InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ This Wasn't In The Job Description ❯ The Shikon no Tama Project ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8

 

The Shikon no Tama Project

 

InuYasha helped Miroku up to one of the spare bedrooms to rest.

 

“Kagome,” he said, turning to her as he left, “call Miroku's office, would you? The number is in my rolodex. Tell Yumi he'll be here for a while, and to call here if something important comes up.”

 

Kagome nodded and watched InuYasha and Kaede take Miroku out of the office. She wondered if he would be okay. Maybe they should have taken him to a hospital. But then, she had never heard of nanotech, and could bet the doctors hadn't either.

 

With a sad shake of her head, Kagome went over to the phone and looking in the rolodex, and found the number for Miroku's office. The secretary had a tone of weary patience when Kagome gave her the message.

 

Kagome looked around, wondering what she should do next, when InuYasha returned. He came in the office and sat down heavily in his chair, and yanked off his boots. With a sigh, he put one foot up on the chair and put his elbow on his knee, resting his head in his hand.

 

“How's Miroku doing?” Kagome asked quietly.

 

“He's resting,” InuYasha said. “Seems to be okay, for now.”

 

“Oh, that's good,” Kagome said.

 

Then, they were silent a moment.

 

Suddenly, InuYasha stood up and went to the closet, reaching in and taking down a box from the top shelf. He carried it over and placed it next to Kagome. It contained a pile of papers in disarray.

 

“Lunch is ready,” Kaede said, coming to the door. “Shall I bring a tray up to Miroku?”

 

“I don't know,” InuYasha said, turning towards her. “He was pretty wiped out - he might be asleep. Check on him first, would you?”

 

“That's fine,” said Kaede. “And where would you and Miss Kagome like to eat?”

 

Kagome glanced over at InuYasha. Scratching his head, he glanced quickly back at her.

 

“I'll eat in the kitchen,” InuYasha said.

 

“That will be fine with me too,” Kagome said, with a smile.

 

“Very good,” Kaede said. “It will be served in five minutes.”

 

After Kaede left, Kagome turned to look at the contents of the box again.

 

“After lunch, I want you to sort through these,” InuYasha said, as she bent over and picked up one of the papers in the box.

 

Kagome's eyes went wide. They were project notes on genetic and nanotech engineering.

Wonderingly, Kagome looked back up at InuYasha. He met her gaze a moment and then looked away, slightly uncomfortable.

 

“I know you are probably wondering what I am doing with these,” he said. “I'll be honest with you; I filched them from Kikyo when we were still together.”

 

Kagome gasped. “Does she know you have them?” She asked in astonishment before she could help herself, and then flushed at her audacity.

 

InuYasha shrugged. “Don't care if she does,” he said. “I'm not giving them back. I need you to put them in some kind of order, especially now, since Miroku's accident. I gotta see if there is anything there that can help us.”

 

“I understand,” Kagome said softly, and put the paper back in the box. “Shall we have lunch?”

 

InuYasha flashed Kagome a quick smile, and she blushed briefly. Kagome walked out the door and InuYasha followed. They walked into the kitchen together and sat down at the table. Kaede brought over the two dishes she had prepared. Kagome smiled at Kaede, and picked up her chopsticks. As she was poised to pick a piece of sushi, InuYasha popped three pieces in his mouth at once with his fingers.

 

“InuYasha,” Kaede said in exasperation. “Can you at least use your chopsticks when eating with company?”

 

Kagome could tell InuYasha's ears had flattened by the movement under his bandana.

 

“Kagome's not company,” InuYasha said. “She's my employee, just like you, Kaede-baba. Besides, you know I hate eating just one little piece of sushi at a time. It's faster this way.”

 

“I apologize for InuYasha, Miss Kagome,” Kaede said. “I told you he has little in the way of social graces. Maybe if he eats with you more often, he will learn some manners.”

 

InuYasha frowned and rolled his eyes at Kaede as she turned and walked out of the kitchen. Kagome covered the small smile that came to her face. The old housekeeper spoke to him more like a mother to a wayward child, and InuYasha answered her back like an impudent teenager. When they had finished their meal, InuYasha pushed back from the table.

 

“I'm still hungry,” he said and got up to rummage in the cabinets.

 

InuYasha pulled out a container of instant ramen, and put some water on the stove to boil. When he turned around, he saw Kagome watching him quietly.

 

“Uh…do you want some?” InuYasha asked, blushing a little.

 

“No thank you,” Kagome said. “Shall I go back and start sorting those papers?”

 

“Yeah,” InuYasha said, “that's fine. Do you have enough files left?”

 

“I think I still have plenty of files,” Kagome said, as she got up from her seat.

 

“Good,” InuYasha said. “I'm going to go upstairs and stay with Miroku a while, then I'll be down to check your progress.”

 

Kaede walked back into the kitchen. “Miroku is dozing,” she said, “so I will wait until he feels up to having something to eat.”

 

“Alright,” InuYasha said. “So you know where I'll be.”

 

“Yes,” Kagome said, and smiled shyly as she walked past InuYasha and went back to the office.

 

In the office, Kagome bent down and started to pick up the documents in the box and look at them. They were in no particular order, and she wondered how she was supposed to sort them. Taking the first one, she started to read it. It was notes on an experiment done under a scientist named Midoriko. It seems the project was called the Shikon no Tama. But the rest was foreign to Kagome. She knew nothing about genetics and nanotech. All she understood was that Midoriko had been working on genetic manipulation using nanotech technology. Did InuYasha really expect her to be able to sort all this? With a sigh, she tried to make sense of each document enough to put each research experiment together. Her head began to hurt as she tried to link one document to the other in a logical sequence.

 

“InuYasha?” a woman's voice suddenly said from the intercom.

 

Startled, Kagome dropped what she was doing and looked towards the phone on InuYasha's desk.

 

`Should I answer?' Kagome thought.

 

“InuYasha, open up it's me,” the woman said.

 

Biting her lip, Kagome decided it was rude to make this woman wait. InuYasha was upstairs with Miroku, so she went to the phone and hit the intercom.

 

“InuYasha is not available at the moment,” Kagome said.

 

“Tell him it's Kikyo,” the woman replied.

 

`Kikyo?' thought Kagome. `The same Kikyo who was InuYasha's ex-girlfriend and who wrote all up all these experiments when she worked under Midoriko?'

 

“Um, okay,” Kagome said. “I'll tell him you're here.”

 

“You do that,” Kikyo said.

 

Kagome left the office and went upstairs looking for Miroku's room. Taking a guess that he was in the room with the door ajar, she went in.

 

InuYasha was sitting at Miroku's bedside. The agent was sleeping, his eyes twitching in the throes of what seemed to be not very pleasant dreams. InuYasha looked up as Kagome entered the room, a questioning look on his face.

 

“InuYasha, Kikyo is here to see you,” Kagome said.

 

“Fuck!” InuYasha exploded jumping out of his chair. “Are those documents you were sorting all over the office still?”

 

Kagome nodded.

 

“Oh, shit,” InuYasha said nervously. “Go to the door and stall her - I'll hide the documents.”

 

InuYasha leaped out of the room and bounded down the stairs, followed at a slower pace by Kagome. She was wondering just how he expected her to stall Kikyo. While InuYasha dashed into the office, Kagome went to the intercom by the door.

 

“He'll see you in a moment Kikyo,” Kagome said. “Please wait.”

 

“Tell him I'm not here to see him,” Kikyo said. “I'm here to check on his friend Miroku. I think I know what is happening to him.”

 

`Oh, that's great!' thought Kagome. `Miroku is going to get some help!'

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome called.

 

“What?” he yelled back from the office.

 

“Kikyo says she is here to see Miroku,” Kagome replied. “She thinks she knows what's wrong with his hand.”

 

InuYasha stuck his head out the door of the office.

 

“Okay, let her in and bring her upstairs,” InuYasha said. “But whatever you do, don't let the bitch in this office until I say so!”

 

Kagome nodded and smiled. Then she turned back to the intercom.

 

“Please come in, Kikyo,” Kagome said, and pressed the button next to the intercom that was labeled `gate'.

 

Then Kagome pressed the button for the door, and opened it. She was astonished as she watched the woman walking down the path. The resemblance between them was undeniable, although Kikyo was older than Kagome and her face was harder and more determined.

 

Kikyo walked up to the door and stopped before the threshold, raising an eyebrow and giving Kagome a cursory appraisal.

 

“So who are you?” Kikyo said. “My replacement?”