InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Freedom ❯ Wasted Effort ( Chapter 15 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: RozeFire 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Angst / Suspense / Romance / Police / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 03.31.2003 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 2.1K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Angst / Suspense / Romance / Police / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 03.31.2003 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 2.1K | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: Yep - I am the girl who doesn't own Inuyasha. You want to find a girl who does own it? Go to Japan! And if you're already there - go to see Takahashi Rumiko!
(A/N:I keep seeing ants everywhere... there's one crawling over my desk right now...............@-@)
The Price of Freedom
Wasted Effort
The monitors flickered off and the lights diminished, plunging the whole base into darkness.
Inuyasha, who was just about to be handcuffed suddenly found his captors momentarily confused.
"What the heck are they up to?" someone muttered behind him as heads turned back to the base, which seemed to be having a power cut.
Suddenly, Inuyasha twisted away and hauled himself onto the window ledge out of their reach. "Hah! Suck on that suckers-"
"Shit! The electronic locks in isolation are failing! Seal the exits before they can escape!" the whole bunch of men that had cornered Inuyasha now surged off to go seal those exits they'd been talking about, leaving Inuyasha a little neglected.
"Hey!" Inuyasha yelled. "Aren't I important anymore?!"
Apparently not, because no one bothered to answer. Though... it wasn't surprising. Either let one little Inu hybrid go, or let a whole base full of subjects that had been in isolation, for a reason, go instead? Hard decision...
Inuyasha glanced inside the window behind him and saw many people racing to and fro in the corridors, looking like the proverbial headless chickens. What was Kagome up to...?
^_^
"Now look what you've done?!" Kikyo hissed through the darkness at Kagome.
"You made me start!" Kagome hissed back.
"You were printing images weren't you! I can't allow that!" Kikyo sounded firm. "I have to stop you."
"You and what army-" Kagome was cut off soundly as a rather hard object cracked against the side of her face. "OW!"
"Who says I need an army to stop you?" Kikyo braced to throw another punch in the darkness.
"Bitch that hurt!" Kagome cradled her numb cheek, feeling her eye beginning to water. "Ow..."
"You want another, spy?!" Kagome had enough sense to dive the next punch but it still clicked the corner of her eye and sent her reeling back... that was definitely going to bruise later.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Kikyo snapped as Kagome started to crawl towards the door.
Whatever made Kagome think that she could take on a fully trained military major and a government agent in the first place deluded her. Because she was about to have her ass kicked. And Kikyo DID actually kick her in the ribs before slamming her head so hard against the floor that she saw a burst of stars fill her vision.
"W-wait-!" Kagome cried out as Kagome dragged her up from the floor be her hair.
"I can't allow spies to get away with vital information." Kikyo said in a cool tone and kneed her in stomach before throwing a hard double fisted punch right into the middle of her face. Kagome screamed and automatically struck back, scratching a catish line across Kikyo's cheek
"You little-!"
The door was swung open again before Kikyo could finish that loving little sentiment and Inuyasha entered looking a little confused. "What the fuck are you playing at in here!"
"Inuyasha - she's beating the crap out of me!" Kagome cradled her bleeding nose while Kikyo tried to backtrack.
"Wait - she ran into a wall, being so dark and everything - I didn't do anything!" she stepped back as Inuyasha started to advance on her. But unfortunately for her she tripped over the same three men that Kagome had tripped over and cracked her head back against the control console. Knocking her clean unconscious.
"Well... she just fainted at the mere sight of me." Inuyasha smirked.
"That's wonderful." Kagome sniffed and wiped the blood from under her nose. "Can we go now - before we get caught, I mean."
"I suppose - everyone's in a panic because all the subjects from isolation have escaped." Inuyasha dragged Kagome up bridal style and headed off rapidly since she seemed to be having trouble walking in a straight line.
"Isolation? Who's in isolation?" Kagome said while pinching the bridge of her nose.
Inuyasha paused a moment to assess the best escape route without being caught before answering. "All the experiment subjects which went wrong go there... the ones which go wrong in the head."
"Ah..." Kagome winced at the thought.
A scream broke out behind them, and Inuyasha just sped up without a second look. He didn't want to scare Kagome about what might happen if they met one of the failed subjects.
^_^
"Ar e you sure you're ok?"
"Would you stop fussing - I'm fine." Even though she said that, she sounded like she had cotton wool stuffed up her nose on top of a cold or something. She also had a black/purple shiny bruise under her eye and a rather large black one on her right cheek, along with a split lip.
"Personally you look like hell." Inuyasha commented as they made their way back to the police station.
"Well..." she sounded a little miffed and offended. "At least people will think twice about picking a fight with me now."
"Yeah - they'll think 'oh there goes an easy little target with a pocket full of cash'." Inuyasha remarked cynically.
"No..." she rolled her eyes at him as they rounded the corner onto the main street. "They'll think 'there goes a tough bird who'd probably kick the crap out of me' and they'd leave me alone... and what the hell is going on here...?"
The whole street was choker-blocked with hundreds of people with lots of loud heavy rhythm music playing in the background. It looked like a parade was going on past the police station on floats with lots of colourful fancy dress and confetti.
"Hey! It's a festival!" Kagome pointed to the stage float. Some celebrities she didn't really recognise were being chugged along while they waved at the crowds from their platform above the road.
Inuyasha just regarded it all like the most antisocial creep in the world. "Why are there so many people in one place... doesn't anyone respect the whole personal space thing?"
"Not when they're having fun..." Kagome was tempted to go join the crowd before she remembered that it wouldn't be completely fair on Inuyasha - and she still had a job to do. She didn't get a black eye and a split lip for just anything! "Ok... come on..."
She went up the steps to the police station and left Inuyasha in the waiting room while she went to the front desk. A little more patient waiting in line and she was at the front of the queue with the same officer from last time.
"Hi... can I speak to the detective I saw last time, please?" Kagome asked nicely.
He slowly took in her battered face and frowned. "Inspector Josuke has just taken early retirement. He won't be working on the case any longer."
"Oh..." Kagome frowned in bemusement.
"Have you got the evidence?" he asked.
"Yeah," she pulled it out her back and onto the desk.
He picked the file up and leafed through the printed images inside. "Fake, fake, fake and... more fakes... I'm sorry but we've discovered your little prank girl and we know what you're up to."
And with that he ripped up the evidence in his hands and tossed the bits into a waste paper basket at his feet. Kagome gaped at him before growing so angry she began to shake. "Do you know what I went through to get those pictures?"
"By the looks of you, yes I do, but the evidence is already confirmed a fake. Agents from the department above us told us about your history in pranking and want the case dismissed at once. Next please."
Kagome was rudely pushed aside by the woman behind her who was rather eager to tell the officer about whatever problem she had while Kagome gaped at the man still. But he was ignoring her now and there was nothing more she could do now... so she slowly made her way back to Inuyasha.
He saw her coming and rose to his feet quickly, noticing her shocked expression at once. "What's wrong?"
"They found out... the people from the institute have forced my inspector out of his job and they've halted the investigation." Kagome sounded bewildered before bursting out angrily. "They have no right to do that! After all the trouble we went through to get all the evidence! Thank the bloody lord that I learnt how to photocopy!"
"They took the evidence...?" Inuyasha sighed and folded his arms angrily. "Well Yashira did say that they were above the police..."
"They can't do this." Kagome smouldered, glaring at the passing platform float before them. Then an idea struck her. A horribly flamboyant and horrific idea that she scared herself - but she had to do it. If the police wouldn't listen and do anything then she could go to the next more powerful thing... the press...
Inuyasha frowned as Kagome suddenly bolted through the crowds before them and hopped easily over the fence that held them back from the road. At once officers that were keeping the crowds in check gaped at her, but couldn't abandon their posts to stop her. Kagome jumped up onto the slow moving float and pushed the man who was on the announcing microphone out the way and grabbed the thing for herself. At once the music stopped and so did the float, but Kagome's face was set.
"You're being lied to! The government is lying to every one of you! They can't suppress it forever!" she spoke with a shaky voice into the microphone.
There was a murmur in the crowds as people considered this before some person yelled out. "You mean they're not really lowering taxes?!"
"No!" Kagome gasped. "I mean there's a secret branch of the military government that has been holding classified research from the rest of the government about genetic engineering!"
She managed to say that in one big breath. The words 'Genetic' and 'Engineering' were enough to spark off intrigued interest at once.
"There's an island off the coast that had been genetically engineering and splicing humans with animals," she hoped she was using the right words, otherwise she would sound like a prat to the trained ear. "They're violating hundreds of peoples human rights and they did this to me!"
She gestured to her face and the crowd gasped. She caught someone mutter 'God, she's hideous...'
Kagome glanced briefly at Inuyasha, expecting him to be staring at her in total shock or something lost for words... but he wasn't standing where she'd left him. In fact she couldn't see him anymore.
"They've shut down my attempts to speak out! And it's about time that-"
Kagome didn't get a chance to finished as Inuyasha grabbed her roughly and pulled her off the stage so quickly that she was gasping for breath. "I was building to a dramatic climax, dolt!" she hissed.
But no sooner had she been thrown from the stage but a loud shot rang out in the air and the wooden boards that she'd been standing on splintered. For a moment there was complete silence as everyone tried to process what had just happened... before utter chaos broke out and people began stampeding away from the float and the streets.
Inuyasha tugged a dumbstruck Kagome along behind him since she seemed incapable of moving. "I... I was nearly shot..." she managed as she stumbled into a run along with the general public.
Inuyasha was a little busy pushing other people out of his way in his haste before he dragged Kagome before him and started to guide her. "It came from the police department."
"The police tried to shoot me?!" Kagome shrieked. "But I'm not a criminal!"
"Naraku probably has connections further than you thought!" Inuyasha remembered the way home and pulled Kagome out of the stream of shocked people and down a smaller road, heading towards the shrine where she lived. "He's probably got men in the police force that answer to him."
"Oh..." Kagome slowed down despite Inuyasha's efforts to keep her moving.
"Come on!" he urged angrily.
"Wait... this is hopeless..." Kagome stopped completely and began to sniffle. At once Inuyasha found a lump forming in his throat. "We try... and try... to-to get away - we travel half-way across the country to get away and they're still around us! And there's no one we can tell who will help us!"
"Kagome..."
"Soon they'll put up those wanted posters again... and... and you'll be hunted here and wherever you or I go!" Kagome leant back against the wall beside her. "Damn... I've made a complete mess of things haven't I?"
"Yeah... but that wasn't your fault." Inuyasha uneasily rested a hand on her shoulder and patted her awkwardly. "These people ARE part of the government... and you're just one teenage girl."
She understood what he said. And she remembered all the people in history that had taken on the government for all sorts... and most hadn't made much difference in their lifetime until after they'd been killed for their cause and become martyrs. Kagome didn't plan to die anytime soon... but she'd risked her life to death more times in the past week than she had done in a lifetime.
She was vaguely aware of the big fat tear that began to slide from the corner of her eye and down her cheek... but even more aware of Inuyasha's thumb hat gently wiped it away. She looked up at him with a start.
"You don't have to risk your life for me." He said with a frown.
"I won't risk it if I have you to protect me." The words toppled from her mouth as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She felt him hesitate a moment before feeling him return the embrace. "I'm not gonna give up so easily."
She suddenly raised her head to see him looking at her strangely. Kagome was just about to ask what the problem was when his head dipped and his lips found hers... just like the last time. Kagome was rendered completely speechless, but it was only a matter of seconds before she just sank against him and enjoyed herself.
But unlike last time it wasn't being rushed, it was easy and gently... like he was trying to comfort and reassure her. They were just about to break apart when two police patrol cars shot past them, and screeched around a corner. Kagome broke away at once, brushing her hand across her mouth. "Where are they going?"
They carried on and peered down the road the police had gone down from the corner of the street. Kagome gripped Inuyasha's arm tightly when she saw that they had both pulled to a halt outside the gates of her shrine and were now ascending the steps to the house.
"Oh no..." Kagome whispered urgently. "They've found me..."
she darted across the road before Inuyasha had a chance to steer her away, and started up the steps of the shrine after them. She was tackled quickly by Inuyasha and almost bodily picked up and carried back down. "Let go! My mom's in there!"
"They won't hurt her! They're only looking for me and you!" Inuyasha struggled to keep a hold of her. "Don't just go and turn yourself in like this!"
"But - Mom-!"
"She'll be ok - we have to get out of here!" Inuyasha felt her go limp and dragged her back down the steps, away from the shrine and hid in the bushes down the road.
"We should wait here until they go." Kagome muttered.
"No... they'll be watching the house for you to do just that."
Kagome frowned. "Then where are we supposed to go...?"
Inuyasha didn't have the answer for that and she rested her forehead on her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. It had been a fretful day. Last night she'd been beaten up by a look-a-like and then she had almost been shot dead by the police no less. And now they had her house and she had no where to go. And on top of that she was developing jetlag from lack of sleep.
"This just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?" she remarked sarcastically.
"It is for me." Inuyasha replied.
"Is someone there?"
They both froze at the sound of a familiar voice on the pavement before them, and they could vaguely see a woman standing there, looking confused.
"No... no one here..." Kagome called.
"Are you Kagome Higurashi?"
Kagome paused a moment before scrambling out of the bush, seeing that her ears weren't tricking her. "Miss Koshi?"
The older woman looked a little sombre. "I saw what happened down the road at the festival."
"Y-you did...?"
"A lot of people did."
Inuyasha chose that moment to emerge behind Kagome as well, staring openly at his mother. Yashira switched her gaze to Inuyasha and smiled weakly, but it just looked a little forced. "I've decided that I should help you... and since you no longer can go home..." she looked up the road at the police cars. "Would you like to lodge at my home for a while?"
"You'll help us?" Kagome was overjoyed. Things suddenly looked a lot better.
Yashira Koshi smiled and nodded. "I can't abandon my own son."
Inuyasha smiled a little at this.
^_^
"During my time at the institute, I heard a lot of whispers and rumours going about... it's hard not to ignore them - er, sugar with your tea, Kagome?" Miss Koshi offered her some.
"Um... no thanks..." Kagome turned down quickly, eager to get on with the whole helping thing that Inuyasha's mother was offering.
"I only went there in the first place because my father pressured me into getting a job - but I had no skills or proper education because I came from such a broken home and family." She shook her head, remembering her foolishness. "I thought it was perfect. A load of money in exchange for becoming surrogate to a couple's child who couldn't have a baby themselves."
Kagome glanced at Inuyasha who was quietly staring at the floor.
"I had no idea they would... they lied to me..." she sighed and ran a hand through her fine hair. "But I thought it would still be ok... they didn't abuse me physically... and I thought I could just give up the child in the end and go... but then I didn't realise or expect that I'd..."
She didn't complete the sentence... but Kagome knew that what she meant was that she hadn't expect to fall in love with her own child?
"They took him away the minute you were born." She looked up at Inuyasha who slowly inched his gaze up to meet hers, uneasy waves just pouring off him. "But before I left I learnt some of the weaknesses of the institute."
"Such as?" Kagome leaned forward slightly, eyes wide.
"The institute is a branch of the government, investing in what should have been a little genetic tinkering for the sake of advancing science. But they've been hiding what they do from the rest of the government... and if the government finds out what they've been doing then there will be serious hell to pay."
"You mean if... if we went to the government with our evidence then they would call a halt to the testing and engineering?" Kagome asked eagerly.
She nodded. "But not just any part of the government. There are covert branches of secret services that they fear the most. Tell them and Central Science Laboratories will surely be closed down for good and all the subjects freed."
Kagome processed this. It was a little on the large scale for little old her.
"But..." Miss Koshi hadn't finished apparently.
"But what?" Inuyasha asked, speaking for the first time.
She glanced briefly at him, worry clear in her eyes. "But the head organiser... I think... Naraku is his name... he's not stupid. He will almost certainly have thought ahead and planted moles in the other agencies of the government. If any information leaks to his enemies then his moles within the other agencies will snap up the information and destroy the evidence before it gets too far."
"Like the police did." Kagome winced a little. "So if we go to one of the agencies we might get closed down?"
"Yes... unless you keep it very secret and very safe... telling only a few agents. They should listen to your reasons... and hopefully... the truth should be exposed."
Kagome sat back with a sigh and a small smile. "Where do I find one of these agencies then?"
(A/N: wow... I'm having trouble keeping the plot in solid shape as it is... if you're confused, you're not the only ones... @.@ Just so you know, I haven't been completely wasting my weekend here, I AM a very fast writer (and if I didn't have spell check on this thing then you probably wouldn't be able to get past the first paragraph without thinking I was writing in Spanish or something) and I only spend an hour a morning or so writing a new chapter each day...
Be warned I've got this all mapped out in my head so I don't suffer writers block halfway through the story, people say you shouldn't map stories out before you write because it takes the thrill away. What can I say? I'm abnormal, ok? But for those who hate suspense and really bad cliff-hangers, watch out for the next chapter, because you won't like it - 'Alone'. ()
(A/N:I keep seeing ants everywhere... there's one crawling over my desk right now...............@-@)
The Price of Freedom
Wasted Effort
The monitors flickered off and the lights diminished, plunging the whole base into darkness.
Inuyasha, who was just about to be handcuffed suddenly found his captors momentarily confused.
"What the heck are they up to?" someone muttered behind him as heads turned back to the base, which seemed to be having a power cut.
Suddenly, Inuyasha twisted away and hauled himself onto the window ledge out of their reach. "Hah! Suck on that suckers-"
"Shit! The electronic locks in isolation are failing! Seal the exits before they can escape!" the whole bunch of men that had cornered Inuyasha now surged off to go seal those exits they'd been talking about, leaving Inuyasha a little neglected.
"Hey!" Inuyasha yelled. "Aren't I important anymore?!"
Apparently not, because no one bothered to answer. Though... it wasn't surprising. Either let one little Inu hybrid go, or let a whole base full of subjects that had been in isolation, for a reason, go instead? Hard decision...
Inuyasha glanced inside the window behind him and saw many people racing to and fro in the corridors, looking like the proverbial headless chickens. What was Kagome up to...?
^_^
"Now look what you've done?!" Kikyo hissed through the darkness at Kagome.
"You made me start!" Kagome hissed back.
"You were printing images weren't you! I can't allow that!" Kikyo sounded firm. "I have to stop you."
"You and what army-" Kagome was cut off soundly as a rather hard object cracked against the side of her face. "OW!"
"Who says I need an army to stop you?" Kikyo braced to throw another punch in the darkness.
"Bitch that hurt!" Kagome cradled her numb cheek, feeling her eye beginning to water. "Ow..."
"You want another, spy?!" Kagome had enough sense to dive the next punch but it still clicked the corner of her eye and sent her reeling back... that was definitely going to bruise later.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Kikyo snapped as Kagome started to crawl towards the door.
Whatever made Kagome think that she could take on a fully trained military major and a government agent in the first place deluded her. Because she was about to have her ass kicked. And Kikyo DID actually kick her in the ribs before slamming her head so hard against the floor that she saw a burst of stars fill her vision.
"W-wait-!" Kagome cried out as Kagome dragged her up from the floor be her hair.
"I can't allow spies to get away with vital information." Kikyo said in a cool tone and kneed her in stomach before throwing a hard double fisted punch right into the middle of her face. Kagome screamed and automatically struck back, scratching a catish line across Kikyo's cheek
"You little-!"
The door was swung open again before Kikyo could finish that loving little sentiment and Inuyasha entered looking a little confused. "What the fuck are you playing at in here!"
"Inuyasha - she's beating the crap out of me!" Kagome cradled her bleeding nose while Kikyo tried to backtrack.
"Wait - she ran into a wall, being so dark and everything - I didn't do anything!" she stepped back as Inuyasha started to advance on her. But unfortunately for her she tripped over the same three men that Kagome had tripped over and cracked her head back against the control console. Knocking her clean unconscious.
"Well... she just fainted at the mere sight of me." Inuyasha smirked.
"That's wonderful." Kagome sniffed and wiped the blood from under her nose. "Can we go now - before we get caught, I mean."
"I suppose - everyone's in a panic because all the subjects from isolation have escaped." Inuyasha dragged Kagome up bridal style and headed off rapidly since she seemed to be having trouble walking in a straight line.
"Isolation? Who's in isolation?" Kagome said while pinching the bridge of her nose.
Inuyasha paused a moment to assess the best escape route without being caught before answering. "All the experiment subjects which went wrong go there... the ones which go wrong in the head."
"Ah..." Kagome winced at the thought.
A scream broke out behind them, and Inuyasha just sped up without a second look. He didn't want to scare Kagome about what might happen if they met one of the failed subjects.
^_^
"Ar e you sure you're ok?"
"Would you stop fussing - I'm fine." Even though she said that, she sounded like she had cotton wool stuffed up her nose on top of a cold or something. She also had a black/purple shiny bruise under her eye and a rather large black one on her right cheek, along with a split lip.
"Personally you look like hell." Inuyasha commented as they made their way back to the police station.
"Well..." she sounded a little miffed and offended. "At least people will think twice about picking a fight with me now."
"Yeah - they'll think 'oh there goes an easy little target with a pocket full of cash'." Inuyasha remarked cynically.
"No..." she rolled her eyes at him as they rounded the corner onto the main street. "They'll think 'there goes a tough bird who'd probably kick the crap out of me' and they'd leave me alone... and what the hell is going on here...?"
The whole street was choker-blocked with hundreds of people with lots of loud heavy rhythm music playing in the background. It looked like a parade was going on past the police station on floats with lots of colourful fancy dress and confetti.
"Hey! It's a festival!" Kagome pointed to the stage float. Some celebrities she didn't really recognise were being chugged along while they waved at the crowds from their platform above the road.
Inuyasha just regarded it all like the most antisocial creep in the world. "Why are there so many people in one place... doesn't anyone respect the whole personal space thing?"
"Not when they're having fun..." Kagome was tempted to go join the crowd before she remembered that it wouldn't be completely fair on Inuyasha - and she still had a job to do. She didn't get a black eye and a split lip for just anything! "Ok... come on..."
She went up the steps to the police station and left Inuyasha in the waiting room while she went to the front desk. A little more patient waiting in line and she was at the front of the queue with the same officer from last time.
"Hi... can I speak to the detective I saw last time, please?" Kagome asked nicely.
He slowly took in her battered face and frowned. "Inspector Josuke has just taken early retirement. He won't be working on the case any longer."
"Oh..." Kagome frowned in bemusement.
"Have you got the evidence?" he asked.
"Yeah," she pulled it out her back and onto the desk.
He picked the file up and leafed through the printed images inside. "Fake, fake, fake and... more fakes... I'm sorry but we've discovered your little prank girl and we know what you're up to."
And with that he ripped up the evidence in his hands and tossed the bits into a waste paper basket at his feet. Kagome gaped at him before growing so angry she began to shake. "Do you know what I went through to get those pictures?"
"By the looks of you, yes I do, but the evidence is already confirmed a fake. Agents from the department above us told us about your history in pranking and want the case dismissed at once. Next please."
Kagome was rudely pushed aside by the woman behind her who was rather eager to tell the officer about whatever problem she had while Kagome gaped at the man still. But he was ignoring her now and there was nothing more she could do now... so she slowly made her way back to Inuyasha.
He saw her coming and rose to his feet quickly, noticing her shocked expression at once. "What's wrong?"
"They found out... the people from the institute have forced my inspector out of his job and they've halted the investigation." Kagome sounded bewildered before bursting out angrily. "They have no right to do that! After all the trouble we went through to get all the evidence! Thank the bloody lord that I learnt how to photocopy!"
"They took the evidence...?" Inuyasha sighed and folded his arms angrily. "Well Yashira did say that they were above the police..."
"They can't do this." Kagome smouldered, glaring at the passing platform float before them. Then an idea struck her. A horribly flamboyant and horrific idea that she scared herself - but she had to do it. If the police wouldn't listen and do anything then she could go to the next more powerful thing... the press...
Inuyasha frowned as Kagome suddenly bolted through the crowds before them and hopped easily over the fence that held them back from the road. At once officers that were keeping the crowds in check gaped at her, but couldn't abandon their posts to stop her. Kagome jumped up onto the slow moving float and pushed the man who was on the announcing microphone out the way and grabbed the thing for herself. At once the music stopped and so did the float, but Kagome's face was set.
"You're being lied to! The government is lying to every one of you! They can't suppress it forever!" she spoke with a shaky voice into the microphone.
There was a murmur in the crowds as people considered this before some person yelled out. "You mean they're not really lowering taxes?!"
"No!" Kagome gasped. "I mean there's a secret branch of the military government that has been holding classified research from the rest of the government about genetic engineering!"
She managed to say that in one big breath. The words 'Genetic' and 'Engineering' were enough to spark off intrigued interest at once.
"There's an island off the coast that had been genetically engineering and splicing humans with animals," she hoped she was using the right words, otherwise she would sound like a prat to the trained ear. "They're violating hundreds of peoples human rights and they did this to me!"
She gestured to her face and the crowd gasped. She caught someone mutter 'God, she's hideous...'
Kagome glanced briefly at Inuyasha, expecting him to be staring at her in total shock or something lost for words... but he wasn't standing where she'd left him. In fact she couldn't see him anymore.
"They've shut down my attempts to speak out! And it's about time that-"
Kagome didn't get a chance to finished as Inuyasha grabbed her roughly and pulled her off the stage so quickly that she was gasping for breath. "I was building to a dramatic climax, dolt!" she hissed.
But no sooner had she been thrown from the stage but a loud shot rang out in the air and the wooden boards that she'd been standing on splintered. For a moment there was complete silence as everyone tried to process what had just happened... before utter chaos broke out and people began stampeding away from the float and the streets.
Inuyasha tugged a dumbstruck Kagome along behind him since she seemed incapable of moving. "I... I was nearly shot..." she managed as she stumbled into a run along with the general public.
Inuyasha was a little busy pushing other people out of his way in his haste before he dragged Kagome before him and started to guide her. "It came from the police department."
"The police tried to shoot me?!" Kagome shrieked. "But I'm not a criminal!"
"Naraku probably has connections further than you thought!" Inuyasha remembered the way home and pulled Kagome out of the stream of shocked people and down a smaller road, heading towards the shrine where she lived. "He's probably got men in the police force that answer to him."
"Oh..." Kagome slowed down despite Inuyasha's efforts to keep her moving.
"Come on!" he urged angrily.
"Wait... this is hopeless..." Kagome stopped completely and began to sniffle. At once Inuyasha found a lump forming in his throat. "We try... and try... to-to get away - we travel half-way across the country to get away and they're still around us! And there's no one we can tell who will help us!"
"Kagome..."
"Soon they'll put up those wanted posters again... and... and you'll be hunted here and wherever you or I go!" Kagome leant back against the wall beside her. "Damn... I've made a complete mess of things haven't I?"
"Yeah... but that wasn't your fault." Inuyasha uneasily rested a hand on her shoulder and patted her awkwardly. "These people ARE part of the government... and you're just one teenage girl."
She understood what he said. And she remembered all the people in history that had taken on the government for all sorts... and most hadn't made much difference in their lifetime until after they'd been killed for their cause and become martyrs. Kagome didn't plan to die anytime soon... but she'd risked her life to death more times in the past week than she had done in a lifetime.
She was vaguely aware of the big fat tear that began to slide from the corner of her eye and down her cheek... but even more aware of Inuyasha's thumb hat gently wiped it away. She looked up at him with a start.
"You don't have to risk your life for me." He said with a frown.
"I won't risk it if I have you to protect me." The words toppled from her mouth as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She felt him hesitate a moment before feeling him return the embrace. "I'm not gonna give up so easily."
She suddenly raised her head to see him looking at her strangely. Kagome was just about to ask what the problem was when his head dipped and his lips found hers... just like the last time. Kagome was rendered completely speechless, but it was only a matter of seconds before she just sank against him and enjoyed herself.
But unlike last time it wasn't being rushed, it was easy and gently... like he was trying to comfort and reassure her. They were just about to break apart when two police patrol cars shot past them, and screeched around a corner. Kagome broke away at once, brushing her hand across her mouth. "Where are they going?"
They carried on and peered down the road the police had gone down from the corner of the street. Kagome gripped Inuyasha's arm tightly when she saw that they had both pulled to a halt outside the gates of her shrine and were now ascending the steps to the house.
"Oh no..." Kagome whispered urgently. "They've found me..."
she darted across the road before Inuyasha had a chance to steer her away, and started up the steps of the shrine after them. She was tackled quickly by Inuyasha and almost bodily picked up and carried back down. "Let go! My mom's in there!"
"They won't hurt her! They're only looking for me and you!" Inuyasha struggled to keep a hold of her. "Don't just go and turn yourself in like this!"
"But - Mom-!"
"She'll be ok - we have to get out of here!" Inuyasha felt her go limp and dragged her back down the steps, away from the shrine and hid in the bushes down the road.
"We should wait here until they go." Kagome muttered.
"No... they'll be watching the house for you to do just that."
Kagome frowned. "Then where are we supposed to go...?"
Inuyasha didn't have the answer for that and she rested her forehead on her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. It had been a fretful day. Last night she'd been beaten up by a look-a-like and then she had almost been shot dead by the police no less. And now they had her house and she had no where to go. And on top of that she was developing jetlag from lack of sleep.
"This just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?" she remarked sarcastically.
"It is for me." Inuyasha replied.
"Is someone there?"
They both froze at the sound of a familiar voice on the pavement before them, and they could vaguely see a woman standing there, looking confused.
"No... no one here..." Kagome called.
"Are you Kagome Higurashi?"
Kagome paused a moment before scrambling out of the bush, seeing that her ears weren't tricking her. "Miss Koshi?"
The older woman looked a little sombre. "I saw what happened down the road at the festival."
"Y-you did...?"
"A lot of people did."
Inuyasha chose that moment to emerge behind Kagome as well, staring openly at his mother. Yashira switched her gaze to Inuyasha and smiled weakly, but it just looked a little forced. "I've decided that I should help you... and since you no longer can go home..." she looked up the road at the police cars. "Would you like to lodge at my home for a while?"
"You'll help us?" Kagome was overjoyed. Things suddenly looked a lot better.
Yashira Koshi smiled and nodded. "I can't abandon my own son."
Inuyasha smiled a little at this.
^_^
"During my time at the institute, I heard a lot of whispers and rumours going about... it's hard not to ignore them - er, sugar with your tea, Kagome?" Miss Koshi offered her some.
"Um... no thanks..." Kagome turned down quickly, eager to get on with the whole helping thing that Inuyasha's mother was offering.
"I only went there in the first place because my father pressured me into getting a job - but I had no skills or proper education because I came from such a broken home and family." She shook her head, remembering her foolishness. "I thought it was perfect. A load of money in exchange for becoming surrogate to a couple's child who couldn't have a baby themselves."
Kagome glanced at Inuyasha who was quietly staring at the floor.
"I had no idea they would... they lied to me..." she sighed and ran a hand through her fine hair. "But I thought it would still be ok... they didn't abuse me physically... and I thought I could just give up the child in the end and go... but then I didn't realise or expect that I'd..."
She didn't complete the sentence... but Kagome knew that what she meant was that she hadn't expect to fall in love with her own child?
"They took him away the minute you were born." She looked up at Inuyasha who slowly inched his gaze up to meet hers, uneasy waves just pouring off him. "But before I left I learnt some of the weaknesses of the institute."
"Such as?" Kagome leaned forward slightly, eyes wide.
"The institute is a branch of the government, investing in what should have been a little genetic tinkering for the sake of advancing science. But they've been hiding what they do from the rest of the government... and if the government finds out what they've been doing then there will be serious hell to pay."
"You mean if... if we went to the government with our evidence then they would call a halt to the testing and engineering?" Kagome asked eagerly.
She nodded. "But not just any part of the government. There are covert branches of secret services that they fear the most. Tell them and Central Science Laboratories will surely be closed down for good and all the subjects freed."
Kagome processed this. It was a little on the large scale for little old her.
"But..." Miss Koshi hadn't finished apparently.
"But what?" Inuyasha asked, speaking for the first time.
She glanced briefly at him, worry clear in her eyes. "But the head organiser... I think... Naraku is his name... he's not stupid. He will almost certainly have thought ahead and planted moles in the other agencies of the government. If any information leaks to his enemies then his moles within the other agencies will snap up the information and destroy the evidence before it gets too far."
"Like the police did." Kagome winced a little. "So if we go to one of the agencies we might get closed down?"
"Yes... unless you keep it very secret and very safe... telling only a few agents. They should listen to your reasons... and hopefully... the truth should be exposed."
Kagome sat back with a sigh and a small smile. "Where do I find one of these agencies then?"
(A/N: wow... I'm having trouble keeping the plot in solid shape as it is... if you're confused, you're not the only ones... @.@ Just so you know, I haven't been completely wasting my weekend here, I AM a very fast writer (and if I didn't have spell check on this thing then you probably wouldn't be able to get past the first paragraph without thinking I was writing in Spanish or something) and I only spend an hour a morning or so writing a new chapter each day...
Be warned I've got this all mapped out in my head so I don't suffer writers block halfway through the story, people say you shouldn't map stories out before you write because it takes the thrill away. What can I say? I'm abnormal, ok? But for those who hate suspense and really bad cliff-hangers, watch out for the next chapter, because you won't like it - 'Alone'. ()