InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Torn Apart ❯ Chapter 21

 

Chapter 21:

 

Ayumi fought against the lethargy binding her limbs, preventing her movement. She watched, feeling more helpless then ever, as a man dashed forward to wrap her friend, the friend she put in danger, in his arms before setting her gently to the ground.

 

She nearly sobbed at the tenderness with which he covered her body, wishing that was her. She closed her eyes against the vision, unable to bear more heartache. She was so weak. Every time, every instance she fell for a man, he used her, abused her, caused her to wonder if there was a man out there for her, and every time she sought comfort in their embrace, their presence. But none ever treated her with kindness for long.

 

A whimper escaped her throat as she sank to her knees, eyes still closed, uncaring where she landed whether in her own bile, or the excrement she had already smeared all over herself. She just didn't care anymore. She couldn't. Kagome was injured, Shuukaku ran away, and there were still those men lurking somewhere behind her.

 

She shuddered. She could still feel their lustful gazes on her. Eyes snapping open, she gazed unseeingly around her, blindly searching for them, wanting to scream, but unable to. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as her terror escalated. Faster it went; her breath becoming shallow. Louder it became; her throat aching with an unseen force. Her body trembled, shaking with the force of something intangible, wild building inside of her. Her eyes landed on Kagome, and she screamed.

 

A loud, piercing, bewildered scream.

 

A blaze of light echoed her hysteria, pulsing with ire, red with anger. It flashed once, twice, and then faded, leaving a specter floating in the air above her. It grinned, baring fangs to her stricken face before turning its back on her, its tail lashing the air centimeters from her face.

 

Another scream tore from her throat when it lunged, landing neatly beside the man who had so kindly given his jacket to Kagome.

 

A third scream ripped her throat to shreds when fire rose from the still shifting figure of the man, rushing forward to incinerate the now noticeably wriggling ground, a thousand red eyes glinting in the evil light of his fire, the neon glow of the street sign.

 

A muffled thud was the only warning to both inu and kitsune ear that there would be no more screaming tonight. It was better this way, each thought before grimly turning to face the rushing tide.

 

—\-\-|-/-/—

 

The festivities were still in full swing at the little get-together. Many were dancing though the orchestra was taking a break while one of the guests stepped up to dj from his private collection of hiphop, rock, R&B, rap, and for the old folks, a few traditional pieces. All that was missing was a strobe light but even that effect was being handled by one of the kitsune's skilled illusions. The food was almost nearly gone, the waiters and waitresses worn out with running to and fro from the kitchen to the ballroom restocking the buffet tables. All that was left were a few battered carrots and some bottled water. The wine was still being circulated around the room keeping the guests happy and into their cups. Altogether, they were completely oblivious.

 

Sesshoumaru scowled and skirted the crowd, hugging the shadows in search of Inuyasha and Sango. His nose was telling him they had been standing on the terrace since the cool breeze flowing into the room carried their entwined scents still. Stepping closer to the door, he spotted them in the shadows, looking into the room. Walking boldly up to them, he caught their attention and saw them flinch.

 

He grinned. At least they knew they had done something wrong.

 

“Where's Kagome?” He asked nonchalantly, enjoying their squirming.

 

Inuyasha gulped and looked at an equally pale Sango. “We haven't seen her in a while. We thought she was with you.”

 

Sesshoumaru's face grew cold. “Wrong, Inuyasha. She left for Tokyo twenty minutes ago with Shippou.

 

Sango gasped, “But why would she leave!”

 

Sesshoumaru turned his gaze to the taijiya. “I don't know; I was hoping you would be able to tell me that since I left her in your hands to guard this evening.”

 

Sango's shoulders slumped. “I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I have no excuse.”

 

Sesshoumaru nodded in acknowledgement, pleased that she was contrite. Now if only Inuyasha could be as well… “We need to go after her and bring her back. The yakuza has yet to show themselves and could be lying in wait somewhere down the road. Since you don't know why she left, we must assume this is a trap. Choose a few guards to follow behind us. We don't have much time.” Sesshoumaru turned to leave, not bothering to wait for their compliance. They would either do as ordered or else suffer the consequences.

 

Two steps away, his cell phone rang causing him to internally scream in frustration. Flipping it open, he glanced at the screen. There was a text-message waiting. Confused since he never received messages of the like preferring to talk directly since it produced quick results, he clicked on the message. It was from Shippou.

 

Sharply turning to look at Inuyasha and Sango, his every word dripped with coldness. “You have two minutes to get ready to leave. Kagome and Shippou are heading to the Ichii Chikyuu.”

 

Inuyasha and Sango watched as Sesshoumaru glided off, his speed causing a breeze to float in his wake. “What's the Ichii Chikyuu?” wondered Sango, unfamiliar with the phrase.

 

Inuyasha gulped. “It's a bar in the worst part of Tokyo.”

 

Sango's face blanched again. “That doesn't sound good.”

 

Inuyasha shook his head in the negative. “She better not get into trouble!” he mumbled, knowing she would. She had a knack for attracting trouble, but she also had a knack for getting out of it too. He only hoped her luck held out until they got there.

 

—\-\-|-/-/—

 

A haze covered the landscape, turning it gray and bleak. Her footsteps were heavy, and her limbs dragged behind her as she pushed herself onwards, fighting the current that tugged and played with her body.

 

She would not give in.

 

Sweat dripped from her skin, cold and clammy against the night air. It was muggy, and heavy, as she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

 

Despair fell across her soul. She was lost, unkempt, and set adrift in a world unfamiliar.

 

How she hated the darkness.

 

Leaden feet took another step forward, her heart gained a pound. Another step made her head droop tiredly, nearly snapping her neck with the force.

 

She couldn't continue; she had no where to go. There was just a sea of emptiness stretching before her, miles upon miles of grey matter and heavy, musty, throat clogging air. She swayed slightly, her heart nearly stopping with exhaustion.

 

Listless, she stood, staring forward, wondering if she was really walking anywhere. There was just endless nothing. Neither the earth nor the sky held a beacon of light, a marker to guide her way in the grey matter of the night. There wasn't even a horizon to march towards, to yearn to reach, just a seamless transition of blue grey to muggy green.

 

She sank to her knees, her hands digging into spongy moss beneath her. There wasn't even real grass in this hellish place.

 

A single tear traced an unsteady path down her cheek, mingling with the perspiration already congealed to her skin. A grimace touched her face as she reached with unsteady hands to smear the wetness.

 

Laughter skittered across her brain, her eyes rolling up into her skull with fright as fresh pores leaked icy fluid.

 

Gasping, she felt her fingers dig into her chest, clutching the fabric of her discolored dress. A stone lodged in her throat, as she fought to open her eyes, to gaze into the emptiness surrounding her, to find the thing that thing that joined her in this purgatory.

 

A brush of fur and tiny feet danced across her hand still lodged firmly in the ground; it was as if a tiny spider danced a merry tune across her veins, delighting in the sight of her blood gushing through her body. A muffled scream tore from her throat, immediately absorbed into the wasteland.

 

The tiny prick of a hundred teeth pierced her feet, her legs, her hands, arms, neck, shoulders, body. Pain blazed in a thousand pores as nerve endings fired, sending racing currents of dread through her body, looking for a cell, any cell, that was intact, unspoiled, and whole. It was not to be found as her muscles spasmed, increasing the pain from mild pinprick to blazing inferno.

 

A snarl wrapped its amorphous hand around her neck, squeezing her already gasping breath from her arching body as she fought to contain the fear, the horror of an un-seeable ghost.

 

The clammy fingers pressed down on her throat, a nail gouging into the flesh causing a rivulet of blood to leak between the appendages, relief ricocheting through her body. At last the racing blood, the overworked synapses had somewhere to go, something to do besides fight each other for space to be heard in the echoing madness of her soul.

 

Her eyes snapped open in silent terror.

 

Her heart beat once, twice, thrice and stopped.

 

—\-\-|-/-/—

 

Sesshoumaru slammed the door shut behind him causing the books in their cases to rattle and a few precariously balanced ones to drop to the floor. He could feel a heaviness bombarding his soul, something felt but once or twice a long ago in the past. One of the first was when Kagome took Naraku on, the anger inside of her fueling the spirit dagger's power. The second was when Kagome faked her illness and nearly tore his home apart with her wild display of power. The third was when he found Rin in the middle of a disease laden room, ankle deep in filth and refuse. A few other times had presented itself over the years but none so great as when his family was immediately threatened. There were just some things even he could not protect them from.

 

Clenching his jaw, he made his way over to his desk and gently lifted the glass off the mantel behind it, his last task after changing into his traditional kimono. Setting it gingerly next to him, he reached inside the display case and grasped the two hilts, one in each hand. Warmth seeped into his left hand, Tensaiga's comforting presence soothing his fear. Cold hatred burned his right hand, Toukijin's evil nature sullenly waking from its deep sleep. It had been many years since he wielded his blades in combat. He still trained with them, but training did little to wake the sleeping spirits residing in his swords. Now, they awoke, feeding off his need and his fear.

 

Sheathing the blades in his obi, he turned; grim determination settled over his face. If Kagome was injured, not one would be spared his wrath. Striding forward, focused on his task, he felt Tensaiga pulse once in agreement, pulling his attention away from the door to gaze at the sword resting on his hip. He smiled, glad that his father's sword was willing to help him in this task.

 

Turning his gaze away from his swords, Sesshoumaru's attention was captured by a wood box lying half open on the floor. Bending carefully down, he rubbed his hand along its smooth grain, fear tightening in his gut once again. Gently picking it up, he turned it over and traced the name written inside. `Kagome,' he thought before snapping it shut. His eyes returned to the ground while one hand picked up a neatly folded piece of paper.

 

Standing, he unfolded the edges and glanced at the text.

 

I saw this box when I cleaned your office and mourned the loss of your sakura petals. I may not be able to replace them now, but I promise that I'll help you fill this box with new memories, happier memories. It's all I can give you, and I hope you'll give me the opportunity to do so. Whatever else may happen, no matter where I go, I wanted you to know that if I have a choice, I'd choose to stay by you. I'm too scared to tell you in person, but maybe one of these days, I'll gain the courage. Until then, this box may be empty, but my heart is not.

 

Kagome

 

Trembling, he slowly refolded the letter and tucked it neatly and securely into the folds of his obi. It seems he had played the fool all along. Quickly leaving the study, he prayed he reached Kagome in time to save her from whatever foolishness she pursued. He wanted that box to be filled with more then empty dreams. He wanted the memories.

 

—\-\-|-/-/—

 

Gasping, body giving one last fear driven spasm, she sat up, causing the body on top of hers to slide to the ground, deadweight. Snapping her head from side to side, the air rushing into her lungs, Kagome fought to pierce the night, to discern what terror lay just beyond the gloom of the red tinted darkness.

 

There were eyes staring at her, snarling, yapping in unwholesome glee.

 

She shuddered; sweat dripped down her face, her body, soaking the ruined gown she lied in. She tore her eyes away from the fearsome sight to look at the body next to hers. Reaching with trembling hands, the limb still heavy with the weight of her nightmares, she brushed aside the black silk hair from the down turned face. It was Ayumi, her breath barely disturbing the hair on her finger.

 

Kagome looked up, memory resurfacing, and her breath nearly stopped again.

 

Shippou was a mass of shredded flesh, barely able to stand as he fought with fire, claws, and even teeth to keep at bay the sea of blackened flesh, dull fur. Sprinting next to him, traveling circles around Shippou, keeping herself and Ayumi at its center, was a specter seen but once before.

 

She shivered.

 

That the inu spirit was delighting in the sport, hunger echoing in her head as the dagger against her shin pulsed warmly against her flesh was a sign of ill omens. She remembered the last time the spirit escaped its gilded cage. She nearly attacked her own that day, nearly taking Rin's life in exchange for saving Shippou's.

 

Tears leaked from her eyes as she gently moved Ayumi's head from her lap. Weakened, she fought to regain her feet. Stumbling, she nearly fell as she took a tottering step forward. Bent double, she whispered, “Shippou.”

 

The kitsune faltered in his attack, turning to look at her with wide, hoping eyes. The rats seized the opportunity, rushing at their destroyer with glee, sniping and snarling, tearing the flesh from his already tattered skin.

 

“Shippou!” Kagome screamed as she stumbled closer, the dog specter dashing in to fling rat after rat from the kitsune's body. It would not let a protector of his mistress go so easily!

 

“Shippou,” she whispered as she fell to her knees.

 

“Don't die,” she screamed in her head as she crawled forward, knees scrapping against the ground as listlessness seeped into every fiber of her skin.

 

Reaching him, she grabbed his body, sending a force field of energy around him, blasting the rats off his body in a gush of electrically charged air. Looking pleadingly at her guardian, the spirit, she communicated with her eyes her desire.

 

Closing her eyes, she felt gentle jaws close around her body as it gently picked her and the kitsune, still firmly clutched in her arms, up and deposited them next to the unconscious Ayumi. Whispering a silent thank-you, she turned her burning eyes to the vermin poised just out of striking distance, hunger flickering in their eyes.

 

Taking a deep breath, she concentrated what energy she had left to form a shallow barrier around them, encasing all inside a crackling field of energy. Closing her eyes, she heard the patter of feet roar forward again as the tiny bodies pounded into the shield, sapping her meager strength away.

 

A fire roared inside of her as her flesh began to shrivel and blacken, her limbs uncomfortably bent. Muttering a prayer, she fought against the dizzy drain of energy while the spirit took position above her, licking its wounds with blood coated tongue. She would not last long, but it would be ready to defend her when the barrier fell.

 

—\-\-|-/-/—

 

Sesshoumaru sniffed the air as he sped through the night. Inuyasha followed close behind him, carrying the taijiya on his back. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, they raced against time, a specter of elegance flashing through the night causing those who caught a glimpse of silver hair and white tunic to wonder what terror would be shed when dawn broke.

 

He grimaced at the smell of perspiration and unwashed flesh exuding from every particle of steel and concrete. There was no lingering smell of sakura blossoms wafting on the breeze to clear his nose of detritus. There was no Kagome for him to sense.

 

A growl escaped his throat as he glanced back at the lagging duo. His head snapped forward as he felt a tug on his heart. Fear bleed into his mouth, tainting his tongue with bitter acid. Flicking his hair back over his shoulder, he howled as he dug into his reserves, fighting for that extra bit of speed. His form blurring to Inuyasha's sight, he flew on the air, leaving his allies behind.

 

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