InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Island of Dr. Onigumo ❯ Chapter 8

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter Eight

Kagome spoke only shortly with Sango and Miroku before she prepared to meet Kaede. She couldn’t tell them any specifics, but she gave them as much of a heads up as she could without being too direct. She could only hope that they had been able to figure out that something was in the mix, if not what exactly.

She would have sworn that Inuyasha had said Kikyou and her sister, Kaede, had died after helping Izayoi to deliver the hanyou, but the lady she’d spoken to on the phone claimed to be the little sister of the mid-wife and had gone into specific detail as to the looks of the half-breed and his mother so that she felt she had to believe her. She’d awakened her father after midnight the night before to tell him about the call and her discovery that hanyou had a night of weakness where they became human. She’d said only that she had come across it while researching mythology and that when asked, Inuyasha confessed he did have a night of humanity but hadn’t given a specific night. She had promised Inuyasha, after all, that she would keep that knowledge a secret.

All in all, Kagome had been able to get almost two hours sleep and was wide awake early the next morning work on her report before heading for lunch with the mid-wife’s sister. The subsequent tap-tap-tap on the keyboard and the light music drifting from her speakers almost drowned out the constant rapping at her door until someone shouted her name.

She sighed and saved her work, muttering about interruptions right as she was getting to the good parts, her bare feet padding on the floor. Her shoes were already by the door for when she got ready to leave, but her hair was still damp from her shower and she’d yet to actually get dressed and was currently in a nightgown and terrycloth robe.

Light brown eyes widened at the sight of the barely clothed doctor when she opened the door and Kagome blushed as Hojou tried to avert his eyes. “S-sorry Higarashi-chan, but I had to show you this. It’s incredible!” He held out a file folder and entered the apartment as she stood aside, his embarrassment forgotten in the wake of his news. “Amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it at all. Take a look!”

He shoved the file at her and she took it, skimming the pages as the blush was wiped from her face, forgetting her own embarrassment as she read. “Are you sure this is right?”

“Positive,” he confirmed, his face lit with excitement. “I checked it three times just to be sure. The DNA doesn’t lie. Where did you get those samples from? Is it some sort of joke?” At that, his face became deadly serious. “This better not be some sort of trick, Higarashi.”

“No! No, it’s not like that, Hojou-kun,” she assured him quickly and set the papers on her computer desk. “I promise, it’s not a trick, but I can’t tell you any more than that right now.” She bit the corner of her lip and glanced at the clock. “Oh my gods! Is it that late already? Hojou-kun, I have to go. I’m late for a meeting and I’m not even dressed. Look, I have a case coming up in front of the review board in nearly a week and those samples are part of that. I’ll explain more later....”

He nodded and started to the door to see himself out. “Just promise me you’ll give me more of those samples. Wow...”

“If I can, I promise I will.”

They had decided to meet at the public library in downtown Tokyo instead of a restaurant since they would have more privacy in a place like that than in a busier area. As agreed, Kagome waited by the front desk for her informant to show. Not long after one o’clock a woman entered and looked around. She was maybe ten or eleven years older than Kagome was herself, but her hair had already started to go gray around the temples, amplified by the fact that it was pulled back in a bun at the crown of her head. She wore a blue and white business suit on her short, plump frame and strode purposefully towards Kagome, her heels making echoing taps on the marble floor.

“Dr. Higarashi?” She asked and bowed when Kagome nodded. “I am Hino Kaede, Kikyou’s sister. I know it sounds Hollywood, but where you followed?”

Kagome giggled. “Considering who we’re dealing with, I don’t think it sounds Hollywood at all. No, I don’t believe so. I haven’t seen anyone acting suspicious or anything. Shall we sit at the back? We’ll have privacy there.”

They were quiet as they walked passed the rows of books, tables and computers. Some teenagers sat around one of the tables, a pile of books in front of them, their uniforms marking them as students. A few other random people sat at the computers or in the couches and chairs that lined the front part of the library, but as Kagome had suspected the back reference section was completely empty. They sat at a small circular table and Kagome waited for her guest to begin.

“I was ten when Inuyasha was born,” Kaede told her, sitting and folding her hands in front of her on the table. “I helped Kikyou deliver the baby that night. Izayoi-san refused to go to the hospital and it was an awful mess, but when he was out and crying, we both realized why. Izayoi-san didn't have much choice then but to explain what we were dealing with and the things she told us...well, I'm sure you've heard most of them."

Kagome was nodding. She leaned her arms on the table, leaning forward. "But that's not all there is to it, is there? I mean, there's got to be more."

"Of course there's more. Onigumo-Nakumaru Industries is in the coverup of a lifetime. Not everything that he reports to the review board is what is really going on over there on that island of his."

She hadn't thought so and with her newest discovery, it was beginning to seem like nothing that had been in Onigumo's monthly reports was true.

"My sister died in an accident when I was twelve. Or at least, they said it was an accident, but I've had my suspicions all along. Izayoi-san did as well. She helped me find a new home where I would be safe and changed my name from Hiroshi to Hino. She was a wonderful woman and the news of her death was sad indeed. But one can only run from someone like Onigumo Naraku for so long before they are caught."

Kagome furrowed her brows. "We know that Izayoi would have had knowledge of Naraku's experiments, but without any proof could she have really been that much of a danger to the industry? I mean, after her discharge from Onigumo-Nakumaru Industries, her reputation would have been ruined and who would have believed the ranting of one immoral doctor against someone like Naraku? Why would she pose such a threat to them?"

At this Kaede smiled. "Because she did have proof. She had information that would have brought down the entire company had she brought it to light, but to do so would have left her open and vulnerable and her son's safety was always first and foremost in Izayoi-san's mind. She loved Inutaishou and losing him cut her deeply. Inuyasha was all she had left of him and she wasn't about to loose him too."

"So, where is this proof now?"

Kaede chuckled and reached into her bag, pulling out a chain with a silver key on the end. The key itself was long and slender with little holes around the cylinder marking it as a computer recognition key. Those were mostly used for safes, safe deposit boxes, and other high security areas.

"She knew they were getting close, she could feel it, and to make sure that he didn't destroy the truth, she sent this to me along with the access code and address."

Kagome smiled as well as she met Kaede's sparkling violet eyes. The final key to the puzzle had been lain and Naraku's end was in sight.

The day of the hearing before the review board, the federal courtroom in which the hearing would take place was a variable smorgasbord of professional people. Federal troopers were stationed outside the courtroom and an armed guard stood next to Inuyasha, who had been brought in with a sheet over his head to keep him from the media and now sat in a snazzy black and gray striped business suit Kagome had provided him and he'd even pulled his hair back in a braid.

Sango and Miroku had arrived on the main island the afternoon before and had spent the majority of the night at Kagome's apartment going over the information she'd gathered since her departure from the compound. The three of them were standing at a table in the front of the room, crowding around Kagome's braincase and shifting through papers. In the chairs behind them, next to Inuyasha, were Houjo and Haruki and another woman, the lawyer Eri, with Kaede next to her. On the opposite side of the room, Naraku sat with his two partners and a team of legal aides.

As the bailiff stepped out to announce the arrival of the remaining eleven board members, everyone in the courtroom stood and waited as they took their seats. Each of them had been given a copy of Kagome's report and had spent the past week going over it so that they would be prepared for her arguments. Once each of the members were announced and seated, the rest of the court was allowed to take their seats. Another woman entered from the left and sat in front of a small laptop, poised and ready to type.

"Due to a conflict of interests the head of the scientific review board has stepped down for the remainder of this proceeding," an elder lady with graying, short hair announced from her seat at the head of the panel. "As second chair, I will be taking his place. Let the record reflect that I am Representative Hanobi Mai. Now, Dr. Higarashi, you may begin."

Kagome's hands shook as she stood and reached for her own copy of the report, walking around the side of the table. "As previously ordered by this counsel, I have done extensive research on Takahashi Inuyasha and his background and I have come to the inevitable conclusion that the subject is not human." Her voice trembled only slightly when she spoke.

Across from her Naraku and his colleagues were talking, congratulating one another and Hanobi had to knock a paperweight against her podium to get their attention. The echoing bang made Kagome jump.

"However," she continued, emphasizing her words, "my research had also concluded that he is not inu either."

"Now wait a minute, you just said that he wasn't human, how can you change that?" Naraku stood and turned towards her, leaning against his table top to seem more intimidating.

The paperweight was again used to garner their attentions. "Dr. Onigumo, you will have your chance to speak. First we wish to hear what Dr. Higarashi has to say. I am sure she is going to explain her meaning."

"Of course, your honor," Kagome replied, nodding. "DNA testing concludes that his genetic make up is no more than 54% human also no more than 46% inu akita. While it's not a large difference, I would say that it is certainly enough to prove that his classification should not be inu. Yet, with only a 54% human genetic code, it's not quite enough to classify him as human either."

A gentleman to her far right cleared his throat. "The reports from Onigumo-Nakumaru Industries show that his DNA composition was exactly 50-50. How did you arrive at these other numbers?"

Kagome smiled wryly. "I had two independent test run once I returned to the main island. It is always better to have a second opinion and I had reason to believe that Dr. Onigumo would have something to gain from altering the test results."

Naraku stood, banging his hand on the table, his face turning red from outrage. "Objection, Your Honors! Dr. Higarashi has no proof that I or anyone in my employ altered anything. If I had wished to be dishonest with this panel, I would have never brought this...creature's existence to your attention."

Hanobi's cross look was directly at the doctor. "Take your seat, Dr. Onigumo or I will have you removed from this room and we will proceed without your insight."

Kagome was visibly shaking now. It was her first time in front of the review board and they were a bit intimidating and Naraku's behavior wasn't making it any easier on her. She only hoped she could pull it off the way she'd planned.

"Due to the information uncovered during my work, I think that a new classification standard should be created and Takahashi listed under it. I propose that the new classification standards be youkai and hanyou; that Takahashi be hereby classified as hanyou; and that the other creations on Dr. Onigumo's compound be independently tested by companies not associated with Onigumo-Nakumaru Industries and the results reviewed to determine whether they are truly animals as Dr. Onigumo claims or if their classification should be changed to youkai or hanyou. I have proposed a list of standards attached to the reports that should be considered for classification into these new species, should the board accept my proposal."

"Your Honors," one of Naraku's attorneys stood, addressing the board in a placating manner. "Whatever it is that Dr. Higarashi is speaking about, my clients and my firm have no knowledge of it. Obviously the report given to my client is significantly different from the one provided to this honorable panel and we request time to review the real report."

"If I may, your honor," Kagome interjected, "I will admit that I submitted a false report to Dr. Onigumo, but the reasons for such an act were great. I feared giving him the true report would lead to the destruction of necessary evidence or even the disappearance of Dr. Onigumo himself."

"Continue." Hanobi was looking at Kagome with an expression that put her mind slightly more at ease.

"I have evidence that Dr. Onigumo Naraku has been lying to this panel for years and that he is practicing unethical experimentation on the creatures in his compound illegally." She turned and took a stack of papers from Eri and handed them to the bailiff who passed them out among the panel members. After several long moments, she continued. "In addition to the hanyou classification of Takahashi Inuyasha, I also move that Dr. Onigumo Naraku be held responsible for his unethical practice and be stripped of his license to practice medicine. I also move that his partners be stripped of their license for aiding him."

The three members of the company stood, protesting with their lawyers right behind them. It was hard to make out what was being said by anyone. Again and again Hanobi banged the paperweight against her podium to gain order once more. When things had finally quieted down she cleared her throat and glared at the people in front of her.

"Having reviewed the evidence entered in this cause this board has come to the decision that Takahashi Inuyasha and all creations like him will be further researched until they can be properly classified into the proposed species groups of youkai and hanyou. Until that time, Takahashi Inuyasha will be classified as human and be subject to the laws and regulations of humans as well as be privy to their rights."

Kagome would have shouted in joy had she not already been under the scrutinizing eye of the bailiff. As it was, Sango whooped loudly and threw her arms around Miroku's neck, an awkward angle considering they were both sitting at the table, but manageable nonetheless. He in turn jumped out of his seat, dragging her with him. Kagome giggled at them and then turned back to the panel.

Hanobi was once again using the paperweight. She'd probably never get that much use out of the thing again. "Further, it is ordered that the medical license of Onigumo Naraku, Hyouga Menomaru, and Tsuki Kaguya be suspended until such time as charges against them have been resolved."

The members stood and started out and once the door was finally closed, Kagome threw her fist in the air and yelled in triumph. She jumped with excitement and nearly fell on her bottom before deciding that jumping in heels was not a good idea.

Naraku had left his group of lawyers and was starting towards them, but was intercepted by Eri who, in a very perky sort of way, presented him with a set of folded papers, giving a slight nod to the officers at the back of the room who began coming towards them.

"Dr. Onigumo Naraku, you are charged with the first degree murder of Hiroshi Kikyou, the unethical and illegal practice of medicine, and the use of federally funded monies for illegal activity. You, sir, are under arrest.." She smiled as she said it, her voice holding a sing-song quality, and her eyes sparkling as officers handcuffed the doctor and his partners, reading them their rights as they drug them away.

The man guarding Inuyasha unlocked his shackles and left to help his fellow officers while Houjou, Haruki and Kaede excused themselves.

"You did it!" Sango shouted and embraced Kagome in a tight hug.

"We did it, you mean. I couldn't have gotten this far without you." She hugged her back and even allowed Miroku to hug her until his hand cupped her bottom. She squealed and jumped from his arms, slapping him across the cheek as she did so.

Sango's face turned red and fire lit behind her eyes. "Miroku! I warned you!" She clenched her fists and stalked towards him.

"My dear, Sango -"

"Don't you 'my dear Sango' me, lech! If you so much as even think about laying an inappropriate hand on anyone I'll....I'll....I'll break it!"

His brow raised quizzically. "My hand?"

"Not quite. Think other appendages." His suddenly pale face showed he'd finally grasped her meaning. She grabbed him by the tie and led him out of the room, still fuming.

Alone, Kagome turned to Inuyasha who had stood silently by, smirking, during the lover's spat. It was the first time she could recall actually being alone with him without cameras or listening devices or guards. Why did the thought make her nervous?

"So, uh, I guess this means you're free to go," she said quietly. "Eri-chan said that since you'd helped us get all this incriminating evidence on Naraku, your charges were being remanded. You don't have to go back to jail."

"Thank gods," he muttered. "I hate that fucking place."

"I don't think anyone particularly likes jail, Inuyasha." He rolled his eyes at her and she sighed. "What will you do now?"

He shrugged. "Don't know...get a job, I guess, find a place to stay. No one's paid rent on my mom's place for over two months now so I'm sure they've rented it to someone else."

She nodded. "If you need anything, you can always call me. I'll help you find a place, if you like."

"Thanks."

"Inuyasha?" He looked up from his study of the floor and she blushed crimson. "The other night, at the jail, I shouldn't have kissed you. You were my patient and that was morally wrong. I'm sorry."

"Feh." He crossed his arms over his chest. "It ain't like it meant nothin'."

Taking a deep breath, she nodded. All while talking, they'd been moving closer to one another until she was standing right in front of him. "Inuyasha? You're not my patient any more."

Before he could react, she stood on her tip toes, leaning up and pressing her lips against his while he stood in shock at her actions. Pulling away quickly, she turned beet red and slammed her briefcase shut, grabbing it from the table. "I've got to go. Goodbye, Inuyasha." With that she ran from the room as if hell itself was at her heels.

After a two second delay, his brain popped back into place and Inuyasha took off after her, ignoring the gasps from the gathered press at his appearance as he came down the large concrete steps of the Parliament building. He grabbed Kagome by the arm as she was stopped talking to several of the reporters and she drew in a sharp breath at his manhandling.

"Inuyasha! I -"

"Shouldn't I at least get dinner before you start molesting me?" He smirked and bent down this time kissing her by surprise.

The scandal that was sure to ensue was no doubt going to be the death of her, Kagome thought as she brought her arms up and around Inuyasha's shoulders, but the electricity that was running through her body at that moment made it worth it. Around them people whispered, took notes and photographers shot picture after picture with their high quality cameras. But she didn't care about any of that.

At least life was no longer going to be dull.

A/N: There will be an epilogue. Don't worry.