InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Freedom ❯ The Retriever ( Chapter 3 )

The Price of Freedom (do I come up with corny titles or what?)

The Retriever











"Inu is dead."

Naraku turned slowly in his revolving chair - possible the comfiest chair on the entire base. No one else was permitted to sit in it except him. "Where's his body then?"

"Well..." the colonel shifted uncomfortably. "We're still searching... but we're pretty sure he's fish food now. I mean, that blast was pretty big, it took out the end of the pier from twenty metres away - and he was right next to the blast - he couldn't have survived."

Naraku shook his head. "Colonel... he's a hanyou... he can take punishment much more readily than you." He gave the man a pointed glare to hint something. "He will not have been destroyed by that petty blast."

"Then he must have surely drowned then." The colonel offered.

Naraku just glared at him.

So perhaps that was a stupid theory too.

There was a knock at the door that interrupted the tense silence. "Come in." Naraku said, almost lazily. He glanced past the colonel to see who had entered and almost at once his chair snapped from a reclining position to a straight up one. "What is a woman doing on this base?!" he snapped with a hiss.

The colonel glanced behind him to see the young woman coming up on his left. She was very young, but very pretty, and seemingly un-offended by Naraku's comment. "This is Major Kuonji..." he introduced his second in command.

"Kikyo Kuonji." She offered a polite bow to Naraku who just ignored her and turned back to the colonel.

"Fine Inu and bring him back, dead or alive. I don't care. Find his body in the ocean - just as long as you bring me back some proof of his death." He said coolly.

That's where Kikyo stepped in. "Mr Naraku... I'm sure you're well aware of the hanyou's capabilities."

He glared at her icily.

"And I'm sure you're well aware that he will not have been destroyed by that grenade or the waters." She placed a map that she'd been holding on the desk between them and took out a pen from her shirt pocket. "I believe that Inu would have at least made it to land by now. But with wounds like the ones he sustained, he won't have gone far."

She drew and oval shape around an area of coast that was adjacent to their little island. "I doubt he would even bother moving onwards with a gunshot wound in the leg."

"What makes you so sure he was shot?" Naraku raised an eyebrow in question.

She smiled slightly in return. "I never miss, sir."

"If you may, sir, I believe she has an affective plan of capturing the prisoner." The colonel put forward.

"Indeed?"

"I suggest we send one of the more reliable canines in pursuit." She lifted her chin. "Ookami has proven himself to be rather loyal... in truth... more loyal than the dog."

There was a moment's silence before Naraku clasped his hands before him. "Send him in then."





^_^





Kagome dozed lightly on the sofa, the TV was on the background, lulling her into a false sense of security. It was midday and she was exhausted. Not only had she been nursing the strange boy that had washed up on the beach last night, but she had also managed to clean up a lot of the surrounding mess. But only because she been finding it really annoying that every time she went into the kitchen, she was crunching the Cheesy Whatsits into the carpet.

He soft noise stirred her from her light sleep and she raised her head and ran a hand through her hair to get it back in position and wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.

Suddenly the boy on the floor sat bolt upright with a gasp and she screamed in response and scrambled to press her back against the sofa automatically.

"Did you choose the other one?!" he demanded sharply, but his gaze focused on something across the room in the distance.

"What?" she got over her shock and inched up a little.

"Did you choose the other one?!" he repeated it.

"Uh..."

He started to get annoyed with her slow response. "Did-you-choose-the-other- one?!" he growled out, like he was talking to a retarded child, his head turned in her direction but his eyes weren't focused on her.

"No... I chose this one." She said finally, at a loss.

"Good." He grunted and collapsed back onto the pillow she'd given him. Asleep once more.

It took a moment to calm her thundering heart, and get up the nerve to approach him. He'd scared the wits out of her... though he was probably still lost in his dreams to know he'd just been awake. Sleep talking.

"Hey..." she said softly and he turned his head towards the sound of her voice.

"Is the party starting yet?" he mumbled out.

"No... you missed the party." She whispered softly, brushing his fringe out the way.

Was it her, or did his face look less bruised and grazed today? She was sure the damage had covered his right eye last night... but now it only seemed to be his cheek that was scabbing over now.

"I never saw... the..."

"Girls?"

"Mm..."

Apparently it was clear that all that was in this guy's mind was partying and girls.

"No... never saw the sun..." he whispered before drifting off entirely.

Kagome frowned. Now what had that meant? He wasn't making any sense at all.

Well, at least his fever had gone down pretty quickly already. And seeing as he was now soundly asleep, she might as well get some prime use out of that credit card her mother had left her.

She made sure that the boy was properly tucked in and had had his medicine before finding her bag and heading off down the road, trying to remember the way to the town centre.





^_^





She was dead on her feet. But she had all she wanted now and she could at least go home now. She headed for the check out at the other end of the store, and in doing so, she passed right by the men's section.

Her gaze dawdled a little longer than necessary on the underwear section before finally tearing her eyes back to the aisle she was crossing. She also happened to be passing an elderly gentleman with snow-white hair and a walking stick. The hair instantly reminded her of the boy back home and she realised that he might actually want new clothes too... after all, his clothes were in tatters and barely covered the important parts as it was. And it wasn't like she had a handy father to steal clothes from.

So with a sigh she headed into the men's section and began browsing for clothes, mostly to her taste. She didn't really care if they were to his taste or not. She got a couple of plain navy cotton shirts and one or two pairs of jeans and a couple of various dark coloured nylon cargos. Then she wasn't sure what type of underwear to get him... and lingered on the thought of getting him briefs, before deciding that would just be cruel, and tossed a couple of boxers into her cart. And maybe one or two pairs had little hearts on... but they were just too cute to resist.

When she was done deciding what the stranger at home would wear if he ever woke up, she headed through the aisles of cosmetics towards the checkpoints at the end of the store. She was almost there when she spotted someone coming her way. A very good looking someone with black hair, green eyes (hard to tell from such a distance) and clothes that were so in fashion. Something about him reminded her instantly of the white haired guy, though she wasn't quite sure what it was... the long hair perhaps that was tied up high on his head. His roaming gaze flicked to her and after a moment a slight smile tilted his face.

It was instantaneous, the fuzzy feeling in her stomach (oh come on, she's only human) and she smiled back hesitantly. Then she noticed he was slowing... almost as if he wanted to... stop... beside her. Something nagged her about the stranger back in her home and his wish to be left alone. One quick glance in her shopping basket told her it was obvious she had just been shopping for a guy - so without thinking she knocked it against the shelf beside her.

The contents of that shelf slipped into the basket, covering her manly accessories - this all done without having to look, and the guy didn't seem to notice the sudden movement either.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked casually.

"Uh... I don't think so..."

"Or I know your sister or something."

"I don't think so - I'm only on holiday, I don't live here." She wanted to strangle herself - she was doing the sweet girl routine... twiddling her fingers... cocking her head...

For a brief moment his eyes trailed down to her basket, but quickly jerked up again. "I'm new too. Where you from?"

"Tokyo."

"What district?"

She was really trying hard to hold onto her thoughts as she stared at his perfect face. "Uh... Nerima..."

"Never been there." He smiled warmly and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I wonder if you can help me. I'm looking for a friend of mine."

"Oh...?" that sounded ominous... and very coincidental.

"He's roughly my height... my age... weird white hair and strange eyes. Might be limping." His smile slipped to a little serious quirk. "You seen him around?"

Something about his whole attitude was off and Kagome quickly found herself less thrilled about the cute guy talking to her. "No... what's his name?"

There was a long pause. "He goes by lots - he's a prankster. He'll be Akira one day and then Mikate the next."

"It rings a bell." She lied placidly, hoping that she wasn't too obvious. "But maybe you should tell me your name in case I see him?"

He cocked his head. "And my number too?"

"Please?" she breathed.

"I don't have a number. Well... not the right sort you want. But my name's Kouga. I'll be hanging around if you ever see him." He grinned.

"Kagome." She turned as he started to walk away. "See ya!"

"Bye, Kagome." He waved shortly before turning completely and walking off into the men section.

As soon as he was gone she shook her head to clear her thoughts, but she was cooled off slightly by the thought that he might not be what he seemed. After all... his intentions in finding the boy in her living room didn't seem all that clear or friendly. After all... he knew that the guy was injured... not a good sign.

She looked down absently at her basket and her breath froze in her lungs. "No...!"

Somehow she'd stopped by the only shelf in the toiletries section that was filed up with extra large condoms. All of which were now happily covering all off the male clothes and practically yelling 'I HAVE MALE COMPANY'. Way to go Kagome! She thought to herself as she tried to stuff the boxes back onto the shelf - but of course she'd broken the shelf and only half the merchandise would go back.

Besides, lots of old ladies were now giving her very queer looks and most were tutting and shaking their heads. All she wanted to do was get away very quickly, and leave the scene of the crime. Perhaps she could dump them all behind the baby diaper stacks - and remind all those mothers of what could have been.

She headed down the aisle and glanced behind her to check no one was still staring at her, and to her dismay, the new guy named Kouga was starting towards the cash cheques, blocking off her escape.

Kagome was cornered. She couldn't dump the... stuff... now without drawing too much attention and even if she did there was a chance Kouga would see what she had underneath the... stuff... And after seeing all this... stuff... including the clothes then he would definitely know she wasn't exactly staying with her brother. Maybe he'd think she had a boyfriend...

But Kagome still had her pride and she wasn't going to go embarrass herself by dumping condoms behind the stacks of Cornflakes boxes or something. Jut buy them and go. And then perhaps bury them in the sand later on. Anything to get away from this Kouga right now.

She found an empty check out and dumped her basket on the moving conveyor- belt and tried to hide her from the approaching Kouga. He didn't seem to have seen her just yet, so she was safe for now... but for how long?

She paid the amount with the card and challenged the cashier's stare with a glare before grabbing her shopping back and all but running from the store. As soon as she was outside she made a mental note to never ever get so swooned by a guy's good looks. Kagome looked down just in case the packets were showing in the bag before deciding that she could make the journey home without losing too much face.

Thank god she'd be going home in a few weeks. And no one would ever be able to find the 'Crazy Condom Kagome' again.

She started up the drive and found her keys in her right pocket after having to strategically go through the entire contents of each pocket that included sweet wrappers, loose change, broken pens and a smiley face sticker.

Kagome opened the door and found her way into the kitchen to dump her cargo on the wooden table. Glancing at her watch she knew it was time to probably go feed aspirin to the guest again, and possibly change his bandages if it was needed. She sighed and muttered to herself about stupid seaside districts as she went to the medical drawer and fishing out another bottle of aspirin and a fresh roll of bandages.

Leaving the shopping on the table she headed for the connecting doorway to the living room. But before she stepped off the linoleum and onto the carpet, something hard and firm clapped over her mouth and she was dragged back rather sharply and roughly against a body much bigger and tougher than her own.

The aspirin and bandages dropped from her shaking hands at once as she emitted one muffled yet very frightened squeak.

"Tell me who the hell you are and I won't kill you straight away." A harsh voice whispered into her ear, making her involuntarily shiver. One glance through the doorway told her that her sick stranger was no longer on the floor.

And she found herself wondering if she'd chosen the right side to defend or not.






2 B Continued...