InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Welcome to The Age of Un-Innocence ❯ By the Pricking of My Thumbs... ( Chapter 20 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: Hello everyone! Well you know it all by now, writers block was awful, as was how busy my life is. But I'm writing smoothly again, about time I know I know. And want to thank all my readers for your constant support. I've still yet to get any review or message that isn't pure positive motivation and I REALLY do appreciate it. I don't have time for personal messages at the moment but a very big thank you to all my reviewers. And a constant thank you to my beta Maggz for all her hard work, inspiration and support.

One warning: This chapter does contain some slightly graphic sex, violence and drug references of course. Nothing really bad, but if you're sensitive to those types of things you might want to take a pass. Let's do this chapter thing shall we?

Ja! -Laurell

“What are you doing?” He asked without even realizing when he had spoken his voice sounded so foreign. Kouga didn't answer him, pulling the trigger again and blasting off a chunk of the leather arm rest beside him. “What the fuck!” Inuyasha screamed, ducking and trying to think. His mind was racing as he desperately looked for a way out of this alive. “Kouga, it's me! What the fuck is going on?!”

“You fucked us over.” Kouga answered calmly and Inuyasha was really worried where the next bullet he had just cocked was going to find itself.

“I didn't! I swear to god I didn't!” He shouted desperately.

“What is this?! You sold me out? Is that it? You gave me up as a rat?! When you know I'm not!”

Carefully looking up, he got sight of Kouga still standing beneath the kitchen lights casting shadows down upon his face. But his eyes were dead, like he had just turned off. The gun was still rigidly extended but he made no motion of firing again yet.

“It's more than that, you fucked up, Inuyasha. Too many fuck ups for even me to cover.”

Coming to a crouching position he stood up very slowly. He knew this was dumb, this was a bad idea. But all of this was a fucking bad idea and he probably wouldn't take another step ever again, so it didn't really matter what he did by now. So he went by the only part of him not panicking, his instinct.

“Kouga, I don't know what you're talking about at all.” He sneered lightly, his eyes down on the floor. Maybe Kouga didn't even know what he was talking about, but it was painfully clear that something had gone horribly wrong while he was gone.

Slowly Kouga looked up at him again; those painfully empty blue eyes that he didn't quite recognize.

“I… I didn't want it to be like this…” He said softly, a look of almost confusion crossing over his features as his brows knitted and he lowered the gun. Inuyasha's chest swelled with relief, like the first gasp of air when coming up to the surface of water. He was barely aware of how bad he was trembling right before he heard it again.

The sound of a gunshot slicing through the silence.

Two blocks away in distance but another world away from the hell that was just beginning at Kouga's, Naraku closed his eyes with a soft sigh. `Ava Maria' filled the car and he lightly tapped his fingers with it along the smooth leather of his Rolls-Royce. His driver slowed and pulled along the curb stopping the car and rushing out to open the door for him. He smiled, looking up at the offices of his college, who was about to be very pleased with the progress of tonight.

Stepping out of the vehicle, he glanced down with disdain to a homeless man crouched into the corner of the buildings entrance he had to pass by. This was exactly what was wrong with New York, allowing such trash to litter the streets. The old man looked over his shabby cardboard sign at him and dared to say, “Anything you could spare would be a blessing, Sir.”

With a cruel smile Naraku replied, “Do you take American Express?”

A crisp gunshot blew through the air, making Inuyasha flinch involuntarily and everything go numb for a split second as he clenched his teeth. But when his eyes flew open again after the agonizingly long second of waiting for the impact, he saw Kouga crumple in a bleeding heap to the floor, bits of him stuck to the wall behind from the force that tiny piece of metal could cause. Inuyasha exhaled a trembling breath and rushed to his side, knowing it was too late but feeling like it was something that was needed to be done.

His face was intact and his eyes were half open, a strange stillness to their usual intense blue gaze. He closed them carefully, running his shaking hand down his face before staring up into the room as his target came slowly into the light.

“Why?!” He hissed through his painfully gritted teeth at the stranger.

“Because he couldn't be trusted, you'd think you would at least know that much. Or maybe you are that dumb.”

Looking up at the man, it was rather painfully obvious who was after him now. The black suit, the smug expression and the clean gun, someone had wanted him dead for awhile now. Logically he knew he was right, Kouga was dead because he was a scapegoat for something, which of course brought him to the situation at hand. But Inuyasha had been around New York long enough to know, he would have been dead much sooner if he had sold him out.

He stayed crouching, staring at his attacker, sizing up the man. He knew he wasn't going to hesitate much longer to shoot. What he didn't understand was why he had hesitated at all.

With a sudden lunge, he threw his body behind one of Kouga's large marble covered kitchen counters. Another series of shots went off from the quick movement, making chunks of marble chip off and fly around him when the assassin missed, thankfully.

In a quick fluid motion he had Kouga's gun out and his finger trembling only slightly on the trigger, crouched against a cabinet. He opened the cabinet door next to him slowly and quietly when the idiot started screaming profanities at him.

`They certainly didn't send their best men after me, I'm slightly offended.' He thought while latching onto a pot handle.

Was he from another drug ring- or worse his own? He quieted these thoughts because they were inconsequential at the moment. He was the man who either was going to kill him or be killed, and Inuyasha had no plans on dying tonight.

With a jerk, he threw the pot over the counter at the assailant, sliding into a crouch and unloading four rounds into the confused lackey shooting at the distraction, before he ducked back to his hiding place. Every bit of it was instinct by now, and it was the only thing keeping him narrowly alive. He paused, not even breathing, until he heard the thump of a heavy dead weight hitting expensive wood panels.

With the gun still poised tightly in front of him, he crept back out into the living room, too much still unaccounted for. None of this shit was making sense. Who was after him, and what had he done? He had just returned and barely left his apartment.

“Stop!” Another voice shouted from the darkness and he froze, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck.

`Not another, oh what fresh hell is this not a-fucking-nother!' A fresh light clicked on from near the back of the large flat, bringing not one but two people into his view.

“Kikyou.” Inuyasha whispered. Stopping in his advance immediately when a large man- obviously an associate to the corpse lying near him- put the barrel of the gun against her temple. He held her in front of him as a shield tightly with one arm, the other pinning her with the handgun. She tried to sway away from it but he held it firmly into place and she made a muffled noise of protest.

“Wouldn't do that, don't want to ruin this beautiful face of hers.” He said, slowly smirking from the desired effect on Inuyasha. His anger was prickling every hair on his body. Here was the woman who destroyed him, destroyed everything he had in his life. By all means he should have wanted her dead, been glad to not be inconvenienced with the task himself. But…

…He just couldn't. Seeing the tears rolling down her cheeks and across the duct tape that bound her mouth, something clenched up painfully in him. She looked so terrified, so frightened and raw. And it reminded him of how beautiful she looked when he first met her, of the look she would get in her eyes before she came, and how much he had truly adored her before she had started to lose it and they had ended.

None of this was making any sense, the phrase repeated like a skipping record. Too many deaths were happening whatever way he looked at this, and he wanted some answers.

“Drop. The. Gun.” The man ordered and when Inuyasha hesitated he cocked it still pressed into Kikyou's cheek. A desperate high pitched noise came from her duct taped mouth.

Inuyasha did so, reacting without even realizing it; his only hope clattering to his feet. His mind was really racing on something primal now, he thought he was trembling before, but now he couldn't feel anything. He was going to kill him, this goon was going to shoot them both and no one would even investigate it for god knows how long.

Inuyasha kept his eyes on him but when he moved the gun from Kikyou to him; he wanted to close his eyes so fucking bad. But he didn't, instead he completely looked away from his attacker, forgetting the trauma for a moment when he stared into Kikyou's eyes. They were filled with tears and shimmering, but such a lovely color still, as always.

`She really does never look bad.' He thought with a smile and then his eyes did snap shut impulsively when the inevitable shot was fired; paired with a muffled scream and angry shout.

It was awful, like a hot knife stabbing through his bicep, freezing everything above and below from the force it barreled through his tissues, muscles and anything in the bullet's way, cauterizing them as it went. He screamed, collapsing backwards, unable to feel anything but the horrible throbbing in his arm. It just wouldn't stop, and even the blood coming up freely now felt like scorching lava to his skin.

Inuyasha clenched his good hand over his arm grinding his teeth against another scream. He was shocked the hit man had missed his chest but realized why when he saw Kikyou on the floor in front of him. `She tried to stop him...' As sweet as the gesture was, it wouldn't matter in another second.

He didn't try and move or run, it hurt too badly and he knew it was too late by now. Eyes clenched shut in pain, a vision surprised him…

Kagome's face.

`Maybe she really is an angel.' He chuckled and his throat burned. But there she was, in his dream the perfect image of her, having no right to be playing right now. And they weren't the moments he expected to remember, the one of their first dance, or how she looked when they announced the engagement; beautiful and perfect. But that wasn't what he was seeing.

He was seeing how she ran from him after trading insults, how she was laying in the grass with her cheeks flushed and sunlight weaving through her hair. That sharp tongue, it always had impressed him, too bad he never told her. Another shot stopped his sweet memories and he gasped coldly, the smell of blood heavy in the air.

But the pain didn't come. Quickly he opened his eyes when he comprehended he hadn't been hit again.

Panting and clinging to the doorframe stood Miroku, a gun in his hand and a grimace on his face as he stepped forward to kick the body and roll it over confirming the attacker's was dead.

“Miroku..?”

Was he a hallucination? Was he already dead? He really hoped he didn't have some cliché spiritual vision now.

“Long time no see.” Miroku smirked and Inuyasha noticed the blood running down his head. “You look like you had a rough night.”

Forcing himself to sit up with a groan, Miroku helped him to his feet, putting his uninjured arm around his shoulders for better support. “Can you move your arm?” He asked seriously, looking closely at the puncture wound.

Inuyasha forced it around in a circle with a gasp of pain. “Fuck that hurts,” he groaned closing his eyes.

“At least we know it's not broken, and it doesn't look like you've ruptured an artery. Come on now, stay alert sleeping beauty. We're far from out of the clear yet.” He said with his usual carefree tone. Inuyasha struggled to keep breathing, shaking his head to try and clear the pain and haze coursing through him.

`Focus, focus… Kikyou!'

“Kikyou!” He shouted, looking across the room to see her still unmoving form on the floor. Oh God, had he killed her when he was thinking of Kagome? He would have never forgiven himself. Moving quickly, Miroku left Inuyasha to lean against a wall and kneeled down rolling her carefully to get a good look and check her pulse. As gently as he could, he took off the duct tape and started to untie her.

“Is... she alive?” It was the scariest question he had ever asked for some reason.

“Yeah, but she's barely breathing.” Miroku tilted her head back and more of her hair spilled over her shoulders. Checking her eyes, he noticeably winced, enough for even Inuyasha to catch and start to walk towards them.

“What? Is she conscious?!”

Temporarily forgetting his arm, Inuyasha moved to get a closer look at how pale Kikyou really was.

“Her pupils look really bad; I think she's taken something… She's really cold and her pulse is faint.”

“Are her pupils dilated?”

“No, I can barely see them they're so tiny…”

“Pinpoint pupils…” Inuyasha murmured, thinking back to why he was familiar with that. Looking down to his friends questioning stare he asked him. “Heroin?”

“It's definitely a possibility. We need to get out of here, and then get her to a hospital. If it is a heroin overdose at least we might have a bit of time. It could be hours for it to reach fatality, if she's lucky.”

Picking up her hand, Miroku made a mental note of the time and that her nails weren't turning blue just yet.

“I'm glad you're back with me but I meant what I said. We're not out of the clear yet. Can you walk on your own? I'll need to carry her if we intend to save her.”

“Of course we do! And yes!” Inuyasha shouted defensively.

“Ok, get downstairs. You'll see a black van parked, get in and start it up. Go now.”

Inuyasha nodded firmly, one last look to see Miroku hoisting Kikyou up over one shoulder before he moved. Grabbing Kouga's gun off the floor, he stuffed it into the back waist of his pants and pulled his shirt down over it. He spared a look to Kouga's body but quickly moved on and out the door, not wanting to see. His arm was fucking killing him, every step jarring more blood from his hurt bicep, he squeezed it tighter. But at least through all the confusion he had a chance now; he had a purpose to keep him moving. He was not going to die here, and he wasn't going to let Kikyou die either.

Miroku and Inuyasha worked quickly to open the van and lightly set Kikyou down in the back of it before too many people noticed. Thankfully the back entrance to Kouga's building didn't have the best lighting and they drove away without any problems.

“If you don't mind me asking Miro, who are the two bodies back there?” Inuyasha asked, hissing a bit through his teeth and knotting a shirt around his arm to try and stop the blood flow that was thankfully easing up.

“They're the unlucky duo that abducted me and donated you their shirts.”

“Did you have to execute them like that?” Inuyasha winced, not wanting to look back at what was left of the corpses faces again.

“They hit me in the back of the head with a pipe; guess I was still pissed about it. Needed to make my shots count too, I didn't know how many rounds were left in the one's gun that I stole.”

“So wait a minute. Who are these people? They kidnapped you and Kikyou, lured me here and obviously weren't friends of Kouga, seeing as they killed him in front of me.”

“I'm not sure but while I was in the van I heard them talking to their boss, they called him Naraku. Does that sound familiar?” Miroku asked.

“Naraku… I think I've heard Kouga say his name before, but I thought Kouga worked with him. Do you think he's a new dealer trying to wipe out our network because we're established in this territory?”

“Do all these dead men really say `new' dealer to you? No, I don't think this is just some turf war we got mixed up in. This was meant to be an execution of the four of us for sure, maybe more throughout the city too. They were here to kill us. Kouga's the one who lead you here, correct? He's the one who's been looking for you and I warned you he was frantic. But what made him sell you out so quickly and what for? There's not many people that can intimidate Kouga to being as worked up as he was the last time I saw him. He even said his ass would be on the line if he didn't find you. Kouga must have been working under him, and rather far down for him to be so disposable.”

“The only thing I got from him before they shot him was that he thought I was a rat, I have no idea why though.” Inuyasha noticed Miroku's jaw visibly clench up, his eyes never leaving the road. “I swear to you I'm not Miroku, you know me better than that,” he said quickly.

“I know, don't worry. I know that's not possible.”

“Good, well he didn't tell me anything else. The second he hesitated in shooting me, he was dead. It doesn't look like they would have spared him anyways though, maybe he knew that.”

“Probably, this Naraku is not someone I wanted to ever meet. My guess is he's one of the direct traffickers getting in the shipments. I mean multi-kilogram quantities; he's not just a low end distributor like us if he has that many hired killers working for him.”

“So why is he going to all the trouble to kill us?”

“Not us Inuyasha, you. They grabbed me walking out of a club last night faster than I could even process what happened. One minute I'm on the curb waiting for a taxi and the next I was waking up with a hell of a headache and a gun to my forehead, catching pieces of conversation between Naraku and his men. They wanted to make sure you hadn't contacted me to back up what Kouga said to lure you there.”

“That you were in trouble… Fuck Miroku, I'm so sorry. I swear to God I don't know what I've done to attract this much attention. I haven't even been in the country! And before I left everything was calm.”

“If they killed Kouga so flippantly, they were going to do the same to me eventually anyways. The thing that's got me really confused is why we have the lovely Miss Kotara over dosing in the back seat. Both what she's doing in this, and what you were thinking when you wanted to save her. It's not like she's some helpless innocent, I'm sure she did something to deserve almost getting shot in the head tonight.”

“You're right about that, but I still just couldn't leave her to die. It would grate on my nerves the rest of my life probably, regardless of what a bitch she can be. Someone wants her dead too, and maybe if we can get her to sober up we can figure out why they want us dead with her.”

“Whatever the reason, if it really is Naraku that ordered all of those goons on us and we didn't just get caught up in a feud with Kouga- which is looking less and less likely- we're most likely not going to live out the night.”

Miroku's resolution came with an uneasy calmness. It was something Inuyasha had also realized the more they talked, and the more he comprehended how bad this was.

“I know, Miroku… I know. They've gone to this much trouble; I doubt he'll be ok with the fact we got away.”

"Listen, you don't think Kagome and her family could have anything to do with this, do you?" The question surprised Inuyasha but he paused to actually consider the option.

"I seriously doubt it, but we really can't rule out anything at this point, seeing as how we don't know what I did exactly to get us on a hit list."

“Well, how much did her dad dislike you?” Miroku asked with a smirk and hint of sarcasm.

Inuyasha chuckled a bit, despite the hot pain still coursing through him. “This is just my luck, I've got some mafia drug lord after me and I don't even know why."

"You're jumping to the conclusion he has mafia ties, you know. You've probably been watching too many movies."

"Oh I'm sorry, not a mafia drug lord, just a normal drug lord. They're so much better and all.” They both laughed softly. “This could never be a movie though, because there's no good guys to root for. We most likely work for the people trying to kill us and just never knew it, of course."

"Well, that's a liability in our line of work. We don't exactly have company picnics. I wouldn't say we're the bad guys though..." Miroku smiled.

"We're not good guys either. And most likely I did do something to deserve this; I just don't know what exactly at the moment.”

"No use worrying about it now, let's focus on getting Kikyou somewhere safe and then figure out what next."

"I don't want to just drop her off at a hospital. The last thing I need is for Kagome to see me on TV looking like I'm rescuing a dying super model instead of calling her."

"You haven't called her?" Miroku glanced over at him in surprise.

"We really do have bigger issues at hand. Point is they'll be in a frenzy if we just drop her off, and she might be in danger. For the time being, let's get to my apartment. We'll take the stairs up from the garage so we don't see anyone and we can get a hold of her agent from there to tell her what happened. She'll know how to handle this; we'll make sure she's in good care, see if she has any information for us-"

"-Doubtful."

"I know but we'll still try until she's off our hands. Then I intend to never think of her for the rest of my life."

"Which might only be the next few hours, so that might actually be possible." Miroku grinned.

"Thanks, Miroku." Inuyasha muttered, rolling his eyes and hoping Kikyou really was unconscious back there.

"You know, seeing as we're probably going to be dead before morning, you really should call Kagome."

"Yeah, let me get home and do something for my arm then I'll call her. We've got to figure out what to do next though..."

"Why don't you just worry about keeping as much blood in your body as you can for now? Let me drive and think about our next move."

Inuyasha's apartment was close now, and he was glad he had kept him conscious. Carrying both him and Kikyou up the stairs was not something he would have enjoyed the way his head was still pounding.

"Fair enough."

While Kagome waited for Inuyasha to come home, there really wasn't much for her to do. Her thoughts ran ramped, worries that maybe he wasn't coming home that night at all. He was out partying and staying at some other girl's place. But her eyes drifted back to the front door and how it wasn't even closed. The only conclusion she had come to for this was that Inuyasha was in such a hurry to get wherever he was going, he didn't have time to close it. Had it just been unlocked, that could be carelessness. But the fact it was still partially open, she was certain, implied he had left quickly and she hoped intended to return quickly.

She bounced her legs on the base of his couch before her fidgeting moved her to her feet. She had already gone through his apartment as discretely as she could until she felt guilty about it. Agitated, she paced again, pausing to flip through a small notepad on his table filled with numbers and street names. It was meaningless to her though and she sighed closing it.

Kagome walked to the large window peeking out. The wind was howling outside, along with the constant hum of the crowded streets below. It moaned and a chill went down her spine as she clutched herself a little tighter, moving away from it.

Just as she had found the remote to the TV under the pile of mess on his table, Kagome heard an odd noise in the hall. In momentary fear, she wondered if she should have locked it; technically she was in a drug dealer's apartment, who knew the reason for Inuyasha's hurry while leaving. But it was too late for that, the door was opening.

While Kagome waited and the entire time she traveled, one thought was constantly going through her head, what Inuyasha would say when he walked in that door? What would happen when he saw her, the reaction on his face that would determine everything? And while she thought of all different scenarios it was easy to say, she had never, ever imagined this one.

When three people walked through the door, not one, she was surprised to begin with and immediately worried. Inuyasha came in with his back to the door, his attention focused instead on another man carrying a girl over his shoulder and into the apartment. Kagome stared in silence, none of them noticing her.

It was only when Miroku looked up and his mouth dropped in surprise that Inuyasha finally turned around and saw her.

The panic of the last hour instantly slowed and stopped as Inuyasha froze. He was hallucinating, he had to be. How much blood had he lost?

It was the stress, his injury and adrenaline and God knows what else. It had all some how combined to make him think… Kagome was standing in his kitchen. But he knew this wasn't possible. Inuyasha could feel his hands shaking, and as much as he wanted to reach out and make that cruel tease of a vision disappear, his feet were rooted to the spot, with the tiniest shard of hope wanting to stay in this moment just a second longer. It was only when Miroku cleared his throat behind him and spoke that he snapped.

“So… are you going to introduce me?”

Inuyasha ignored his question and rushed forward, his arm and weakness forgotten when he swept her into his arms. He didn't care at that moment what she was there for, if she was still angry and had come for revenge. He could have died in her arms for all he cared in that moment, he had to touch her. Had to know she was real.

“Inu…” Kagome whispered in a shaky breath, her arms around his back and squeezing him so tight he couldn't bear the thought of moving. He could smell her hair, and that light flowery perfume she always wore. Could feel the heat and her delicate little fingers digging into his shirt, and for just that moment, nothing was wrong in the world.

She pulled back just slightly out of his grasp and he almost stopped her in protest when a soft noise he wasn't too proud of came from the back of his throat. But then Kagome put her hands on the sides of his face and kissed him. She kissed him like she did in the hallway that first night, like they had on the red carpet after announcing their engagement and he swore he was never letting her out of his sight again.

“God Kagome, I'm so sor-” She cut him off, pressing a finger to his lips; he could see her cheeks were glimmering with tears and God it stung.

“Not yet, just not yet.” She smiled earnestly despite the tears, before her face broke out into shock as she looked down at him. “Oh god - Inu! You're bleeding, what happened!?”

“Yeah, sorry to interrupt uh- awkward… but where do you want me to put this, Yash?” Miroku called from the door, gesturing to Kikyou still slumped over his shoulder.

They both looked over to Miroku blankly who smiled and gave a half hearted wave to Kagome. She could only blink in response as reality set in.

“Inuyasha… what's going on?” She asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

“Put her down in my bedroom Miro, carefully.” Inuyasha turned back to Kagome, his arms still resting on the outside of hers when his bicep throbbed painfully, bringing him back to the present. He dropped his left arm just in time for Kagome to look down and see a stark red stain on her tee shirt where she had hugged him.

“Inuyasha…?” She whispered, now visibly shaking.

“What are you doing here, Kagome?” He asked instead, but his tone was still soft.

“I couldn't get a hold of you! I had to talk to you!” She stammered then peeled back the baggy black button down he was wearing loosely. The blood on the outside of the shirt was minimal, but when it fell off his shoulders, she gasped in panic at the wound covered in blood. She felt sick and dizzy all over and Inuyasha steadied her with his good arm when she swayed.

“Hey, hey I'm ok. This is just a little… bullet wound, nothing life threatening.” She gasped again, her eyes wide and tearing.

“Sorry to interrupt uh, again but Yasha do you have any Naloxone?” Miroku appeared in the hallway to ask.

“No… I don't do heroin, why would I keep that around?”

“Oh I don't know, in case a model was overdosing on it in your house.” Miroku said with a glare. Inuyasha quickly gestured for him to shut up, looking down at Kagome. Miroku sighed ignoring this and walked up to them.

“It's not like she didn't just notice me carry her unconscious in there. Jeeze, she's not three man.” Miroku muttered before extending his hand. “Inuyasha is bad at introductions; I'm a friend of his, Miroku.” Kagome blinked in confusion but took his hand and shook it in automatic response.

“Fine then Miroku, can you please tell me what's going on here and why he's bleeding in his apartment instead of a hospital?” Kagome said quickly, getting her wits back.

“Because someone tried to kill all three of us tonight and we thought we should fly low on the radar,” he answered calmly. Inuyasha sighed, rubbing his good hand over his eyes; sometimes he really hated his best friend.

Kagome turned back to Inuyasha and in the most serious tone he'd ever heard her use, only said one thing. “I want the truth from you and I want it now.”

A/N: So after all that time what do you all think? Oh Miroku, how I love you. -whew- Gotta shake all that violence off, it was hard to write. Unfortunately the night has just begun and even in New York it's the darkest just before dawn. :) That's all for today lovelies, update asap to come. Should be within two weeks! And for those who didn't understand the chapter title its the reference to a quote by Shakespeare. "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes..." :)

As always I don't own Inuyasha, he owns me. Ja! -Laurell