InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Vying for Dominance ❯ Apologize ( Chapter 21 )

Apologize

 

 

Sunset.

 

The day had drawn to a close, and with the fading of the light so too was fading the hope of ever finding their missing comrade.

 

“Inuyasha,” Miroku called out to the hanyou, his voice rasping and cracked by dehydration and exhaustion. They had been pushing every limit they had in their search for the Lady Kagome, but though the monk was not ready to abandon their search, no matter how hopeless it was beginning to look, he knew that nothing more could be done on this day. “We must stop. We can not keep this up.”

 

“Keh, speak for yourself, you fucking pansy! I ain't stoppin'!” And he wouldn't, not when Kagome was still out there somewhere.

 

“Inuyasha.” Directing Kirara to cut off the hanyou's path, Sango tried to make him see reason. “We understand that you are worried about Kagome. We all are. But pushing yourself like this will not help her. You need rest just like we do. We can take up the search again in the morning. There might be a new trail to follow by then.”

 

But Inuyasha had never taken so well to reason. Only Kagome could ever make him see things her way. “Get out'ta my way, bitch!” the hanyou yelled furiously. “I told you, I ain't stoppin'! If you weak mortals want to give up, I ain't gonna stop ya. But I won't quit `till Kagome's back safe with us!”

 

“And where will you go, Inuyasha?” Miroku challenged, his cool head lost somewhere in the long hours of searching. “You have no scent to follow! We have been searching blindly with no reason to believe we have even gone in the right direction! Let us go to the village we saw not twenty minutes ago. Perhaps they will know something of value to aid us in our search.”

 

Finally pulling to a stop, Inuyasha turned on the monk. Though his words were gruff and angry, he needed them to understand. “It ain't no village she's been taken to! You don't know what was out there in those woods! You don't know what they would do to her if they found her there!”

 

“We would know if you would just tell us, Inuyasha!” Sango insisted, her own voice being raised to the challenge.

 

His fangs biting down hard on each other to keep himself from giving away any more of the anguish that already played across his features, Inuyasha looked away from the monk and taijiya. How could he have let this happen? It was the same question he had asked himself a million times since he first discovered Kagome gone. How could he have failed her so horribly? She was supposed to be safe, protected at the camp with Sango, Kirara, Miroku, and even the little brat. She was supposed to be safe. But the stupid girl had left the safety of the camp behind, all to have one of her stupid baths. And it was there he had caught the scent of the bitch he knew had taken his Kagome away.

 

That fucking bastard. He must have known she was there. His scent had been there as well. That fucking bastard! Was it his doing? Had he been the one to order his bitch to take Kagome away? How could he? How could he be so cold? How could he do that to his own brother?!

 

But, no. It wasn't right. Even Inuyasha could see it. Sesshomaru was a cold, uncaring, bastard, but he was no kidnapper. If he wanted a fight, he would walk right up to your face and tell you the way it was. And if he wanted something dead, then he wasted no time in seeing it done. No, it didn't smell right. This wasn't Sesshomaru's doing.

 

But damn it all! He just didn't know what to do anymore. He didn't know where to turn, and the only other one that he knew would be able to give him any lead was his fucking bastard brother that would sooner see his head on a platter than help him. But fuck it. If it meant saving Kagome, then he would seek the fucker out. Even if it meant barging in on his stupid games and stupid contests; then he would do it.

 

But shit fuck damn, he didn't even know which direction to turn to find him! He was hanyou! A shameful, dirty, disgraceful hanyou. He would never be given the knowledge of where the Inu gathered. He didn't know which way to go, only that he couldn't stop, couldn't give up. Kagome was out there somewhere, he knew it. And he wouldn't abandon her, wouldn't let her fall to their claws.

 

“I…” But he didn't know what. He didn't know what to do anymore.

 

“Inuyasha.” Dismounting from Kirara, Sango tried to soothe their hanyou friend. “We will find her.” And she was certain of it. They wouldn't loose her, not now, not ever. “Let's get something to eat and rest a little. We all need our strength and wits about us, now more than ever.”

 

With no warning, Inuyasha growled fiercely and pushed Sango's arm away from where she had tired to bring him comfort. The slayer found her footing quickly, a lifetime of training never leaving her unsteady on her feet. She very nearly reached for her weapon, ready to resort to drastic measures as was sometimes necessary to make the stubborn hanyou see reason; but stopped when she realized that Inuyasha's attention was no longer focused on any of them.

 

“Inuyasha?” she asked quickly, wanting to be ready for whatever was coming. “What is it?”

 

“Sesshomaru.” Inuyasha had never been so happy to catch his brother's scent, or so royally pissed off. That son of a bitch had some explaining to do; and so help him, if he had to rip another arm of the fucker to get answers, he would.

 

Unsheathing Tetsusaiga and willing its transformation, Inuyasha turned and took off in the direction of Sesshomaru's scent. The others were following behind, but he hardly took notice of them. His mind was set on only one thing: finding Kagome. And his determination wouldn't let him think for even a second that this trail would lead him to another dead end. No, Sesshomaru would know what happened to her. He had to.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - -

 

“What the fuck?” Really, Inuyasha had no idea. “And just who the fuck are you?”

 

Laughing lightly at the hanyou's obvious confusion, the Inu replied, “Do you not recognize me, Inuyasha? You wound me, brother dear.”

 

“Is it just me,” Miroku asked quietly of the slayer girl standing beside him, “Or did Sesshomaru just get a whole lot…prettier?”

 

“Hentai monk,” Sango admonished, though her accusation against the hopeless pervert wasn't nearly as committed as usual. Even she had no idea what to make of what she was seeing. Inuyasha had identified this Inu as Sesshomaru by its scent, and clearly it had his coloring and marking…but…it was…female.

 

His lip lifting in a silent snarl when he realized the deception, Inuyasha let his sword slip away from its threatening position against the…well…not exactly Inu. “Shaeda,” he growled out lowly in displeasure.

 

“Oh, so you do remember,” the demoness chimed merrily. “And here I was beginning to think that my dear brother had forgotten me.”

 

“I ain't you brother,” Inuyasha barked out in annoyance. “You ain't even my kind!”

 

“True,” she replied with a grin. “But I certainly play the part well, wouldn't you agree?”

 

“What the fuck do you want?” Inuyasha was growing impatient…moreso. He didn't have time to be playing these games. “And what the fuck are you doing playing Sesshomaru like that?”

 

“You should be more grateful, Inuyasha. It is not often that Sesshomaru allows me to use his form as such.”

 

“It's a chameleon,” Sango whispered quietly in understanding.

 

“Why, yes, Taijiya, I am,” Shaeda replied, having easily heard Sango's whispered remark. “But I would have thought that you would realize that even so, by taking on Lord Sesshomaru's form, I am granted his abilities as well.” Tuning her attention back to Inuyasha, she continued. “That is how I found you, brother dear. Though I must say, all of your running about the countryside certainly made it more difficult to locate you. Sadly, even with his nose to aid me, I am not nearly as adept as Sesshomaru at tracking scents.”

 

“Well you found me,” Inuyasha growled out, his impatience being quickly taken over by suspicion over both the chameleon's and Sesshomaru's motives. Almost without thought, his hands tightened again against the grips of Tetsusaiga. “So what the fuck do you want?”

 

“Now, now,” Shaeda chided lightly, her head shaking ever so slightly in disapproval upon seeing Inuyasha's stance shift aggressively. “None of that, Inuyasha. Without me, you will never be able to find your way to the gathering ground and the little miko waiting for you there.”

 

Kagome… It felt as though he had been punched in the gut. Hard. By like some fucking Shikon-drugged freak or something. It damn near made him sick right there. Of all the worst-case scenarios there were, this was by far the worst. Kagome, his Kagome, was being held right smack in the middle of one of the largest gatherings of the most powerful youkai out there. To make matters worse, they were all Inu; and not one of them would show any mercy to a human, let alone a miko. And if that shit didn't stink bad enough, to top it all off was the knowledge that the ones overseeing it all were the Lords, ones just as cold and just as ruthless as that bastard he had no choice but to call brother.

 

This was bad. It was beyond bad. It was like a nightmare made real, only worse. Because he knew that no matter what terrors he could think of that they could do to her, he knew that whatever they were doing to his Kagome were by far worse.

 

“Well what the hell are you waiting for, bitch!” Inuyasha roared at the chameleon. The longer they delayed the worse Kagome's chances were getting of even being alive by the time he got to her. “Let's go!”

 

Her sensitive ears ringing from the hanyou's outburst, Shaeda tried to placate the pup. “Calm yourself, Inuyasha. You need not worry. The miko Kagome is well. She is in Lord Sesshomaru's more than capable care.”

 

“Oh hell no!” Because Inuyasha knew that care and Sesshomaru were two words that would never belong together. The bastard had already tried to kill Kagome more than once, and Inuyasha was hella sure that the fucker wouldn't give a damn one way or the other if she met a grizzly fate at the claws of one of his fucking dogs. “You tell me where Kagome is right now, bitch,” he threatened as he lifted his swords to brandish its deadly tip at the youkai, “Or I ain't gonna be responsible for what happens to you!”

 

“That's it!” Huffing elaborately, Shaeda crossed her arms stiffly over her chest and plopped herself down onto the ground. “I am tired,” she told Inuyasha curtly. “I have been searching for you all day, using both my abilities and Sesshomaru's. And I am not moving from this spot until I have been given a chance to rest and you, you callous oaf, find the manners enough to apologize for being so rude!”

 

Inuyasha growled. And then growled some more. But the stupid bitch did nothing but sit there. Well…fuck. Now what?

 

From beside the hanyou, Miroku cleared his throat to speak. “Inuyasha, perhaps one better suited to attending the needs of a female should handle this.” He sighed in a completely obvious feign of resignation. “I suppose I shall have to rectify this situation.”

 

Miroku took one step forward towards the demoness. He didn't make it any further.

 

Hiraikotsu gripped firmly in her hands, Sango stood fuming over the newly unconscious form of the lecherous monk. “Hentai,” she scolded him, even knowing the accusation fell upon deaf ears.

 

With the monk taken care of, knowing that he would have only made the situation worse than it already was, Sango turned to Inuyasha. The idiot hanyou. He was still growling at the chameleon as though the dangerous sound would somehow make her more cooperative. It was times like these that made Sango wonder what she wouldn't give to have the ability to `sit' the fool into the earth as Kagome so often did. But, being that she couldn't, the slayer was more than happy to make do with Hiraikotsu.

 

Lifting the heavy angled bone, knowing that Inuyasha wasn't paying any attention to her anyways, Sango bashed it over the thick skull of the idiot hanyou.

 

“What the fuck, Sango??!!” Inuyasha barked loudly as he spun to face her.

 

But the slayer held firm, her eyes narrow and angry and just daring him to do something stupid. “Apologize.” Her tone left no room for dispute.

 

Inuyasha, however, was never one to pick up on such things. “Fuck that! I don't gotta do nothin'!”

 

Sango took one tense step forward, bringing her nose-to-nose with Inuyasha. “That youkai knows where Kagome is,” she told him in a voice dark with unspoken promises that she was more than capable of carrying through with. “So you will apologize. Just as you will do anything else she wants you to, so long as we get Kagome back!”

 

Inuyasha swallowed thickly…because he was thirsty from not having drunk anything all day, of course. “Keh,” he huffed back at the slayer. “Whatever.”

 

But though he had tried to be dismissive, Sango watched, pleased with his response, as he turned towards the chameleon anyways.

 

His steps were rigid as he walked over to her, and when he came as close as he would get, he stopped, standing stiffly as he waited for some sort of response. He didn't get one. Shaeda absolutely refused to look at him.

 

Finally, after waiting for longer than his limited patience would allow, Inuyasha released a deflated sigh and dropped himself down onto the ground beside her. “Come on, Shaeda,” he said quietly. “You know I didn't mean nothing by it. I'm just…Kagome…she's…Would you fucking look at me when I'm talking to you!”

 

Shaeda sighed heavily before finally turning to meet his gaze. “This,” she told him tiredly, “Is going to take a lot more work than I signed up for.”

 

Blinking in confusion, Inuyasha asked, “Huh?”

 

And the chameleon rolled her eyes. “How am I ever to present you to the Lords when you can not even make it through one sentence without making yourself appear a fool?”

 

He heard the insult, he really did, but Inuyasha was still working on figuring out the first part of Shaeda's comment. “Present me to the…Huh?”

 

“Kami help me,” Shaeda whispered, her eyes drawing closed in a gesture drawn by the seemingly impossible task ahead of her. When she opened her eyes again, it was Inuyasha's traveling companions she looked to rather than the hanyou. “You might want to get comfortable,” she told them. “This is going to take a while.”

 

Finally forcing herself to turn back to Inuyasha, she took in a deep breath before speaking again. “Alright, brother dear, listen close. We have one night to teach you how to make a proper address, and we're going to make it count. But,” she lifted her hand sharply to cut off the coming protest, “First things first. You will give me Tetsusaiga.”

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Ok, either there are a bunch of mind readers out there, or you guys are just really good at picking up a stall in a story line. Lol it was seriously weird that the chapter before I was going to give a view of hat was happening with Inuyasha that I had so many people asking where he was when no one so much as mentioned it before XD But, at least now the question is answered. Though, I have to say that I'm not usually inclined to swearing so much…but there's just something about writing from Inuyasha's perspective that brings out the worst in me. I do hope it still carried well.

 

Besides, I couldn't have the hanyou showing up too soon, now could I? That would ruin all the fun. Not to mention make steal away my next Sess/Kags scene (*-swoons-* Sooooooo sweet! I've been itching to get it out for like forever! But it is going to have to wait. While sugar and smut are fun and all, there is still something very important that must go down in this story before I can get there.)

 

Well, that's all for tonight. Till next time.

 

Shadow