InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Freedom ❯ Infiltration ( Chapter 12 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Disclaimer: same as every other flipping chapter. I can't be bothered writing it all the time...
(A/N: Not been a very good day today. Told off by three different teachers - got a detention for talking too loudly in class (though I think it's cuz the teacher has PMS and it's not pay day for another month) and then my friend tells me to call her because she broke up with her newest boyfriend. Flipping girl was on the phone for an hour before I had to pretend I was going through a tunnel because my credit was REALLY low. So I plan to send her the bill when I get a top up on my card tomorrow. Anyway... just so you know... not in a brilliant mood today... not quite in the zone.)
The Price of Freedom
Infiltration
< br>
For every new experiment that was embarked upon, a lot of effort went on to get it started. It wasn't just a case of getting a mummy and a daddy who loved each other very much... it was a lot more complicated than that. In Inuyasha's case - the dog genes that had to be added to human genes to create cross-DNA was a lot difficult than going about making a baby the traditional way. Because for a start you needed dogs to fill in the blanks where genes had been removed from the human DNA strands.
The total list of parents were two biological mother dogs, one biological human father - and two more human mothers... before there came a mother that was unrelated to Inuyasha in any way. The surrogate mother.
Usually the surrogate mother was young, who needed the money because they came from a poor background. And in the newspaper, the position of acting as surrogate mother, was less than informative about what really went on. Because, for a start, they forgot to mention that the girl would be surrogate to a genetic experiment that could go wrong and kill her at any point during pregnancy... and they also forget to mention that she wouldn't be allowed outside the facility for nine months. So Inuyasha's mother probably had no idea what she was letting herself in for when she applied to take part in a scientific study in an island off the coast in International waters.
"Well what happens after the kid is born?" Kagome asked him quietly as they sat squished up in boiler room still.
"I don't know what happened to my own mother, but I've seen what happens to the recent new-borns." He said quietly.
"What?"
"The brats are taken and stuck in an incubator room or a nursery and the mother is thrown off the island with her money and a warning not to tell anybody what happened." He cocked his head. "I heard a rumour once that one surrogate mother went to the police as soon as she got to the mainland... and by some mishap she was shot in the head by accident."
"By the police?" her throat constricted as he nodded.
"Those people are above common law... they're at the top of the food-chain. No one can tell them what to do or shut them down either." Inuyasha sighed.
"But that was the local police, right?" Kagome shifted slightly to face him properly. "What if we went to the police headquarters in Tokyo where their power can't have reached so far?"
Inuyasha stared at her, unsure of what she was getting at.
Kagome tried again. "What if we find your real mother and get her to talk to the police in Tokyo about what happened? Then the police would know something was up with the genetic engineering on the island facility and go and investigate. And when they discover the truth the whole thing will be blown out into the open." She clapped her hands. "Am I a genius or what?"
"One problem." Inuyasha said.
Sensing he was about to burst her bubble she scowled. "What?"
"I don't know my real mother. I don't know her name, where she lives, what she looks like, how old she is, or where she comes from. I only met her once and that was when I was being born."
"Oh..." Kagome frowned. "But wouldn't the labs you came from keep records and tabs on all the surrogate mothers, to make sure none of them talked?"
"I suppose... but all the files and records are in the bosses office." Inuyasha's brown furrowed slightly at some faint memory. "And I'm not going back there."
"I wouldn't make you." She touched his shoulder lightly. "And its not like I could waltz right in there, grab the files, then fox trot out."
"I think we'll have to think about this." Inuyasha said slowly.
"Yeah... meanwhile... you can stay here but you have to be really, really quiet, ok?"
"What're you talking about? I'm always quiet."
"Where'd you get that from?"
^_^
"NO! No way!" Inuyasha stalked the length of the living room while Kagome sat sedately on the sofa while Kouga stood in the doorway, watching Inuyasha through narrowed eyes.
"I'll protect her. She won't be in any harm while she's with me." Kouga said slowly.
"The day she's safe with you is the day I grow a monkey tail!" Inuyasha snapped, glaring at him.
"It could happen dog-turd!" Kouga growled.
Without warning Inuyasha lunged at Kouga and both boys slammed to the ground. Kagome sprung into action and yanked Inuyasha off Kouga with an amazing feat of strength by the back of his shirt. "You two act like five year olds! Leave Kouga alone!"
"Why're you defending him?!" Inuyasha snapped.
"Because she likes me better." Kouga smirked.
"Because you'll hurt him." She said simply, earning a cocky smirk from one boy and a glower from the other. "Anyway... I think Kouga's plan is way better than yours."
"What's wrong with blowing it up?" Inuyasha pouted.
"Firstly we have to get the explosives - which aren't exactly on offer down in Quicksave. And secondly, what about all the people that get caught in the blast? Thirdly, how are we supposed to plant the bombs and fourthly, what about all the records that we need to-"
"Ok, ok! Don't have to show me up so much." Inuyasha grouched.
"Kouga will look after me. Besides... both of you think I look a lot like this other girl... I think it should work." Kagome nodded firmly. "All I have to do is waltz in there, grab the files from... Mr Naraku's... office and then do the fox trot out like I planned."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"No one will question her. They respect Kikyo too much." Kouga stood up and dusted himself down
Kagome clapped her hands with the done deal. "Ok... just tell me how to dress and act like her and I'll be fine."
Kouga nodded and started to leave at once, surprising the other two. "I can go down to the store and get some things for you now. We can leave tonight."
Kagome opened her mouth to call something after him but the door slamming told her he was gone. Inuyasha smirked. "Look at that... all but ran with his tail between his legs."
"I don't know why you hate him so much... he's helping you out a lot you know." She reminded him.
"No, he's helping you." Inuyasha scowled as he stood and walked over to the window to check he was really going. "Fucking suck up..."
"You can't stop me from going. Cause we're doing this to free you." Kagome told him seriously. "Then we find your mother and go to the real authorities with all the evidence."
Nothing she said would really comfort him that there was absolutely nothing going on between her and Kouga. The nonchalant touching when he came back with suitable Kikyo clothes was a little suspicious. And the little smiles that she shared with him were also getting his nerves a little edgy.
By the time Kagome was ready to go it was all Inuyasha could do to keep from throttling the wolf. She looked beautiful... with her hair pinned up and straightened, a pair of very stylish glasses and a figure flattering suit with a skirt and tights with high heels. And she was going to be with Kouga in a state like that?
Inuyasha decided he had to have a talk with Kagome when she got back.
^_^
"Evenin g Major Kikyo."
Kagome started at the guard she was passing as she entered and she gave a jerky little wave as she slipped through doors, a few paces behind Kouga. It was going easier than she'd thought it would. And apparently the people around here DID respect Kikyo to somehow keep out of her way so eagerly. They all bowed their heads politely as she passed, and it was somewhat unnerving.
Kouga led her down the similar white passages that seemed to descend into the ground with each turn. It was crowded with doctors, scientists and military agents in fatigues. As far as she could see, she was the only female there and stuck out like a sore thumb in a business skirt. She was just thankful that Kikyo wasn't a slutty agent.
Kouga stopped as they reached a junction where their corridor split two ways in a fork. He had to speak quietly so no one would hear. "Left is the labs and right is the offices. Go down the right one until you get to the end where there is and office with a plate saying 'Dr Naraku'."
"Dr Naraku..." Kagome bit her lip, struggling to keep the adrenaline twitches to a minimum. "What is he's in there?"
"Then he'll think you're Kikyo doing more research into finding Inu and won't-"
"His name is Inuyasha." She interrupted.
"He'll think you're doing research and let you go on your way." He started down the left fork.
"Wait! Where are you going?" she called suddenly and he stopped to look back. "I can't go down to offices until they call me to. You have to go alone... and be warned... Naraku doesn't like women... or Kikyo..."
Kagome watched him leave, noticing that where he was going seemed to filled with a lot of those people in white lab coats. Towards the offices, a lot more people were dressed in either military uniforms of formal suits, like she was.
Nervously, but briskly, she started to clip clop her way down the hall to the right, checking each door to find the one she needed. Though it was quite obvious when she found the right one because it was the biggest, it was the best and it was mostly glass walls with blinds.
She stopped at the door and looked at the plate. It was definitely the right one. The bosses office.
"Miss Kikyo." A man nodded as he passed by and she nodded in response. When he was gone completely she tapped lightly on the door. There was no response so she knocked again, a little louder with a little more courage.
There was still no call from within so she just opened the door and stepped inside.
The lights were dim in the large office, and along the walls on either side of her were stacks of filing cabinets made of mahogany and on the far side opposite her was a large mahogany desk with a glass carpet and more glass doors behind it and a very large cushy looking chair. For a moment she was tempted to go try it out, before remembering she was on a mission that she didn't want to drag out for too long. Besides, Kouga had warned her that the real Kikyo could be along at any time. Apparently it didn't take long for that girl to go to the beauticians to have her weekly manicure.
She crossed the plush red carpet to the cabinets on her left and scanned the whole lot for the letter M. she found the whole cabinet that had been devoted to it and started to rifle through the first drawer looking for 'mother'. Unfortunately that didn't turn up much use and so she started to look for S as in 'surrogate mother'.
She found S and her eyes widened in disbelief. Not only was a whole cabinet also devoted to everything that came under S - but also there were two whole cabinets devoted to everything that came under 'Surrogate mother'. She went straight to the first drawer and was immediately confronted with dozens and dozens of names of tones of women. Each woman had her own file that was at least a centimetre thick. Just to see what she was up against she lifted one random file and scanned the cover. There was a photo, a name, an address, and the date of when she was impregnated with a child. The year 1985. She gulped when she saw that the experiment had failed and the infant and mother had died.
Another random file was a little scarier. The mother and infant had survived the pregnancy, but only two days after the birth the mother had died and over the front of the file was a great big red stamp saying 'TERMINATED'.
"Ouch..." she muttered.
Now... all she had to do was find Inuyasha's mother. Which wasn't going to be easy because she didn't know the name of this woman and they hadn't been classed under the name of their infant.
It took a whole hour to scan through the entire content of the two cabinets an by then she had discovered a lot of women that had been surrogates to dog hybrids... and lots that had just been classed as canine. There were twenty files in total that had the possibility of being Inuyasha's mother... so she was going to play it safe and take all of them. Hopefully his mother would be one of the ones that was still alive... or at least keeping out of the mental institutes where an awful lot had been locked away.
She stuffed the four inches worth of files into her handbag and stood up from where she had been sat on the floor and began to close the cabinets. Suddenly voices rose from outside as people seemed to be stopping by the door and she suddenly scrambled to stuff the excess files back into the drawers, not bothering to check if they were in the right places. Where were those superpowers when she needed them?
The door opened and she slammed the last drawer shut and stepped away from them so nobody would suspect her.
A strange middle-aged man in a suit entered and frowned at her. "Entering uninvited now, I see." He said snippily.
She suspected this was Naraku. "I'm sorry, I thought I would wait for you here because... it was cold out in the corridor..."
He stared at her like she was a dirt clod and started to move towards his desk. "What do you want?"
"I...wanted..." she really sucked at excuses on the spot, then she spotted something beside his desk. "Your lamp!"
"You want my lap." he sat down in his chair and glared at her flatly.
"Well... actually, I-I wanted to know where you got it from... it's so..." she looked at it. "Lampish... and... simple... where'd you get it?"
"One word. Ikea." She could have sworn his lip curled in disgust. Here was a guy who had serious relationship problems in the past. "Now get out before I fire you."
"Yes, sir." There was nothing she would have liked more than to be thrown out now. And she scuttled from the office before he could change his mind.
Out of the office and down the corridor, she began to wonder how she was supposed to get back to the mainland and to Inuyasha. Kouga had the keys to the speedboat that he and Kikyo used, and he was no where to be seen at the present moment.
She looked at her watch and stopped at the fork in the corridor where she'd left him. She looked up and down the corridor and then paled rather quickly. For coming up the way she had just come was another woman... one who looked unusually familiar...
"Oh bugger..." she tried to keep her head down and blend into the crowd... but she was the only one with a pair of legs so she still stuck out and she watched with growing horror as the real Kikyo spotted her, frowned, and started to walk towards her.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Kikyo. Who the hell are you?" Kagome said back, trying to match the other girl's confusion.
Kikyo suddenly looked like she understood. "Your Higurashi aren't you." She folded her arms and sighed. "I think it's best if you come with me now, spy."
(A/N: and the next chapter should be in a... month... - Only kidding! Should be by tomorrow or something. 'Finding Mom'.)
(A/N: Not been a very good day today. Told off by three different teachers - got a detention for talking too loudly in class (though I think it's cuz the teacher has PMS and it's not pay day for another month) and then my friend tells me to call her because she broke up with her newest boyfriend. Flipping girl was on the phone for an hour before I had to pretend I was going through a tunnel because my credit was REALLY low. So I plan to send her the bill when I get a top up on my card tomorrow. Anyway... just so you know... not in a brilliant mood today... not quite in the zone.)
The Price of Freedom
Infiltration
< br>
For every new experiment that was embarked upon, a lot of effort went on to get it started. It wasn't just a case of getting a mummy and a daddy who loved each other very much... it was a lot more complicated than that. In Inuyasha's case - the dog genes that had to be added to human genes to create cross-DNA was a lot difficult than going about making a baby the traditional way. Because for a start you needed dogs to fill in the blanks where genes had been removed from the human DNA strands.
The total list of parents were two biological mother dogs, one biological human father - and two more human mothers... before there came a mother that was unrelated to Inuyasha in any way. The surrogate mother.
Usually the surrogate mother was young, who needed the money because they came from a poor background. And in the newspaper, the position of acting as surrogate mother, was less than informative about what really went on. Because, for a start, they forgot to mention that the girl would be surrogate to a genetic experiment that could go wrong and kill her at any point during pregnancy... and they also forget to mention that she wouldn't be allowed outside the facility for nine months. So Inuyasha's mother probably had no idea what she was letting herself in for when she applied to take part in a scientific study in an island off the coast in International waters.
"Well what happens after the kid is born?" Kagome asked him quietly as they sat squished up in boiler room still.
"I don't know what happened to my own mother, but I've seen what happens to the recent new-borns." He said quietly.
"What?"
"The brats are taken and stuck in an incubator room or a nursery and the mother is thrown off the island with her money and a warning not to tell anybody what happened." He cocked his head. "I heard a rumour once that one surrogate mother went to the police as soon as she got to the mainland... and by some mishap she was shot in the head by accident."
"By the police?" her throat constricted as he nodded.
"Those people are above common law... they're at the top of the food-chain. No one can tell them what to do or shut them down either." Inuyasha sighed.
"But that was the local police, right?" Kagome shifted slightly to face him properly. "What if we went to the police headquarters in Tokyo where their power can't have reached so far?"
Inuyasha stared at her, unsure of what she was getting at.
Kagome tried again. "What if we find your real mother and get her to talk to the police in Tokyo about what happened? Then the police would know something was up with the genetic engineering on the island facility and go and investigate. And when they discover the truth the whole thing will be blown out into the open." She clapped her hands. "Am I a genius or what?"
"One problem." Inuyasha said.
Sensing he was about to burst her bubble she scowled. "What?"
"I don't know my real mother. I don't know her name, where she lives, what she looks like, how old she is, or where she comes from. I only met her once and that was when I was being born."
"Oh..." Kagome frowned. "But wouldn't the labs you came from keep records and tabs on all the surrogate mothers, to make sure none of them talked?"
"I suppose... but all the files and records are in the bosses office." Inuyasha's brown furrowed slightly at some faint memory. "And I'm not going back there."
"I wouldn't make you." She touched his shoulder lightly. "And its not like I could waltz right in there, grab the files, then fox trot out."
"I think we'll have to think about this." Inuyasha said slowly.
"Yeah... meanwhile... you can stay here but you have to be really, really quiet, ok?"
"What're you talking about? I'm always quiet."
"Where'd you get that from?"
^_^
"NO! No way!" Inuyasha stalked the length of the living room while Kagome sat sedately on the sofa while Kouga stood in the doorway, watching Inuyasha through narrowed eyes.
"I'll protect her. She won't be in any harm while she's with me." Kouga said slowly.
"The day she's safe with you is the day I grow a monkey tail!" Inuyasha snapped, glaring at him.
"It could happen dog-turd!" Kouga growled.
Without warning Inuyasha lunged at Kouga and both boys slammed to the ground. Kagome sprung into action and yanked Inuyasha off Kouga with an amazing feat of strength by the back of his shirt. "You two act like five year olds! Leave Kouga alone!"
"Why're you defending him?!" Inuyasha snapped.
"Because she likes me better." Kouga smirked.
"Because you'll hurt him." She said simply, earning a cocky smirk from one boy and a glower from the other. "Anyway... I think Kouga's plan is way better than yours."
"What's wrong with blowing it up?" Inuyasha pouted.
"Firstly we have to get the explosives - which aren't exactly on offer down in Quicksave. And secondly, what about all the people that get caught in the blast? Thirdly, how are we supposed to plant the bombs and fourthly, what about all the records that we need to-"
"Ok, ok! Don't have to show me up so much." Inuyasha grouched.
"Kouga will look after me. Besides... both of you think I look a lot like this other girl... I think it should work." Kagome nodded firmly. "All I have to do is waltz in there, grab the files from... Mr Naraku's... office and then do the fox trot out like I planned."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"No one will question her. They respect Kikyo too much." Kouga stood up and dusted himself down
Kagome clapped her hands with the done deal. "Ok... just tell me how to dress and act like her and I'll be fine."
Kouga nodded and started to leave at once, surprising the other two. "I can go down to the store and get some things for you now. We can leave tonight."
Kagome opened her mouth to call something after him but the door slamming told her he was gone. Inuyasha smirked. "Look at that... all but ran with his tail between his legs."
"I don't know why you hate him so much... he's helping you out a lot you know." She reminded him.
"No, he's helping you." Inuyasha scowled as he stood and walked over to the window to check he was really going. "Fucking suck up..."
"You can't stop me from going. Cause we're doing this to free you." Kagome told him seriously. "Then we find your mother and go to the real authorities with all the evidence."
Nothing she said would really comfort him that there was absolutely nothing going on between her and Kouga. The nonchalant touching when he came back with suitable Kikyo clothes was a little suspicious. And the little smiles that she shared with him were also getting his nerves a little edgy.
By the time Kagome was ready to go it was all Inuyasha could do to keep from throttling the wolf. She looked beautiful... with her hair pinned up and straightened, a pair of very stylish glasses and a figure flattering suit with a skirt and tights with high heels. And she was going to be with Kouga in a state like that?
Inuyasha decided he had to have a talk with Kagome when she got back.
^_^
"Evenin g Major Kikyo."
Kagome started at the guard she was passing as she entered and she gave a jerky little wave as she slipped through doors, a few paces behind Kouga. It was going easier than she'd thought it would. And apparently the people around here DID respect Kikyo to somehow keep out of her way so eagerly. They all bowed their heads politely as she passed, and it was somewhat unnerving.
Kouga led her down the similar white passages that seemed to descend into the ground with each turn. It was crowded with doctors, scientists and military agents in fatigues. As far as she could see, she was the only female there and stuck out like a sore thumb in a business skirt. She was just thankful that Kikyo wasn't a slutty agent.
Kouga stopped as they reached a junction where their corridor split two ways in a fork. He had to speak quietly so no one would hear. "Left is the labs and right is the offices. Go down the right one until you get to the end where there is and office with a plate saying 'Dr Naraku'."
"Dr Naraku..." Kagome bit her lip, struggling to keep the adrenaline twitches to a minimum. "What is he's in there?"
"Then he'll think you're Kikyo doing more research into finding Inu and won't-"
"His name is Inuyasha." She interrupted.
"He'll think you're doing research and let you go on your way." He started down the left fork.
"Wait! Where are you going?" she called suddenly and he stopped to look back. "I can't go down to offices until they call me to. You have to go alone... and be warned... Naraku doesn't like women... or Kikyo..."
Kagome watched him leave, noticing that where he was going seemed to filled with a lot of those people in white lab coats. Towards the offices, a lot more people were dressed in either military uniforms of formal suits, like she was.
Nervously, but briskly, she started to clip clop her way down the hall to the right, checking each door to find the one she needed. Though it was quite obvious when she found the right one because it was the biggest, it was the best and it was mostly glass walls with blinds.
She stopped at the door and looked at the plate. It was definitely the right one. The bosses office.
"Miss Kikyo." A man nodded as he passed by and she nodded in response. When he was gone completely she tapped lightly on the door. There was no response so she knocked again, a little louder with a little more courage.
There was still no call from within so she just opened the door and stepped inside.
The lights were dim in the large office, and along the walls on either side of her were stacks of filing cabinets made of mahogany and on the far side opposite her was a large mahogany desk with a glass carpet and more glass doors behind it and a very large cushy looking chair. For a moment she was tempted to go try it out, before remembering she was on a mission that she didn't want to drag out for too long. Besides, Kouga had warned her that the real Kikyo could be along at any time. Apparently it didn't take long for that girl to go to the beauticians to have her weekly manicure.
She crossed the plush red carpet to the cabinets on her left and scanned the whole lot for the letter M. she found the whole cabinet that had been devoted to it and started to rifle through the first drawer looking for 'mother'. Unfortunately that didn't turn up much use and so she started to look for S as in 'surrogate mother'.
She found S and her eyes widened in disbelief. Not only was a whole cabinet also devoted to everything that came under S - but also there were two whole cabinets devoted to everything that came under 'Surrogate mother'. She went straight to the first drawer and was immediately confronted with dozens and dozens of names of tones of women. Each woman had her own file that was at least a centimetre thick. Just to see what she was up against she lifted one random file and scanned the cover. There was a photo, a name, an address, and the date of when she was impregnated with a child. The year 1985. She gulped when she saw that the experiment had failed and the infant and mother had died.
Another random file was a little scarier. The mother and infant had survived the pregnancy, but only two days after the birth the mother had died and over the front of the file was a great big red stamp saying 'TERMINATED'.
"Ouch..." she muttered.
Now... all she had to do was find Inuyasha's mother. Which wasn't going to be easy because she didn't know the name of this woman and they hadn't been classed under the name of their infant.
It took a whole hour to scan through the entire content of the two cabinets an by then she had discovered a lot of women that had been surrogates to dog hybrids... and lots that had just been classed as canine. There were twenty files in total that had the possibility of being Inuyasha's mother... so she was going to play it safe and take all of them. Hopefully his mother would be one of the ones that was still alive... or at least keeping out of the mental institutes where an awful lot had been locked away.
She stuffed the four inches worth of files into her handbag and stood up from where she had been sat on the floor and began to close the cabinets. Suddenly voices rose from outside as people seemed to be stopping by the door and she suddenly scrambled to stuff the excess files back into the drawers, not bothering to check if they were in the right places. Where were those superpowers when she needed them?
The door opened and she slammed the last drawer shut and stepped away from them so nobody would suspect her.
A strange middle-aged man in a suit entered and frowned at her. "Entering uninvited now, I see." He said snippily.
She suspected this was Naraku. "I'm sorry, I thought I would wait for you here because... it was cold out in the corridor..."
He stared at her like she was a dirt clod and started to move towards his desk. "What do you want?"
"I...wanted..." she really sucked at excuses on the spot, then she spotted something beside his desk. "Your lamp!"
"You want my lap." he sat down in his chair and glared at her flatly.
"Well... actually, I-I wanted to know where you got it from... it's so..." she looked at it. "Lampish... and... simple... where'd you get it?"
"One word. Ikea." She could have sworn his lip curled in disgust. Here was a guy who had serious relationship problems in the past. "Now get out before I fire you."
"Yes, sir." There was nothing she would have liked more than to be thrown out now. And she scuttled from the office before he could change his mind.
Out of the office and down the corridor, she began to wonder how she was supposed to get back to the mainland and to Inuyasha. Kouga had the keys to the speedboat that he and Kikyo used, and he was no where to be seen at the present moment.
She looked at her watch and stopped at the fork in the corridor where she'd left him. She looked up and down the corridor and then paled rather quickly. For coming up the way she had just come was another woman... one who looked unusually familiar...
"Oh bugger..." she tried to keep her head down and blend into the crowd... but she was the only one with a pair of legs so she still stuck out and she watched with growing horror as the real Kikyo spotted her, frowned, and started to walk towards her.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Kikyo. Who the hell are you?" Kagome said back, trying to match the other girl's confusion.
Kikyo suddenly looked like she understood. "Your Higurashi aren't you." She folded her arms and sighed. "I think it's best if you come with me now, spy."
(A/N: and the next chapter should be in a... month... - Only kidding! Should be by tomorrow or something. 'Finding Mom'.)