InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Seventh Key ❯ The Face of Sin ( Chapter 8 )

The Seventh Key

 

Chapter 8

 

The Face of Sin

 

A shotgun pushed the door open, and Kikyo shouldered it open with what was left of her arm. She looked around the room and stepped inside, Bankotsu behind her. Kikyo frowned and looked up a ladder leading into the attic. She handed Bankotsu the shotgun and climbed up. As she neared the top, she sniffed and let out a gag at the smell of alcohol.

 

“Mushin you drunken bastard!” she groaned, climbing up. Mushin spit out the rum from the bottle in his hand and tried to hide it beside one of several dusty crates.

 

“Hey, found the kid!” he cried, pointing. Shippo was sitting on another crate with a pile of old comic books beside him.

 

“Bullshit, knowing you, he found you!” Kikyo growled. “Bank, come up,” she called. “I forgot about this place. Mushin, get your drunk ass downstairs, take the kid and find Inuyasha. We gotta seal those windows before they find them.” Kikyo gestured to two windows with dusty blinds covering them as Bankotsu emerged from the ladder.

 

“Yeah yeah,” Mushin groaned, grabbing his flashlight and the rum and heading for the ladder. “Look out below Bank,” he said.

 

“And leave the bottle,” Kikyo ordered. Mushin groaned and set the rum on the floor before going down. Shippo followed him. Kikyo rolled her eyes and shook her head. Something caught her eye, and she looked down. Four bags of mail were sitting on the floor amid the crates.

 

“Hey, Bank,” she said, waving him over. Bankotsu looked up as Kikyo picked up one of the letters. “Check this out.”

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“Hey,” Inuyasha called. Kouga turned from the stairs. “They do anything?”

 

“Besides glare and yowl at me? Not a thing,” Kouga replied, shaking his head. Inuyasha nodded as Kagome emerged from one of the other room.

 

“Hey, Kagome, you ok?” Inuyasha asked. Kagome looked up and gave a short nod before walking around the balcony to them. “Ok, Kagome, you come with me and find everyone else. Kouga, you keep on the lookout,” Inuyasha said. Kouga nodded and looked back downstairs as Kagome followed Inuyasha with a sigh.

 

- - - - - - - - -

 

“Hey, Yash,” Mushin whispered, pushing open a door. His jaw dropped as he walked into the room, and his lips curled up. “Holy…” he laughed.

 

“Oh, it's Mushin!”

 

Mushin's eyes went wide. The door led to a large Hawaiian-decorate room. Colored lights, music and palm trees covered the room. In one corner of the room lay several television sets. And sitting at virtually every table in the room, was a women. And not one of them had on a single scrap of clothing.

 

“Oh Mushin, I just love you,” one of this cooed, draping herself over his back. “You're so sexy…” she purred.

 

“Hey Mushin, drink up,” another giggled, offering him a beer. “You could use a long, hard one…I could too,” she winked. Mushin laughed and held up his hands as the two led him through the room.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“Calm down ladies, there's plenty of me to go around!” he called, looking around the room.

 

“Uh…Mushin?” Shippo asked, looking around the dark bedroom. “Who are you talking to?”

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“Hey, have a bite,” a girl pouted, holding out a grapefruit. “My grapefruits are delicious.”

 

“I'm sure they are,” Mushin replied, walking to the bar. The various nude women about the room flocked to the counter, hands crawling over him. “Hey, barkeep!” Mushin called. The bartender turned and lifted a hand to remove his cigarette. He had on dark sunglasses and a baseball cap over a nude chest with a vest and surfer shorts. “A round for all my ladies here, and then, I'll have a round from all the ladies here!” Mushin laughed. The girls laughed with him as the bartender took a glass and a bottle.

 

“Sure thing, Mushin!” he nodded, setting down the glass and popping open the bottle. “Here ya go, absinthe, nothing fucks you up faster. Right ladies?”

 

“Well maybe not nothing,” the girls said in unison. Mushin chuckled and took the glass, looking down at the liquid curiously. It was bright green.

 

“This okay to drink?” he asked.

 

“Sure, it's on the house,” the bartender assured him. Mushin slowly lifted the glass to his lips and took a drink. “There ya go, good shit huh?” the bartender chuckled.

 

“Hell yeah, kinda thick,” Mushin agreed, licking his lips. He downed the rest of the glass and slid it across the counter. “Another.”

 

“You're the boss,” the bartender said, refilling the glass. Mushin took a long drink, and the bartender leaned in. “Hey,” he whispered. Mushin lowered the glass and looked at him. The bartender lowered his sunglasses, crimson eyes gleaming.

 

“Ya know, you can't spell absinthe, without sin,” Naraku chuckled. Mushin looked down at his glass, and Naraku flicked open a pocket knife. “Here,” Naraku sneered, running the knife down his palm. Glowing green blood oozed from the cut, and Naraku squeezed some into Mushin's glass. “Another one on the house for ya.”

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“What is all that shit?” Bankotsu asked. Kikyo shook her head slowly as she opened up the sacks.

 

“That son of a bitch Miroku,” she hissed. “The post office was right, he was swiping our mail!” Kikyo looked at one of the letters, from Miroku himself. Bankotsu looked at a crate with a strap coming out of it, and lifted the lid.

 

“Holy shit,” he muttered. Kikyo leaned over and gasped. Dozens of handguns littered the crate underneath a sack of mail. Kikyo read the letter Miroku had written.

 

“The crazy bastard was gonna wipe out the post office!” Kikyo muttered. “Crazy son of a bitch…”

 

“Well, he was gonna have to do it with a baseball bat,” Bankotsu replied, running a hand over the handguns. “None of them have any ammo cartridges,” he explained. He turned and opened a crate next to the crate of guns, and whistled. “On second thought…” Kikyo turned as Bankotsu held up a bulletproof vest with eight hand-grenades strapped to it. Two metal poles connected all the pins. “Maybe he didn't need any ammo.”

 

- - - - - - - - - - -

 

Inuyasha pushed open the door of the bedroom.

 

“Who's there?” he called. Someone in the room was whimpering. Kagome peered through the darkness by the light of Inuyasha's flashlight. Someone was kneeling behind the bed.

 

“Shippo?” Kagome asked. Inuyasha stepped forward and began to finish pushing the door open. It stopped.

 

Mushin leapt out from behind the door, eyes glowing bright green. Inuyasha raised his shotgun, and Mushin knocked it away, grabbing his throat.

 

“Gonna have a hell of a time!” Mushin laughed, throwing him against the wall. He leapt across the room and held Inuyasha up the wall by the throat.

 

“Kagome, help!” he called, kicking Mushin. Kagome stared blankly.

 

“I will get that key,” Naraku's voice echoed in her head. “You and your friends are going to die…”

 

“Kagome!” Inuyasha screamed.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

Kikyo and Bankotsu looked up at the scream.

 

“Get down there!” Kikyo snapped. Bankotsu nodded and scurried down the ladder. Kikyo thought for a moment and pulled on the vest of grenades, running to the ladder.

 

“Welcome to Naraku's Bar and Grill!” Naraku grinned, emerging from the hole with a silver tray and lid in his hand. Kikyo jumped back. “We have a lovely steak on the grill now along with some plump sausages and some fine imported beer in the lounge. For new customers, I recommend the special,” Naraku continued, lifting the lid from his tray. Kikyo's eyes went wide. “Freshly Severed Limb, obtained right off the living body and still whole. A tender cut like this fetches a good price on the market,” Naraku said, running a finger over the bloody forearm lying on a pile of lettuce and vegetables. “You want your arm sweetheart? I can make it happen,” Naraku offered. Kikyo narrowed her eyes and held out her stump of an arm. “That a yes?” Naraku chuckled, lifting the tray closer.

 

“No,” Kikyo growled. Naraku's grin vanished. “I'm giving you the finger, ass-wipe. You can take that arm and shove it up the asses of your little friends down there,” she finished. Naraku shrugged.

 

“Obviously you need more time to go over our menu. That's ok, another waiter will be by for your order later,” he said. He hopped down the hole in a flash of green light, and vanished.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“Stop it Mushin!” Shippo cried. Kagome swallowed and picked up Inuyasha's fallen shotgun.

 

“Don't make me do this Mushin,” she pleaded. Inuyasha lifted a hand to his satchel and reached inside. He gasped as Mushin's grip tightened.

 

“The key is gone!” he called.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

He held the key out and took a step down the stairs. Another step. The demons began to climb up, and Kouga jumped back up to the balcony, pulling the key back.

 

“Excuse me boys,” Naraku said, jogging past them with his briefcase. He looked up at Kouga and smiled. “What's shaking Kouga?” he asked.

 

“You look like a businessman,” Kouga muttered. “A really evil, sick, twisted businessman.”

 

“Guilty as charged,” Naraku nodded.

 

“I want to cut a deal,” Kouga continued, flashing the key. Naraku shrugged and set his briefcase on the stairs.

 

“Ok, let's chat,” he grinned, crossing his arms.