InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Snare ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

A construction pit turned out to be blocking most of the exit as Jaken attempted to leave the subway line at the Shibuya station. Jaken stared at the yellow tape resentfully and considered the queue waiting to get out through the one remaining turnstile. Sesshoumaru wasn’t going to be pleased. He, Jaken, was to be retrieving Rin not mucking about in queues of humans waiting to move. His shoulders sagged; he felt very pressured and coughed a bit resentfully. There was an intermittent pain in his chest when he coughed and he couldn’t tell if it was the effects of the cigarettes or the remainder of the gas attack so many years ago. He gave another little cough, searching for that twinge of pain, ah, there it was. A voice at his side startled him out of his self-absorption.

“Are you in need of assistance? I’m sorry, you don’t look so well. You should wear a mask. Please, take this one.”

A youngish-looking woman was standing next to him, her baby on her back and a paper face mask dangling from her fingers. “It‘s OK, here, that is new from the box, I have plenty. Come and sit down.” Her pleasantly homely face smiled back into his for a moment as she led him over to a cement bench built into the wall.

“No, no, it is only the air,” he replied weakly, sinking down onto the bench (his knees ached). “I shall be better in a moment. Tell me, is this the only way up from Shibuya Station?”

“I have always thought so. Just wait a few minutes and the crowd will clear. That construction site has been there for weeks.” She placed her shopping bags down in a matter-of-fact manner at her feet and looked off into the crowd at the gate.

Jaken stared at the baby on her back which stolidly stared back in return. He couldn’t tell its sex but it seemed a large child for such a slight woman to be carrying on her back. Its gaze never wavered from his and it was Jaken who dropped his eyes first.

“There, didn’t I tell you? The crowd is clearing. Well,” she continued, bending her knees to reach the handles of the bag at her feet, “you should be fine now.”

Jaken scrambled off of the bench and caught the handles of the bag, “Please, let me get that.”

She drew back a bit and looked at him. The remaining people around them were moving toward the gates and Jaken hefted her bag with only a slight stagger at the surprising weight of it, ‘What does she carry in here, rocks?’ he wondered briefly. They started moving.

“You live here? In Shibuya?”

“Well someone has to.”

“Then, perhaps you could help me with something. You see, I’m trying to locate this girl…”

The pair of them exited up the escalator in their turn, Jaken talking away and attempting to describe Rin. He never noticed that the baby riding on the woman’s back barely turned its head from its study of his face.

OOO00...o..0

Meanwhile, Higurashi-San met Sesshoumaru for lunch at a well-known French bistro in Tokyo.

“Do you always eat French food?” Kagome’s mother wondered as she fingered the implements at the place settings in the Café Féminin d'Hygiène. “I never seem to…well, that is, I…” She trailed off in confusion and met Sesshoumaru’s eyes. He seemed to be laughing without cracking a smile.

“I find some French food tolerable. Why, is there a problem?”

“No, not at all. Not really, I mean, I’m just not used to it. I don‘t get out to eat much and when I do, it‘s not this fancy and it’s not foreign.”

“Ah, I see,” he took a sip of wine and she blushingly followed suit. The sounds of the afternoon crowd at the bistro surrounded them

“It’s the fat content,” he said abruptly.

Higurashi-San almost choked and quickly swallowed. “I’m sorry. It’s what?”

“The fat content. Youkai have high systemic needs and either must eat enormous amounts of food or eat food of high caloric content. When they eat at all, that is. Places like

Wacdnlds are perfect but I prefer the ambiance here. Don’t you?”

“Oh, yes, of course. But, didn’t you bring me here for a purpose? You really didn’t need to bribe me with this beautiful lunch. it’s Rin, isn’t it?”

Sesshoumaru paused as lunch was served and she noticed that his meal was a good deal different than hers. Hers was a rather nice salad. His appeared to be a thick brown soup with cheese on top. She shrugged and started eating as she waited for him to run out of silence. It wasn’t all that long.

“Rin is no longer a child.”

Higurashi-San dug into her salad with enthusiasm and crunched on a bread stick.

Sesshoumaru toyed with his food, eventually he said, “I do not understand her actions. She was always compliant.”

The salad finished, Higurashi-San beamed at the waiter as he removed her plate and traded for her entrée, “This is so nice. But I’m still not very good at all the western utensils. So confusing.”

Sesshoumaru stared, a bit flummoxed. He had after all, been trying to say something. Where had his subject gone?

“Rin is a girl with little experience,” she continued, relieving his mind. “I understand that. And yet, that young woman has traveled far, very far from where she was born, in both time and space.” Sesshoumaru sat silent as she picked at her food a bit more.

“Kagome, also,” she continued, “has traveled much in her life, as you have. Inuyasha, the most of all, perhaps. And I, not all that much to speak of.” She took a sip from her water glass and set it down with a direct look at his face, “Why ask me?”

“Uh.” He fell silent and stared out the window over her shoulder, “You’re the only woman I know.”

“Oh, come now.”

“But it’s true. This Sess…“ He stopped and concentrated on his meal for a little bit.

She was satisfied enough, she had her own meal to contend with and had her own worries. How she was going to tell Kagome that she had been expelled was beyond her.

He broke in on her thoughts, “I ask what has happened to Rin. She is not as she was. The girl Kagome seemed very uncontrolled in the past.”

“Really?”

“She did. She seemed very independent of action. It seemed she paid very little heed of my brother and would try to stop him from what he was doing. Very unwomanly.”

“Is that so?” Higurashi-Sama stabbed a fork into the top of her Crème Brûlée..

“Spoon,” Sesshoumaru said absently, “the little one, second from the left.”

She searched her place setting and found it. Her cheeks were pink and she seemed a bit annoyed.

Sesshoumaru wondered if he had said something wrong, ; humans were so difficult. Then she took a bite and paused with a sigh. She unconsciously tilted her head back and he could see the movement of her throat. All was right with the world, he thought.

“Very well. For that, I am not in the mood to be angry with you. But what in the world do you expect of her?”

“I expect her to be Rin.”

She looked at him, measuring, “What Rin? Your little daughter?”

“How could Rin be my daughter?”

“Then what is she?”

“Rin.” He answered simply and she dropped her spoon in the dish.

“We do, indeed, need to talk.”

He called for the check as she wiped her lips.

..ooOoo..

They continued the conversation as they crossed the sculpted quadrangle of Roppongi Hills to Sesshoumaru’s car park. The car was waiting on the street with its driver standing next to it. Higurashi-San was in the midst of explaining the usual needs for independence displayed by most young women as they grew and Sesshoumaru was on the verge of a retort when he saw the driver. He frowned and waved him away with an abrupt gesture. “Thank you, I will drive the lady myself.”

“You don’t need to drive me home. The subway is fine. It’s not a long ride at all.”

“I do not like discussing my personal business on subway trains.”

“But I wasn’t requesting you to come…” Sesshoumaru opened the passenger door and Higurashi-San slipped right in while continuing to speak,” along so there is no need. I do just fine taking care of myself you know,” she continued as he shut the door and circled the front of the car to the driver’s seat. It was OK, she knew he could hear her. Inuyasha was the same way. He started the car and pulled smoothly out into traffic. She sighed and fiddled with the overloaded purse in her lap and frowned to herself as she contemplated its ominous contents.

“Rin was brought up to be very independent.” His voice was cool and distant but she bit her lip in amusement at his self-defense.

“With your constant watch of her every step? No doubt.”

“She foraged for her own food and lived alone for days when waiting for me.”

“Was Jaken there watching her at all times?”

“Of course.”

“Well then, she wasn’t really alone. Jaken never neglected his duties.”

“Yes he did, he is victim to frequent oversights.”

“I didn’t mean to bring that up! Oh, my. I still don’t think he was really culpable for Rin getting poisoned or anything else. Girls will be girls, you know,” she finished weakly.

“I was referring to the escapade this morning.”

“Kagome doesn’t like me buying her clothes either.”

“My secretary buys herclothes.”

“Uh, Stephanie-San?” She looked out at passing traffic with a feeling of surprise at how close to home she was.

“Stephanie-San is eminently competent.” He made the turn onto the steep set of streets leading to the shrine.

“Stephanie-San has yellow hair like a brillo pad and is at least six feet tall and not a young Japanese lady. I do not think she is appropriate to choose clothes for Rin to wear.”

“Stephanie-San chooses the designers who make my business suits.” They were pulling up behind the shrine. She rolled an eye over at her seat companion and the faultless Armani suit he was wearing.

“I really don’t think it’s the same thing. Do you even know who makes young woman’sclothes?”

He frowned faintly and shut off the car. “I will have Stephanie-San look into it.”

She sighed and looked at her back door. “Would you like some coffee?”

“Tea,” he said firmly and got out of the car.

OOOOO…..OOOOO

Keys rattled at the lock of the apartment in Roppongi Hills and a transformed Rin strode in followed closely by an expostulating Jaken. Her formerly deep brunette hair was now several shades lighter and several inches shorter. She wore a gray tank top under an extremely short gray jacket with an equally short gray suede skirt. Her black boots had moderate western heels and both she and Jaken were loaded with bags. Jaken was so loaded down that he had to kick the door closed with his heel.

“I really don’t think you should have left those clothes in the dumpster like that, and changing in an alley is not at all what you should do.”

“I put them in a plastic bag right on top,” Rin offered. “Someone is bound to find them and take them home for their kids to play with.” She dropped her bags on the floor of the foyer with a groan, “Oh, those weighed a ton.”

“If you had let me use the concierge he would have sent one of the attendants up with our things on a cart.”

“No, I don’t like the way they look at me.” Rin was working her new boots off.

Jaken walked down the back hall to the side door of Sesshoumaru’s study where he knocked diffidently, “Sesshoumaru-Sama? It is I, Jaken, I have brought the girl back.” He waited for a moment and, hearing no sound, ventured to knock again. “Sama?” The door swung open revealing a dark and uninhabited room, the windows showing the evening lights of central Tokyo and the last traces of sunset. He was surprised and chagrined at the same time. His human disguise was effective and reversible. Both things he considered to be a real improvement on the faulty disguise spell he had been trapped in for several years. But it was perhaps it was a bit too effective; his senses were dulled to the point of near nullity and he could not sense his master’s youki. With a sigh he flicked the switch to turn on the desk lamp and crossed the room to draw the curtains to shut out the night.

“Sesshoumaru-Sama?” Rin’s voice echoed slightly from the cavernous living room.

“He’s not here, Rin.”

Rin turned and saw Jaken in his natural form in the lighted doorway of the study. He stood in his shirt tails winding his trousers up over one arm. His skin glowed green in the reflected light of the desk lamp behind him.

“Not here? But it’s after seven. He’s always here in time to eat dinner with us.”

Jaken shrugged his shoulders in response and turned to go to the back hallway, “My senses tell me he has not been here all day. I’m going to get changed. Perhaps you should put your new clothing away.” He disappeared through the side door and Rin was left to fumble Sesshoumaru’s bank card out of her wallet and enter the study herself to place it neatly back on the desk from were she had filched it that morning. She sat down in the chair and stared vacantly at the Tang Dynasty horse standing on one of the bookshelves. It stood in solemn glory, one of a pair and, outside of Jaken just down the hall, the only thing in the entire apartment building older than herself.

OooOOOooo

It was late in the afternoon when Inuyasha declared that the beaten turf they were crossing was the spot they were looking for. This was where the merchant whose path they were backtracking had intersected with the traveling group of military horsemen. Kagome looked around at the short grass with a sigh. She didn’t see any difference between this spot and any of the rest of the earthen road. The ground was as scuffed here as it had been all along the way and there was not another path crossing it that she could see. “I still don’t see it,” she said a bit disconsolately.

Miroku dropped his hand on her shoulder and pointed across the moor with a chuckle, “They came from over there, Sama, and entered the path here.” He pointed down at a point some five feet away.

“They camped over here,” Inuyasha added. He was some distance off of the track and walking towards a spinney of trees. The group followed him and Sango knelt down thoughtfully, picking some small item up off of the ground. She walked over with it cradled in the palm of her hand and passed it over to Miroku.

“I should think Inuyasha is right, this looks like a harness mount and there is a mon upon it.” Miroku and Kagome leaned over to look at the small bit of metal as Inuyasha stomped back towards them.

“Oh, course I’m right! When are you going to learn? The question is, do you want to keep going or stop here for the night?”

Miroku closed his hand about the object in his palm, looking off into the distance ,”Keep going, of course.”

“Hey!” Kohaku shouted back at them from the spinney were he had wandered with Shippou. ”These guys were slobs, you should see all the stuff they left.”

The group followed after him interestedly enough and stopped to view a campsite scattered with discarded trash. It seemed as though this was a well-established site in a small dell further defined by a ring of trees and stones. The fire pit was dug in and floored with stones and a couple of large logs had been brought up on either side of it at a comfortable distance. But the last occupants had made no effort to clean up when they left and an unpleasant collection of trash had been left in the fire pit to burn halfway out. Kohaku was using a long stick to lever some objects out of the center of it and lay them to one side.

There they sat, a pair of partially-burned saddle bags. It had rained in the couple of days since they had been tossed on the fire and slumped to one side in a sooty ruin showing empty interiors. Shippou had taken up a stick in his turn and was slowly turning the sodden ashes over muttering to himself. Inuyasha now crouched on the opposite side of the pit watching what was turned up with interest.

The others looked about the spot and made a few half-hearted attempts at cleaning up but Miroku clearly seemed to be impatient and kept walking out of the dell and staring pointedly at the sun lowering in the west. He was just turning back to voice a complaint about wasted time when Inuyasha gave a sharp grunt and dove his hand into the wet mess of ash and half-burned trash that Shippou was turning over. He came up with a fistful of gunk and what looked like a bundle of sticks and stared at them for a moment, sniffing. He looked over his shoulder, “Kagome, water.”

She searched in her pack for one of her bottles and ran a short stream over his hands as he wiped at his prize. “Eww, a bony hand,” she backed away as Inuyasha dropped it on the ground and went back to fishing in the pit, “Do you have to collect these things, Inuyasha?” He ignored her and flipped his long sleeves up over his back for easier movement. She pulled out a long scarf she kept in her pocket for the purpose and tied his sleeves back silently.

The others gathered around the first find and Sango turned it over gingerly. They could hear in the background a steady rain of light thuds and exclamations of “Ick” from Kagome as Shippou kept stirring and Inuyasha fished out more remains. Sango pursed her lips and studied the object before her. It was a hand, right enough, but one that showed that it had possessed clawed digits.

“Rat youkai?” Kohaku wondered, crouching next to her.

Sango glanced over at her brother and smiled briefly, “You would think so wouldn’t you?” she asked him. “But, see here. The tendons still adhere and if I press on them like this,” this being demonstrated by a firm press to the skeletonized palm with her stick. The digits pressed outwards and flared the claws down into a lethal curve, “The claws extend. Now, what do you think it is?”

“Ah, a cat youkai,” he sounded pleased. She turned a conspiratorial smile upon him and Miroku’s glance lingered briefly on the two before he went to bend over the other discoveries that Inuyasha was pulling out of the pit.

“Well?”

“Well, what?” snarled the hanyou briefly, continuing to work.

“What happened?”

Inuyasha sat back with a sigh, dropping his filthy hands between his knees, “They were killed, butchered and eaten.”

Miroku pushed at one of the objects pensively with the end of his staff. It was clearly a hip bone and equally clearly had been sawn in half. “By what?” he asked reasonably. “Was there another party that camped here?”

“No.” Inuyasha got up and moved off. Miroku followed him through the small stand of trees to a spot a short distance away one of the numerous small freshets of water that bless Japan Inuyasha washed his hands, Miroku looked around and wrinkled his nose, somebody had been using the area hereabouts as a latrine by the smell of it. He cast about a bit as the hanyou kept scrubbing at his fingers in an insistent manner. It didn’t take the monk long to find it, it was behind a rock and even the chill of November didn’t keep the cloud of flies away. Inuyasha came up behind him, arms crossed and hands now tucked firmly into his sleeves.

“That was them,” he said briefly, “that was the party of human horsemen we’ve been looking for. They killed a couple of youkai and roasted them up for dinner.” Miroku snapped his head around and stared at the alien gold of his companion’s eyes for an instant before heading back to the abandoned campsite. Inuyasha paused and lifted his nose to the breeze to sniff and listen, finding no other information. He could hear Miroku’s voice raised in terse orders, “Don’t get comfortable here, were moving on.” He turned to follow.

To be continued, as ever.