InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Crow ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Sesshomaru strode calmly out of Giddeon's Pawn Shop as it exploded and became engulfed in flames. The bastard running the shop had deserved it, in Sesshomaru's opinion, especially for the crimes that he had committed.

 

Oh, the shop owner had not actually committed the crimes himself but he had aided in them. By buying everything that Bankotsu brought into him, he helped. Sesshomaru glanced at the ring he held in his hand and let out a soft sigh.

 

Inuyasha.

 

Everything came down to his brother. The way he had killed Bankotsu . . . he still saw the human's face leering over him. It wasn't him but it was . . . the guitar, the family ring, and now Bankotsu's jacket . . . they reminded him of the torment Inuyasha had suffered after he'd stepped out for a few moments.

 

His trip to the pawn shop hadn't been for just the ring he'd given to Inuyasha before the boy had proposed to Kagome. Sesshomaru had needed information, information that Bankotsu had not been willing to reveal. Of course, the human had run out of breath before any more information could be given.

 

`I have what I came for,' he thought, stuffing the ring back into his pocket. He'd have to find a more appropriate home for it but for now . . .he was content to have it back in his possession. A familiar scent came to him on a the slight breeze that had picked up, alerting him to the presence of another.

 

“Halt!” the command rang out.

 

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at the blue-eyed wolf youkai before him. The badge on his breast gave him away. A gun was pointed at him.

 

“I thought the police always said freeze,” he smiled wanly, heading for the male. The gun aimed at him didn't bother him in the least. The shopkeeper had already tried to shoot him and had gotten nowhere.

 

“Yeah, well, I am the police and I say halt,” came the reply. “Now don't move or you're dead.”

 

“And I say I'm dead but I move,” Sesshomaru stated, stopping within a few inches of the gun. “Shoot me if you must . . . Officer Albrecht.” He said the name with a slight bow, though he never took his eyes off the wolf once.

 

“Are you high? Walking into a gun like that?” The wolf radiated disbelief and shock, to which Sesshomaru had to smile. He moved away to sit down on the sidewalk. He needed to rest for a brief moment. Then he was on to his next victim.

 

“I am neither . . . you do not remember me, do you?”

 

“I think I'd remember a face like yours,” the wolf snarled, keeping his gun trained on Sesshomaru.

 

“Well then . . . do you remember Inuyasha Draeven?”

 

“Inuyasha Draeven's dead, my friend. He died over a year ago,” the officer pointed out, sending a sharp, painful stab into Sesshomaru's heart. A year. They had been dead for a year. Still, he wasn't about to let anything show. He never let anything show. If anything, he was a killing machine, his skills honed beyond compare. A cold smile graced his lips.

 

“Well, do you know a man named Houjo?” he inquired with a chuckle. “He had a friend who played with knives. Like the jacket?” His fingers slid along the edges of the leather coat he'd taken from Bankotsu. The police officer's eyes widened in realization.

 

“You're the one who killed Bankotsu,” he said, his hands never wavering.

 

“He died over a year ago, the moment he touched Inuyasha. They're all dead. They just don't know it yet.”

 

The sound of some looters near the pawn shop caught the wolf's attention and he shouted something to them. Sesshomaru took the opportunity to slip away and disappear into the night.

 

* * *

 

Kouga couldn't believe it. He absolutely could not believe it. The pawnshop, which had been owned by one Jaken Giddeon, had just been blown to hell and, from the flames of the building, he'd seen a familiar face. A very familiar face. His mind, however, had refused to register what he'd been seeing. Then the words that had been traded . . . he had no doubts that more were going to die tonight.

 

He turned around to say something more from the strangely familiar man only to see that he'd disappeared. To say that it had him freaked would have been an understatement. For a moment, he questioned if what he'd seen had been real.

 

“Great, Kouga,” he murmured to himself. “A guy shows up painted like a mime from hell and he disappears into the night. At least he didn't do that walking against the wind shit . . . I hate that.”

 

Still, some of the words that had been said lingered in the air. Bankotsu dead . . . he died a year ago when he'd attacked Inuyasha Draeven, the youngest son to a wealthy business youkai. Everyone involved had died . . . what had the stranger meant by that?

 

`Better yet . . . who is he? Is he . . .?'

 

Kouga blinked then shook his head. There was only one for him to find out. He just hoped that Ayame would grant him the favour he intended to ask.