InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Killer Inside ❯ Get Out of the Garden ( Chapter 13 )

Shaid is now a happily married woman! It's been a few months, and I know I should be updating but I kinda got a bit burned out. Hopefully, I won't stay that way and I'll be updating more frequently again. The truth of the matter is, I'm writing this for my pleasure only (and reviews. God I love reviews! It's almost better than crack… well, toddler crack. AKA Lucky Charms.) and real life takes precedence as well as my original works.

A friend of my husband's mentioned that he was interested in illustrating children's stories. Because I'm a toddler teacher, I happen to have a few of those on the back burner of my mind, bubbling and fermenting. Recently, I`ve been working on those more often. I still haven't finished any of them, (my muse has the attention span of a crack baby) but they are in pretty good shape right now.

Other than that… Life is busy.

Do not, however, imagine that your reviews are falling on deaf ears. I feel honored and humbled by all the wonderful things people have had to say about my story. On that note… Enjoy.

OH!! And I don't own these people! Takahashi-sama does!

 

Chapter 13: Get out of the Garden

Royal palm
Sweet alyssum
Petting bamboo
Orange jasmine
Clitoria blue pea
Downy jasmine
Datura
Frangipani
Frangipani
Dividing Canaan
Piece by Piece

Lyrics: Datura by Tori Amos

 

The pride he took in his sons was, while entirely justified in his opinion, possibly a bit on the excessive side. Toga knew his sons had their faults, just as he himself had many faults, yet in his sons he saw the best of himself and the best of the women he had loved. While both of them resembled him physically; it was their mothers he saw in their personalities and actions. It was these small things of which he was proud, these reminders that he cherished.

Sesshomaru was the personification of Min's intelligence and grace, his cool calm a reflection of her own quiet composure. Min had lent him her royal blood, her aristocratic air and the strength of character to stand victorious in the face of adversity.

His other son was the polar opposite. In Inuyasha's joyful laughter, he heard echoes of Izayoi's mischievous charm. Both burned with an intensity most youkai could not understand easily. Not that either lacked intelligence, far from it, but both were very aware of the brevity of the moment, of how quickly time passed and how precious life and love were. Toga supposed it was because both were so aware of their own mortality.

Of course, the Inuyasha who greeted him the morning he arrived at Rinoko manor was not the vibrant hanyou he'd raised. Fire still burned in his molten gold eyes, true, but it was mingled with pain, regret and guilt.

Dawn was just breaking as he'd pulled up the drive lost in the memory of the first time he'd taken this road nearly two centuries ago. He'd felt the pull of her soul then. It had been centuries, but he knew the sensation, knew that the reincarnation of his life mate was here, waiting for him.

As he parked his rented SUV in the drive and gathered his small bag from the passenger seat, he wondered how long he would have to wait for her to be born again, or if he would follow her this time; fade into oblivion and be reborn again with her.

As he left the front seat and closed the door, he realized that Inuyasha was sitting on the porch waiting. His lean frame lounged on the top step, knees hiked up, clawed hands hanging carelessly between them. The younger man shook his hair out of him face and Toga caught a glimpse of gleaming fang as the boy (he would always be a “boy” to his father) smirked.

“Keh. You're about two hours late, Otou,” he grumbled, still smirking. “As fucking usual.”

“And your Japanese still sucks,” he retorted, standing at the bottom of the steps. “Can't really blame you, though. You only spent a week there when you were three and even then your mother and I only spoke English to you. But it has been more than thirty years and you are Japanese on both sides. One would expect you might want to learn even just a little of the language if only to understand your heritage a little.”

“Nag, nag, nag.” The boy's smirk widened to a grin as he stood. “Is that all you came here for?” Toga smiled in response, climbing the steps to stand beside his son, noting absently that the boy was still slightly shorter than him.

“Keh. Of course not!” He put his hands on the boy's shoulders. “It's good to see you, Yash.” The look in his son's eyes was hard to bear and he wondered for a moment why he hadn't noticed it months ago. Guiltily, he realized his own grief over the loss of his mate had been his sole focus while Yash had stayed with him. For a second he saw Inuyasha as he'd been three decades ago, a small, helpless boy, and was unable to keep himself from pulling him into a rough hug.

“I'm ok, Dad,” Inuyasha said quietly, briefly returning the embrace.

“No, you're not,” Toga replied, backing away and gently cuffing him near his ear.

“Ok. No, I'm pretty well fucked right now. Physically speaking, though, I'm ok. See!” He held up callused hands and displayed them, moving slightly to show there was no lasting injury. “All healed.”

“And the girl?”

“Fucking Kagome no baka.” He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Bruised fucking collarbone because I wasn't fast enough to get her out of the way. Had the bike going way too fast, though and she's real lucky to still be alive.” Yash looked off into the trees, trying to hide the fear in his eyes. “I was doing seventy on that fucking backwoods highway near Maire's. Fortunately something made me slow down. Actually the thought of hitting a slick and skidding out scared the crap out of me. Thrown from the bike at that speed, she would have been killed instantly. The image of her all broken and bloody freaked me out and I started to slow. So when we hit the tree Goshinki had downed in the road, we were going about twenty. She got scraped up a bit on the leg that hit the tree and got cracked on the shoulder good when that asshole decided to lash out at her first.”

“She was attacked first?”

“Hnn. I think he would have tried to hit her again if I hadn't thrown her off the bike and told her to run.” Yash looked up at his father and sighed. “Dad, you just got in and it had to be a long flight. I got the blue room ready for you. Go rest. I'll tell you everything later, after you've slept for a bit.”

“Yash…” Toga began, but Yash cut him off.

“I know, you're full youkai, you don't really need to sleep. But you'll be less likely to over-react to things and I need to think a bit. You know, sort things out.” It was Toga's turn to sigh.

“Don't take too long.” He turned and walked into the house, Yash close on his heels. “I'd like to meet Kagome, by the way.”

“Keh. Don't worry,” Inuyasha snorted, “That nosey little bitch will be sniffing around here any day now. She's just too curious for her own fucking good.”

 

A #@#@@##@@##@@

 

Kagome wrestled with her power. It seemed slippery and elusive, though now it was feeling more solid under her “touch.” Kaede had told her it could take weeks for her to learn to control the affects in a predictable manner and that until that time she was under no circumstances to use it indiscriminately. She was allowed to “see” and little else. It was frustrating. Since childhood she had used her powers instinctively, unaware until recently what she was really doing. There was not a time in her life she could not remember being able to sense and touch those around her.

This morning she was supposed to be working on creating a physical manifestation of her power, be it a levitating plant, a ball of light or a soft, gentle breeze rattling the leaves in the enclosed greenhouse. Kagome was not entirely sure it was possible. She'd been working on it for five hours with no success and was now extremely frustrated.

“Self doubt is a formidable enemy,” Kaede intoned, “But you must cast it aside, child. Feel the strength of your power flow through you, feel how bright and wonderful it is.” Kagome closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. “Take joy in it, be delighted, and let it merely exist.” She allowed herself to feel the strength of it, remembered the joy when she'd first felt her power stir. And then she let it be. She stopped forcing, stopped pushing and stopped molding and just allowed it to be what it was. Sighing out, she cupped her hands before her and imagined that her power was just sitting there, floating above her outstretched hands.

“Open your eyes, Kagome.”

As she allowed her eyes to drift slowly open, she grinned at the sight before her. Floating above her hands was a bubble, delicate and ephemeral, but tinged with the same pinkish-purple light she saw in her mind's eye every time she tapped into her miko abilities. She laughed and the bubble floated away to burst in a shower of sparkles as it touched a frangipani tree. Kaede smiled and shooed the girl out of the building.

“Enough work! Go, relax a bit!”

Kagome didn't need to be told twice. Feeling somewhat drained, she went into the house to grab another cup of coffee and a sweet roll. After careful consideration (and a great deal of begging from her niece), Kaede had decided that rolls and muffins were still quite appropriate for a miko-in-training. It was nearly eleven-thirty in the morning and while she was generally making rounds about now, Kaede had called her clients to tell them Kagome was taking a few days off to take a refresher course. Yesterday, she had stopped by her gardens to give her regular clients a few last minute instructions and then had simply parked by the river and sat on the bank, dangling her feet in the water. It had felt wonderful to have nothing to do for a while, but she was already itching to get her hands back in the soil and help things grow.

As she sat in the kitchen, she realized she had not spoken to Inuyasha in several days. She was slightly concerned about him; after all, they had both been attacked the last time she had seen him. He had assured her when he'd dropped her off on Sunday that he was already nearly healed and would be fine, but he would call to check on her in a few days. A few days had passed and there had been no phone call. Now it was time for an impromptu visit, one that would have the half- demon growling and glaring at her. Despite her growing feelings for him, she loved making him upset. He was just too cute that way. Smiling in anticipation, she gulped her coffee, grabbed her keys and set off.

Five minutes later found her pulling onto the wooded drive of Rinoko Manor. She drove slowly, appreciating the feel of the cool sun-dappled shade moving over her. When the trees parted to reveal the house, she was surprised to see two unfamiliar cars in the drive, both obviously rentals. One was a modest SUV but the other was decidedly a luxury car. Kagome parked behind the latter, grimacing slightly at how her battered jeep looked beside the sleek little roadster.

A little nervous, Kagome got out of her car and climbed the stoop, again missing the loose stone on the third step. She brushed hastily at her sweat pants and tank top, hoping that his guests were the casual type. Just as she raised her hand to knock, the door opened. The man standing in the doorway, though decidedly white-haired and golden eyed, was not Inuyasha. He was much older and definitely a taiyoukai.

“I'm sorry,” Kagome stammered, “I'm interrupting! I'll go now!” As she turned to leave, she heard a familiar, and very out of place voice call from inside.

“Kagome?” Turning back she saw a face she hadn't seen in years.

“Rin?”

“Kagome!” Rin squealed and wrapped her arms around the other girl. “Eeee! I'm so excited to see you! I told Sessh he'd get to meet you sooner than he'd thought!” Kagome hugged her cousin back and smiled. “Guess what!”

“What?” the older girl asked. Rin just grinned. “What?!”

“You have to guess,” Rin pouted.

“You're the girl Sesshomaru called Inuyasha about?” Kagome guessed wildly, a little perplexed by the younger girl's presence. Rin had been living in California the last she'd heard.

“Aw! You guessed!”

Kagome did a double take. “What? You're kidding! How do you know Sesshomaru?”

“Well, you see,” Rin explained, “I met Sesshomaru by accident a few months ago when he knocked me into the way of a bus. I probably would have been killed but he totally saved my life. Of course, he disappeared before I could thank him, but the next day I go into my office and there he is and-”

“She's my mate.” The voice was cold and Kagome looked up behind her smaller cousin in shock. Behind Rin was Sesshomaru, tall and slender and impeccably dressed in a loose white silk shirt and tailored khaki slacks. He looked like a GQ model, sockless loafered feet and all.

She suddenly noticed that all three of the Tai men were standing on the porch. Good lord, she thought. They're all beautiful! She felt it was a bit strange to use the word beautiful to describe a man, but with these men, the word fit. All of them had the same long silver hair and sharp golden eyes but each had slightly different markings. The most obvious were Inuyasha's hanyou ears, the mark of his half human heritage, however Sesshomaru and the Inu no Taisho also had unique markings; both had stripes on their cheeks but the younger youkai also had a bluish crescent moon on his forehead. All three towered well above Kagome's head, Inuyasha being the shortest, but not by much. What struck Kagome the most though was the sheer, unadulterated power they projected. Alone, each would be intimidating, but together they were a very formidable group.

Suddenly the man who had opened the door stretched out his hand to her, a smile on his face. “Toga Tai,” he introduced himself. “I'm Yash's father, if you hadn't guessed. It's a pleasure to meet you, Kagome.” She took his hand and shook it, noticing that it was only slightly less calloused than that of his younger son.

“It's an honor, Mr. Tai,” she replied, still a bit dazed. “Aunt Kaede will be glad to hear you're in town.”

“Just Toga, please.” He smiled. “Kaede will be getting a visit from me in a few days. I've heard a bit about you from both your cousin and Yash. You did a beautiful job on the flowerbeds. Izzy would have been thrilled.” A sad looked entered his eyes and Kagome suppressed the urge to send out a trickle of soothing energy.

“I'm afraid I'll be unable to work on it for a while, sir. My aunt and I just started on some more formal training and I'm not supposed to use my powers for much right now. Actually, it seems I've got to re-learn everything so I'm not allowed use them at all for a while.”

“Feh,” Inuyasha sneered from the doorway. “Is that old bat finally giving you some real training?” Sesshomaru hit him upside the head. “What?” the hanyou shouted. “Like you've never called her worse yourself!” He shook himself and glared at his older brother. “Jackass,” he muttered.

“Kagome, meet my half-brother, Sesshomaru the asshole. You met my father and you know Rin so we don't need to stand here on my porch staring at each other. Get your skinny ass into the house and we'll all sit down for a nice little chat.” He grinned sarcastically at the last and took her arm, leading her though the door and into the house.

 

B #@#@@##@@##@@

 

Inuyasha could feel his father's glare on the back of his neck. It was damn uncomfortable and he knew it was meant to be. Yes, I treat her like shit, he wanted to shout to his father. No, I don't give her any of the respect she deserves. If I did, the bitch would worm her way into my head and my heart and there would be no letting her go when the time comes. He sighed dejectedly inside. I can't have her. I don't dare love her; as much as I can feel the feeling beginning, I know it can never lead anywhere. I don't fucking deserve her. Not after… He cut off the thought and sneered at himself.

Even in his frustration, he was gentle with her. The grip on her arm was loose and he'd pulled her just hard enough to get her moving, then had merely lead her. Her skin was soft under his hand and he could smell the wonderful aroma of soap, sunshine and Kagome.

Sesshomaru and his mate were disapproving as well. Rin looking at him as if he's grown a third head and his brother- well Sesshomaru disapproved of him in general, so it probably had nothing to do with his treatment of Kagome and everything to do with the fact that he existed.

Rin, herself was another matter altogether. Inuyasha had been completely shocked at his brother's choice of a mate. She was sweet, sunny and bubbly. Maire hadn't been far off when she'd called the girl a beach bunny, though this girl was much more of a forest sprite. And she was young! She looked like she was barely out of her teens and innocent as a child. Still, she was definitely Sesshomaru's mate; Inuyasha could smell the bastard all over her. And he really didn't want to know how the scent had gotten there.

He led the group to the living room and ushered Kagome to a chair on the far side of the room. He knew that the defensive position he took, standing behind her chair, was a clear indicator of his feelings towards the girl, but he really didn't care. He was falling fast and hard, fighting it all the way.

Rin looked at him with some trepidation and then rolled her eyes, turning her attention to her cousin again. “I'm so glad to see you, Kags! It's been far too long since the last reunion. You know I've been running Mom's cosmetic's company lately. Mom was so excited I think she told everyone. Daddy said that if I run it into the ground, he'd disown me. I doubt it would actually happen, but I don't really want to fail at this either, which was why I hired Sesshy.” Kagome smiled at the younger girl's ramble and nodded understandingly. “I like the product Mom made and I think I can do good things with the company. Sesshy has been so much help with getting everything together and squared away. He's just wonderful! So, I hear Aunt Shannon had you move out here because of some guy stalking you?” Rin's question grabbed Inuyasha's attention instantly.

“Stalking?” he asked. “This is the second time I've heard a stalker mentioned and I'd really like to know what's going on.” He glared at Kagome a bit but she ignored him.

Rin grinned wryly at him and gave him a knowing wink. “I'm sure you do. All I know is that a few of the guys Kagome dated got obsessed and refused to leave her alone afterward or believe it was over.”

“Actually, one of them I never really dated,” Kagome interjected.

“Was that Hojo or Kouga?”

“Hojo. The day I left he was still calling me to ask if I wanted to go out. And the presents… God, he kept binging me strange presents; especially after he found out my family had miko blood.” She wrinkled her nose and leaned back into the chair. “Koga was getting too possessive too quickly and I wasn't all that into him anyway.” Kagome sighed. “I went on three dates with him before he asked me to marry him. He got all bent out of shape when I declined.”

Rin shook her head. “Which is why I avoid wolf demons.” All three youkai looked at her. “No really, they're weird.” Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow. “She didn't even sleep with the guy and he kept claiming she was his `woman.' The way he said it made him sound like he was mildly retarded. Honestly, it was creepy.” Kagome nodded. “Didn't he carry around a picture of you or something? He showed it to everyone, I heard. Or is that just the way your mom tells it?”

“No, he really did show it to everyone. Apparently, he snuck into my house and took a picture of me sleeping, then kept it in his wallet.” She shuddered. “I'm really glad to be far, far away from that one!” Kagome's eyes went wide for a moment and she turned to look up at him. “Oh my god, the pictures! Inuyasha, I completely forgot to ask you about them!”

“What the fuck are you babbling about, wench?” Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and glared at her.

“A few days ago,” she explained, “I found three pictures taped to my bathroom mirror. Since they're pictures of me working in your yard, I was wondering if you knew anything about them.”

“What?” the hanyou roared.

“I'll take that as a no. I was afraid of that.”

“When did you get these pictures? Where are they?”

“Monday morning and they're in my room. They're from different angles, one from out in the yard, one a bit closer and one from under the porch.”

“Under the porch? Did you hear or see anyone? Sense anything in the area? Could it have been Miroku?”

“I didn't really sense anything. I mean, I did sense Miroku there, but it was just before I stopped working for the day. We sat and talked for a few minutes.”

Inuyasha nodded, he remembered that. He hadn't sensed anyone on the property either. “Why the fuck did you not tell me this earlier, bitch?”

“Well gee, I dunno, I guess maybe because I haven't even heard from you since Sunday when we were attacked. Which is fine because I haven't been worried about you at all! I've been spending the last few days stuck doing the remedial training you `encouraged' my elderly aunt to start me on!” The last few words were shouted and she seemed to have forgotten they had an audience.

“It's for your own god damn fucking good!” he shouted back at her, ignoring the looks his father was giving him. She was standing now, toe to toe with him; eyes flashing, cheeks flushed and angry as all hell. She was completely beautiful. Forget the audience, right now all he wanted to do was drag her against him and kiss her senseless. “Maybe next time you try to heal someone you won't nearly fucking kill yourself!”

“Maybe you should mind your own business! I've done just fine for the past twenty-one years without you there to hold my hand!” she screamed.

You fucking are my business! he wanted to scream. But the words caught in his throat as he heard his father cough to interrupt. He turned away from her then, stepping back and taking a deep breath. Shaking himself to calm the youki he knew was gathering, he glanced over at his father. The older man sat calmly and shook his head, but the look on his face promised that there would be a very long talk soon.

Fucking hell, he thought to himself, just what I fucking need. What he needed was to get out of the room, away from prying eyes and sharp ears and into a setting where he could think. He wanted Kagome with him, though and that might be a challenge. She had turned away from him as well and sat back down in the chair he'd placed her in. All of a sudden he remembered something.

“The disk.” He put his hand on her shoulder and looked down at her. “Do you have it?” She patted at the pockets of her sweatpants and grinned triumphantly, pulling the disk out to wave in his general direction. Inuyasha grinned back. “Alright then. We've got work to do.”

 

C #@#@@##@@##@@

 

Kagome allowed Inuyasha to usher her into his office. It was a small, cluttered room but Kagome felt comfortable there. She put the disk into the drive of the computer on is desk and set about opening it.

The e-mail was still blank. Kagome frowned. It was blank, but it was nearly six pages in Word. She tapped at the desk.

“Why would Kikyou send me six pages of nothing?” she mused aloud. Inuyasha frowned at her and then looked thoughtfully at the screen. “She wouldn't. There is something on this page. She just hid it.”

“The question is how did she hide it and why. It's not an encrypted file, it's just a plank page.”

“What if it's not blank?”

“Huh?”

Kagome looked at Inuyasha. “Kikyou was a bio-chemist but when she was younger, she was fascinated by invisible ink. A few times, she sent me letters in invisible ink, usually when it had something to do with Miko powers, which she knew my mom would disapprove of. She would send me a clue and I'd be expected to figure it out.” She chewed on her lip and looked at the file. “This is the same thing. She just never got around to sending me the clue.”

“So what do you propose doing?”

“Well, because I'm not a chemist or even remotely scientifically inclined, she usually made the code easy. You know, hold the page up to something hot or rub it down with Windex. She probably did something similar here.” Kagome highlighted the entire page and then got out the color tool. “What if all she did was make the text white? It's simple, quick and hides anything she might have typed.”

Selecting blue, she then proceeded to look over the file. She was rewarded on page four. Set to the right was a single line. It was a webpage. There were spaces at odd points so that it wouldn't have shown up if someone were to just scan over it with a mouse, but sure enough, it was a web address.

“I'll be damned,” muttered Inuyasha. “A clue. Finally, a fucking clue!”

 

 

 

A/N:

Woohoo! The first clue! But not the last. Kikyou is quite the cagey little thing.

I would very much like to thank Aine of Knockaine for her help with this chapter. I was stuck and after reading the chapter, she gave me a few suggestions that, honestly, helped a hell of a lot! And yes, I put Kouga in. I'm not fond of the bastard, but he serves his purpose, just as Kikyou does.

Next chapter: Kagome is “taking the steps” Kikyou laid out for her.