha sighed and put his head back. They hadn't seen another car in fifteen minutes.

 

“Turn around, we've gotta go back.” Inuyasha grumbled. Kagome hit the brakes and swung the car to sit across the road.

 

“What was her name again?” Kagome asked, taking the road map from between them.

 

“Kikyo Fletcher.” Inuyasha replied.

 

“No, her maiden name.” Inuyasha shrugged.

 

“Tuso. Why?” He asked. Kagome tapped the road map with a finger, prompting Inuyasha to lean over to see it. There on the map was a turnoff from the highway leading north, with a small street name above it. Tuso Lane. Kagome gave Inuyasha smug look before turning and driving down the street again.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

Two large stone pillars topped with eternal flames stood on the right side of the road, on either side of a large iron gateway. Two armed guarded stood at the gate as Inuyasha and Kagome neared.

 

“Keep driving.” Inuyasha muttered. Kagome made no indication she had heard, until she drove past the gate. As they passed, Inuyasha glanced at it out of the corner of his eye. The gates opened to a long gravel drive lined with torches. At the end of the drive was a large fountain in front of a three-story stone mansion. A quarter mile past the gate, Kagome pulled to the side of the road and parked. A dense forest greeted their exit from the car on the roadside. Inuyasha picked up his book bag and pushed his way into the foliage, Kagome close behind.

 

Several minutes later the two emerged from the forest on the grounds of Kikyo's mansion. Inuyasha and Kagome walked behind the line of trees on either side of the gravel drive, watching as a car drove up to circle the fountain. The driver and a doorman helped the man inside with his bags, the large oak doors of the mansion slamming shut. Inuyasha ran up to the front steps and looked around.

 

He grabbed onto a large lamppost nearby and climbed up, grabbing onto the top for a boost. He craned his head up to peek inside what looked like a dining hall.

 

“See them?” Kagome asked. Inuyasha shook his head and slid back down the post. He waved her forward as he began to walk across the front of the mansion, peeking in the windows along the way.

 

“It looks like the bottom floor is all kitchens and rec rooms.” He said several minutes later after circling the mansion. He looked up and spotted a balcony overhead. He put a foot on a set of bars along the bottom window and hoisted himself up. Kagome grabbed the window beside him and followed him up. Inuyasha put an arm over the stone railing overhead and pulled himself over the balcony, putting out a hand to help Kagome up too.

 

“It's her.” Kagome said, staring inside the room. Inuyasha followed her gaze and mentally cursed. Of all the luck, the two of them had climbed up onto Kikyo's balcony. Inside, Kikyo unclipped her blouse and shrugged it off her shoulders before grabbing a long black cloak from her bed. She lifted it over her head and let it fall into place before grabbing a long pentagram pendant and hanging it around her neck. Inuyasha tiptoed over to the balcony door and held his book bag over one of the glass panels. He drew back a fist and punched.

 

Kikyo spun around as Inuyasha reached his hand in and twisted her door open.

 

“What the hell are you doing here?” She demanded. Inuyasha ripped open a suitcase on her nightstand and started throwing clothes onto the floor. Kikyo stepped forward, but Kagome put out an arm and shook her head.

 

“Looking for the book you stole from me.” Inuyasha replied, pulling open her dresser drawers.

 

“That book was mine, it was not Musou's to sell!” Kikyo snarled. “I'll pay your employers 10 times what he paid, hell, I'll give you 10 times what he paid!”

 

“It's not about the money anymore for any of us, you should know that by now.” Inuyasha snorted, marching past her to her bed. He flung up the suitcase there and pulled out the final copy of The Shikon-no-Tama. He held the book up with a smirk as Kikyo's door opened. Tsubaki, wearing the same black robe as Kikyo, took a step inside and froze. Inuyasha and Kagome whirled around to stare at her, and Kikyo ducked under Kagome's arm, puling a gun from among the scattered contents of her suitcases and swinging to point it as Inuyasha's head.

 

“Don't move.” She growled. She jerked the gun, and Kagome moved to stand beside Inuyasha. “Get the book.” Kikyo snapped. Tsubaki stepped forward and jerked the book from Inuyasha's grasp, looking down at it before lifting it and slamming it into the back of his skull. Inuyasha fell with a grunt as Tsubaki moved past him, taking the gun from Kikyo and handing her the book.

 

“Shall I kill them?” Tsubaki asked.

 

“Not here, you'll make a mess.” Kikyo sneered. Inuyasha shakily climbed to his feet, holding Kagome's shoulder for balance. Tsubaki nodded.

 

“Out.” She snapped. Kagome and Inuyasha moved out the door, Inuyasha following Kagome woozily, although regaining his balance. Tsubaki led the two at gunpoint down the hall. “Left door.” Tsubaki ordered. Kagome swung it open, revealing an oak staircase down. She and Inuyasha marched down the steps to another, grey door. “Open it.” Tsubaki continued. Kagome pushed the door open to reveal a long flight of stone steps under the mansion. Tsubaki held them down the steps, until they were about halfway down.

 

“Heads up.” Inuyasha snapped. Kagome ducked as Inuyasha grabbed the arm holding the gun to his back and flung her forward. Tsubaki sailed over Kagome, landing on the stone stairs and rolling to the hard floor. Inuyasha rushed down the stairs and kicked her on her back. Kagome watched as Inuyasha grabbed the gun from where Tsubaki had dropped it, swung it to her forehead and fired again and again until the room echoed with the empty click of the clip. He flung the gun away with a groan and looked up at Kagome, frowning. Her eyes gleamed with excitement and satisfaction.

 

“I always knew you had it in you.” She whispered, grinning. Inuyasha shook his head and pulled Tsubaki's corpse up to yank the black robe over her shoulders.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“Kariou, Slia, Korou Timalt.” Kikyo cried, drawing a hand down the cover of the Shikon-no-Tama on a pedestal before her. She was standing before a room of black-robed men and women in the main assembly hall of the mansion. On the balcony running around the room above her, Inuyasha stepped out from the door and pulled the hood of the black robe over his head.

 

“Stay here, I'm going down.” He hissed. Kagome nodded, and Inuyasha descending a small spiral set of steps down to the floor. He hung at the back of the crowd as Kikyo continued chanting.

 

“Slia, Noro Talma, Forotmal!” She yelled. The black crowd repeated the words, and Inuyasha just watched, waiting for something, anything, to distract them long enough for him to sneak up and grab the book.

 

“Gorol Slia Noro…”

 

“MUMBO JUMBO!” A voice roared. The crowd turned as the doors to the hall were flung open, a black-suited businessman marching inside and pushing his way through the crowd. “Mumbo jumbo, mumbo jumbo!” He snarled, looking at Kikyo in disgust.

 

“Naraku?” Inuyasha whispered, staring at his employer. Naraku climbed onto the stage and spun around to glare at the crowd.

 

“Look at yourselves.” He spat. “Go ahead, look around. Do you think the Prince of Darkness would dare to even think of appearing before you, this revolting orgy of pathetic flesh conducted in his name? He never has appeared to you in 500 years and he never shall in another 500! And you insult him by even thinking he would.” Naraku took the Shikon-no-Tama from Kikyo, folding it up and holding it high.

 

“You read from his book, but you have no conception of its true power.” He sneered. “I alone know the secret of the Four Souls, I alone have seen his grand design, I alone have discovered the ultimate power in this book's words. Ultimate power, beyond the comprehension of any mortal, transcending time itself. I alone am worthy of that power.”

 

“You're mad Naraku.” Kikyo screeched, swiping for the book. Naraku twisted it out of her reach and grabbed her chin.

 

“And you, Kikyo Tuso Fletcher, are worse of all.” He growled, staring at her. “You at the very least have an idea of what this book can do in the right hands, but you continue to call these congregations, lower and debase yourself. You're a hack, a charlatan.” Kikyo lunged forward, raking her nails down Naraku's cheek. Naraku fell back, the Shikon-no-Tama landing on the floor. Kikyo grabbed it and crawled away. Naraku clutched his bloody cheek and reached forward, pulling Kikyo back and flipping her over. He wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed. Kikyo futilely struggled against as Inuyasha pushed up through the crowd and ducked behind Naraku, grabbing a large metal torch.

 

“Don't!” Kagome yelled. Inuyasha shot her a glare and lifted it to slam it into Naraku. Kagome's arms wrapped around his back and hauled him away. Inuyasha wondered how she had stopped him by getting down in a few seconds. The torch struck a glancing blow, and Kikyo dropped the book to crawl away again. Naraku grabbed the limp chain around her neck and pulled her back against his chest. Kikyo made a gurgling sound as the pentagram pendant dug into her neck.

 

“Leave it.” Kagome hissed, holding Inuyasha back. He wondered how on earth she was able to restrain him as he watched. Kikyo made a gurgling sound as a thin trickle of blood dripped from where the points of the pendant had dug into her skin. Naraku pushed her forward, her body lying limp on the ground. The black crowd stepped back as Naraku plucked the Shikon-no-Tama from her hands and smiled at the group.

 

“BOO!” He yelled. The crowd screamed and spun around, fleeing the room. “Fools.” Naraku sneered, stepping over Kikyo's body. Inuyasha watched him leave, Kagome finally letting him go.

 

“What the fuck was that?” He demanded.

 

“He just killed someone in front of a hundred witnesses, you're off the hook for the other murders.” Kagome explained. Inuyasha snorted before running across the room. “What more do you want?” Kagome called.

 

“You know what.” Inuyasha shot back. He ran outside and stared as the members of the cult fled in various directions. Dawn had just begun to peek as the sky lightened. Naraku had opened the door of a van and climbed inside. Inuyasha ran towards him, not even coming close as Naraku turned and drove down the gravel drive. Inuyasha looked around and climbed in another car, pulling the keys down from the sun visor and turning it on. He pulled back and started to turn as Kagome appeared at the open passenger window.

 

“You forgot something.” She replied, tossing him his book bag. Inuyasha shook his head.

 

“You were working for him all along.” He muttered.

 

“Funny, weren't you?” Kagome replied. Inuyasha gave her on last look before turning and driving after Naraku. Kagome watched him go with a dark grin and a gleam in her eyes, lifting a foot and stepping down the drive as the mansion burst into flame behind her.