InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Zero-G ❯ Proverbs ( Chapter 16 )

Author's Notes: Tadaa! Back from the dead, among other places. Some things have changed since I posted the last chapter. I'm now 18, I have a new computer, and my mother cut my hair. Blame the delay of this chapter on the second issue. Please forgive me, and here's a new chapter to exonerate me. (haha, but you'll probably be cursing me seven thousand words from now)

 

 

 

Zero-G

Chapter Fifteen

Proverbs

 

 

 

If Kikyo had told her she was mistaken, Kagome would have believed her. If she had claimed that this had been a set-up by Inuyasha, Kagome would have laid down the gun and forgiven her.

But the only thing that passed Kikyo's lips was a sneer. “Oh, for goodness sake, Kagome,” she tormented. “It was bad enough that you used to snoop around my room, but my office, too?”

Kikyo took a step forward, and Kagome's fingers tightened around the handle of the gun. She told herself that she was willing to do whatever was necessary to survive… but her index finger was nowhere near the trigger.

Calmly, Kikyo ignored her and took a seat beside the wide bay windows. She looked across at Kagome with a taunting smile. “Are you going to shoot me, cousin?”

Kagome swallowed hard. “You could have asked,” she whispered, feeling her eyes sting with tears. “If you'd told me you wanted Zero-G, I would have shared it with you.”

“I did ask, Kagome.” Kikyo smoothed an eyebrow with her finger. “You said `no', remember?”

“Yes - that's because you wanted to monopolise on Grandma's formula! If you'd told me that my other option was death, I would have handed it over to you.” The gun was rattling again, and Kagome made a valiant effort to control her nerves; a rather hard task when everything was spinning beyond the normal scope of her sanity. “You had a choice, Kikyo. But you chose to take my life.”

Kikyo shrugged apathetically. “It was easier.”

Hot tears were building in her eyes, and Kagome blinked them away furiously. “But we're family! Doesn't that mean anything to you?”

“It means that we share grandparents.” Kikyo rolled her eyes. “It's not that big a deal.”

“We grew up together!”

“I grew up with a lot of people.” The businesswoman shrugged again. “Come on, Kagome. Don't be so naïve. You denied me something that I needed… and it was unfortunate that your death was the only other option.”

Kagome closed her eyes briefly in despair. “Naïve… because I trusted you.”

“You shouldn't trust people so easily,” Kikyo reprimanded. “There are a lot of bad people in the world these days.”

“Yes, like you a-and Inuyasha,” she stammered. “You only brought me here so you could kill me, right?”

“Ah. Not so dumb, I see.” Kikyo folded her arms with a sly smile. “But you did make it a little too easy for me, Kagome. You're not only naïve but incredibly gullible as well.”

Another wave of tears slipped down her cheeks unchecked, and Kagome looked at her cousin in bewilderment. Didn't this woman understand anything? Kagome had only believed her because she'd wanted to believe her. If Kikyo could be trusted, it meant that her life wasn't such a lost cause after all. She should have known that it was too good to be true.

“It's not naïve to love someone and believe in them,” Kagome said, her voice trembling as badly as her hands. “But I think I knew all along. You never convinced me that you were honest… I only made excuses for you. Don't you realise how cruel you are?”

“Cruel?” Kikyo blinked in genuine surprise. “I am anything but cruel, Kagome. I could have poisoned you slowly - made it look like a natural death whilst having you die in utter agony. I could have made it look like suicide. I could even have made you die in the most humiliating manner imaginable… but no.” The young woman stood up and moved closer to the window, regardless of Kagome's jerky aim. “You died young and beautiful. People will always remember you for the pretty fifteen year old you were - even fifty years from now. And people were moved by your death. You rose awareness of petty muggings, and you've probably even saved a few girls' lives as a result. I gave you the best death you could ever had wished-”

“But I didn't want to die!” Kagome screamed. “It was my life - my choice! You took my choice away!”

“Because you were being selfish.”

“Oh - I was being selfish?!”

“There are two types of people in this world, sweetie.” Kikyo looked out of the window to the streets below. “There are the people down there: the nobodies. They'll never amount to anything, they'll never make a difference, and they certainly don't cause tidal waves when they die. Then there are the people like me who rise above the rest, set an example, and make a difference. Society needs me more than it needs you. You're just fodder. Why can't you understand that?”

The bile rose in Kagome's throat. “You're insane.”

“I'm being honest,” Kikyo told her seriously. “Only a few people succeed in this corrupt world. You have no idea of what I've had to go through to get where I am today. Do you have any idea about the people I had to sleep with? The people I had to terminate? That is how you succeed in this world. Honour and duty have gone out of fashion, and I won't be left behind.”

“You're wrong,” Kagome whispered. Kikyo had to be wrong. Corruption didn't rule this country.

“Oh, stop it. I'm right, and you know it.” Kikyo admonished her shortly. “This country has changed - and none of it has been for the better. Rapists and murderers roam the streets unchecked while petty graffiti artists are given life sentences. The police pick up random demons from their bolt holes and interrogate them about the Coalescence, refusing to release them until they `confess' enough evidence to imprison them. The death penalty is coming back next month… how many demons do you think will survive after that?”

Kagome refused to speak. She simply stared at her cousin listlessly.

“The economy has been shot to hell, too.” Kikyo folded her arms in thought. “The price of a simple meal is almost twice as much as the cost of a day's rent. People sleep on the streets because they need the money for food, but without a home, they have no job, and without a job, they have no income. With no income, they have no food. People are starving to death on our doorsteps, but no one cares. No one wants to stand out and be different by helping these people.”

“No… no!” Kagome shook her head fiercely. “This is because of the Coalescence! They've forced the terror on us - the government is acting in our best interests! It's for our own good!”

“It's for their good,” sighed Kikyo, rolling her eyes. “Where do you think all the money goes anyway? To charity? No - it goes to them. They have their money and their cushy lifestyles delivered to them on a silver platter whilst people like me have to fight a constant battle to get the same kind of respect and treatment.”

“No one respects a murderer!” Kagome cried in outrage.

Kikyo laughed. “This world does. Look around you, for heaven's sake! This is an imperfect world, and in an imperfect world the good people don't last. If you'd been more like me, Kagome, we could have struck a deal and gained fortune together. But alas…”

Kikyo was moving towards her, and Kagome quickly stepped back to keep the distance between them. “Stop it!” she shouted. “If you come any closer, I'll shoot you.”

“Sure, you will.” The older woman sneered, evidently not believing a word of it.

But before she could reach Kagome, the intercom crackled. “Miss Kikyo. Someone called Kouga is here to see you.”

Kikyo's smiles never wavered. “Ah. The Coalescence must have gotten my message,” she said quietly and strolled towards her desk.

Kagome's hands tightened around the gun. “Don't answer that! I mean it!”

Kikyo ignored her and pressed the speaker button on the intercom. “Send him up, Mariko.”

“Yes, Miss Kikyo.”

“Well,” Kikyo flourished, turning around to lean on her desk with her arms folded. “Any speeches you want to give? You have about one minute left to live.”

Kagome clenched her teeth together. “I won't let you kill me,” she hissed. “I have the gun.”

“Yes, but there's only one bullet in that gun.” Kikyo pointed out. “You can wait until Kouga arrives and shoot him with a fifty-fifty chance of killing him outright… or you can shoot me and guarantee my death.” Kikyo smirked again to see the hesitation in Kagome's whole demeanour. “If you were smart, you would shoot me now and make a run for it before he arrives.”

A clammy finger moved in front of the trigger, but that was all Kagome was brave enough to do. Her mind simply wasn't ready to act the way she needed to.

“Surprise, surprise,” Kikyo mocked her. “You're still too stupid to save yourself.”

If I shoot her, I'll be no better than she is, Kagome realised. But what choice was there? She was surrounded by Kikyo's people, and an assassin was about to arrive any second now. The driving instinct for survival was telling her to waste no time in using her weapon to make her escape… but her heart was still looking for the next excuse to explain away this bizarre turn of events.

Any minute now a hidden camera crew was bound to pop out of the closet waving banners and screaming “Fooled you!”. But that didn't seem likely to happen as a painful silence covered the room like an awkward blanket. Kagome swallowed hard and wondered how many seconds she had left to live. “It's not stupid,” she whispered shakily, “to love my cousin.”

Kikyo gave a brief laugh, as if too lazy to bother with a more enthusiastic sound. “You're not cut out for this world, Kagome. If you didn't die by my hand, you would have died by someone else's a few years from now. That's just the way it is.”

The door behind Kagome opened with a soft click, and a cold feeling washed through her body, leaving her numb. Someone stepped into the room, and Kagome's spine tingled with awareness. Her time was up. Caught in between two enemies, she looked across at Kikyo, expecting to see a sneer of triumph… but instead, she saw a snarl.

It seemed that Kikyo wasn't too pleased at the person who had just entered the room behind Kagome. “What the hell do you think you're playing at?!” she hissed.

A warm hand touched Kagome's shoulder gently, and instantly she knew why Kikyo was so livid. Whoever Kouga was, he'd not come. This was Inuyasha behind her, and this was Inuyasha's hand against her shoulder.

A lump lodged in the girl's throat as she fought for the proper response to this situation. Was he a friend or an enemy? Had Kikyo been lying when she'd said he was in the Coalescence? Or was that just the truth, too painful to need any more fabrication?

“Kagome,” she heard him whisper as his thumb traced a small circle against her shoulder-blade. “It's ok. You can put the gun down.”

Kikyo scoffed loudly. “I don't believe this,” she said haughtily and folded her arms. She glared at Kagome and the man behind her. “I was right about you. You really are a traitor!”

Inuyasha's hand tightened on Kagome's shoulder, and she knew that her cousin had struck a nerve in him. But Kagome couldn't comply with either of them. There was just something so wrong with the situation, and she knew that the moment her guard dropped, she would be dead.

“Kagome… please?” the hanyou asked again.

The tears threatened to spill once more, but Kagome refused to submit. “I don't negotiate with terrorists,” she hissed between her clenched teeth.

Inuyasha must have looked shocked, because at that moment, Kikyo chuckled at his expense. “Yes, that's right. She knows,” she murmured, clearly rubbing it in for her own enjoyment. “I told her only a few moments ago.”

The limp hand dropped from her shoulder. “How much do you know?”

“Oh, there's a few things that she's still not aware of.” Kikyo winked at him. “Yet. Luckily for you.”

Kagome heard the hanyou heave a sigh behind her before he slowly moved around to stand in front of her. He deliberately positioned himself between the weapon and Kikyo, forcing Kagome to meet his glassy, distant eyes. He looked as if the world had just come crashing down around him. But Kagome didn't sympathise. “What are you doing?” she asked quietly.

“I won't let you kill her,” he responded slowly, almost apologetically.

“Right.” She sucked in a breath as if to try and inhale more confidence. “But it's alright if she kills me?”

Inuyasha closed his eyes briefly before holding out his hand to her. “She's not worth it.” His voice was barely above a whisper, and only Kagome could hear him. “She's not worth living through the guilt for.”

His words hit home, and Kagome flinched. She couldn't possibly kill anyone… let alone her own family; not unless she wanted to carry around the remorse for the rest of her life, however short it would be.

Oh, what difference does it make? Kagome wondered, feeling all the anger and fear ebbing away under a new tide of exhaustion. I'm dead whatever I do… at least I can go with a clear conscience.

She never once took her eyes off Inuyasha as her arm slackened and the gun hung limply from her fingers. He took the weapon slowly, his warm touch brushing against her cold hands as if to say `It'll be alright.'

How could this man possibly be a terrorist? A murderer? Maybe Kikyo was wrong, and she could trust Inuyasha. He had helped her until now, hadn't he? Why would he do that if he were in league with Kikyo? And surely no criminal could smile the way Inuyasha was smiling as he squeezed her shoulder. When he chucked her chin with his finger, Kagome couldn't help but give him a shy smile in response. With Inuyasha here for her, a shred of normality had presented itself, and Kagome grasped it tightly, refusing to let go. Even though Kikyo had betrayed her and her life seemed to be falling to pieces before her eyes, Inuyasha was there for her, and that was all she needed. She needed to trust him. She'd lose her sanity if she couldn't.

“My god, I think I'm actually going to be sick.” Kikyo scorned as she sat down at her desk. “You take it too far, Inuyasha. Don't you realise the danger you've put yourself in?”

Kagome watched as the hanyou lowered his hand from her chin to clench by his side. A muscle twitched in his jaw, and he glared at the ground. She'd never seen him so angry before.

“But even I can see the delicious irony,” Kikyo went on, chuckling to herself. “You're protecting her. You! Honestly, you crack me up sometimes, Inuyasha. Out of all the people you chose to save… it had to be the one who'd cause you the most trouble, didn't it?”

Inuyasha's eyes shot up to meet Kagome's questioning gaze. The girl wasn't sure she understood where Kikyo was going with this new barb.

“I should have known better than to use a soft-hearted fool like you,” Kikyo went on, her smile as wide as a cat who'd cornered her mouse. “I told you to kill her, not keep her-”

Inuyasha turned and shot Kikyo clean in the chest.

The bullet rang loud and clear in the air, silencing Kikyo's words so effectively that she didn't even have time to blink in surprise. The chair tilted back from the force of the blow, and Kikyo fell with it; an arrogant smile still marred her face. She lifted a hand to her chest as if trying to touch her heart, but the gesture quickly died when she hit the floor and slid into a boneless heap behind her desk.

Inuyasha lowered the gun and stared glassily at the spinning wheels of the fallen chair, waiting until they stopped moving before daring to breathe again. Behind him, Kagome stood tense and silent. They both waited for the other to make the first move, neither able to tear their gaze away from Kikyo's body. Inuyasha's heart pounded in his ears, a slow strum of blood that told him it wasn't only his mind feeling sluggish. He was sure that he could almost pick up Kagome's heart - a faint pattering sound that raced much faster than his own.

Finally, Kagome moved. Inuyasha almost flinched as the girl moved around him, heading for the desk. Her steps were slow, and her face was a perfect mask of calm, but her trembling hands betrayed her true shock as she bent over the desk to regard Kikyo's body more closely.

Perhaps she'll understand?

Inuyasha watched her closely, trying to decide what she would do next.

Maybe she can forgive me?

Without warning, Kagome swung around to face him. She threw all her strength and momentum into the bloodstained rock clutched in her fist and slammed it as hard as she could against his head. A constellation of stars seemed to burst behind Inuyasha's eyes, blinding him for a moment as he staggered away, clutching his brow. He was astonished to feel a small trickle of blood work its way down to the corner of his right eye.

She'd made him bleed?

It was an amazing feat for such a small person, but he probably deserved it.

Kagome stopped a moment to acknowledge the injury she'd inflicted, but then she came at him again without restraint. This time, Inuyasha was quicker. He caught her wrist and sent her flying backwards with one hard push. He hadn't meant to do it so forcefully, but her silent aggression scared him, and he was finding it difficult to control his strength. The rock dropped from Kagome's hand as she skidded across the room until the wall stopped her, but no small groan of pain or gasp of protest ever escaped her lips. She simply crouched beneath the window with her forehead pressed to the carpet, her whole body shuddering with each jarred breath she took.

Closing his eyes, Inuyasha made a silent prayer to anyone listening. He'd screwed up spectacularly… and he could only see one way to fix it.

“I never should have saved you,” he told the quivering girl. “And I regret it… but I'm glad as well.”

“I don't care,” Kagome said weakly, refusing to lift her head. “Whatever you're going to do, please just do it. I don't care anymore.”

Another trickle of blood leaked down Inuyasha's forehead as he stared at her, wishing that he could somehow rewind the day and stop all this from happening. No one would have been hurt if he'd managed to prevent this… but perhaps it was only inevitable?

However, it was too late to save the situation. His only choice was to bury it and keep moving as he'd been doing for most of his life. Now wasn't the time to get sentimental; not when his life depended on it.

But it was far more difficult than he'd anticipated to lift the gun and aim at Kagome's helpless form. He felt sick, but it had to be done. It's either you or her… it's not a difficult choice, he told himself, even whilst struggling to decide which was right. She has no future anyway. Even if you let her live and escape, it will only be a matter of time before your friends kill her.

Sweat mingled with the blood on his face, and he wiped it away distractedly. It had never been this hard before…

He had to stop worrying and just get it over with; he could make time later to fret and rage over his actions.

Inuyasha closed his eyes tightly, trying to take himself out of the tense room he'd found himself in. While his hand aimed the weapon, his mind was distancing itself, already trying to refuse the responsibility of what he was doing. The world beyond the windows of the office seemed to go quiet as he squeezed the trigger lightly, like it was waiting with baited breath for his next move.

Click.

The gun clip was empty.

An unapologetic rush of relief swept through Inuyasha so suddenly that he felt his knees almost buckle under its strength. The air he'd been holding hostage in his lungs was released in a loud rush as he dropped the gun onto the carpet, not giving it a second thought. He pressed his hands over his face, wondering why his whole body felt so weak and unstable. The roaring in his ears was now deafening.

Kagome interrupted the tense silence. “You'll have to do it with your fists.”

Lowering his hands, Inuyasha looked down at the trembling girl. She'd pushed herself upright, leaning heavily against the wall as if she could sink right through it. There were tears staining her face, making her flushed cheeks shine and her eyes appear unusually dark. Her skirt had ridden up as well - so far that Inuyasha could easily glimpse the white cloth of her underwear. Kagome didn't seem to care how she appeared to him at that very moment.

Giving a soft, short laugh, Inuyasha looked down at the gun by his feet. “You're probably the luckiest girl on this planet.”

A poorly suppressed sob rose up from Kagome like a choke of pain. “Don't you dare say that to me!” she ground out venomously as her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. “Not after what you've done to me! To her!” She threw a trembling hand out to where Kikyo lay, unmoving. “You're just a monster! Nothing but a malicious beast!”

Inuyasha shrugged helplessly. “I'm sorry,” he told her quietly. “That's just the way I am.”

The door behind Inuyasha opened, and he heard a woman's sharp gasp of horror. He turned instantly to face the intruder, quickly running through every excuse he'd ever used in a situation like this. “Quick, call an ambulance!” he told the woman who appeared to be holding a mug of hot chocolate in her hands. “She just collapsed!”

“Oh my god,” she whispered, her fingers slackening to let the hot drink spill onto the carpet. “Oh my god,” she said again, then disappeared back out into the corridor, presumably to find help.

When Inuyasha turned around again, Kagome had also vanished. Behind Kikyo's desk, the door to an adjoining office was slowly swinging back and forth.

“Shit!” the hanyou cursed beneath his breath and shot after the girl, hurling himself through the door and the empty office behind it.

He spotted her in the corridor, running remarkably fast for a human girl. She looked back once to see him giving chase, but not again. Adrenalin was her fuel, and she wasn't wasting a drop of it as she streaked towards the elevators, dodging around anyone who stepped into her path. Inuyasha wasn't nearly as courteous as he shoved aside any unlucky bystanders that crossed him.

Ahead of them, the elevator doors opened with a tranquil `ping' and several listless employees filed out. Kagome hurled herself through them, running so hard that she had to throw up her hands to prevent herself from hitting the mirror at the back of the elevator. When she turned around, her eyes were wild and frightened. Her fist pummelled the panel of buttons beside her, but her gaze never left Inuyasha. She seemed too scared to look away from him.

“Door's closing. Please step away,” the bland mechanical voice of the elevator warned when he was only a few metres from it “No!” he called, pushing recklessly through the throng of people that surrounded the elevator. “Kagome, don't!”

But his hands ran up against the cold metal panels of the elevator doors, and he felt the vibrations of the elevator beginning to move behind them. He swore again and made a dash for the stairs.

There was no way an elevator could outrun him to the ground floor.

………………………&# 8230;………………

Kagome's heart was pounding almost painfully in her chest. The elevator was moving and Inuyasha was no longer behind her; that was all that mattered. Where the elevator was going was a mystery; she'd been hitting every button at random.

“Thirty ninth floor,” the elevator announced pleasantly as it began to slow down. “Doors opening. Please be courteous.”

The doors peeled back to reveal an empty corridor. Kagome peeked out cautiously, half-expecting Inuyasha to come leaping out of one of the offices at any moment. Of course, this was hardly the place she wanted to be. She wanted to get out of the building as fast as possible and make a run for the nearest police station. She'd finally had enough of listening to the hanyou, as it had become rather obvious that they weren't sharing the same interests anymore. They never had.

“Doors closing,” the elevator told her, and Kagome realised that the next stop was the ground floor. Inuyasha would no doubt be waiting for her there.

Hastily, she slipped through the narrowing gap between the doors and clutched her arms across her chest. She felt strangely exposed and paranoid that danger was lurking in every room along the corridor.

What do I do? she asked herself anxiously as she peered around the vacant hall. Inuyasha will be waiting at the entrance for me, so how can I possibly escape from here without him…?

Kagome could have slapped herself. Kikyo wasn't the type of person to own a building that had no fire escapes!

A pang of grief speared her heart at the mere thought of her cousin. She honestly hated Kikyo with every fibre of her being, but fifteen years of unconditional love was hard to erase. Kagome had never intended to harm Kikyo, even after all she'd done. She only wanted her life back.

As the girl chewed over her thoughts, she began following the signs for the fire escape. They led her into the stairwell and up three more flights of stairs until her path was blocked by a large steel door with the words “Fire Exit” marked across it. Kagome shoved the bar down and flew out onto the roof without a moment's hesitation. The shrill ringing of the fire alarm startled her, but she ignored it as she scanned the roof, trying to find the way down whilst still expecting Inuyasha to appear behind her.

Whatever she'd felt for that man, be it gratitude, friendship, or even admiration, it had gone. Fear and humiliation spurned through every bone, muscle, and sinew as she ran on, aiming for the metal steps that lead down to the car park.

What was she thinking, trusting a stranger so easily? Perhaps he had been right about Kikyo being a nasty piece of work, but evidently birds of a feather flocked together. She should have questioned him more deeply. Should have demanded to know how he'd met Kikyo, how they'd gotten involved, and how he knew all these things about the Coalescence. He was a terrorist, a murderer, and a liar, and he had killed her cousin.

But it's virtually my own fault! Kagome thought despairingly as she stumbled and slipped her way down the steep staircase. She gripped the rail for all she was worth; it was a long way to fall if she lost her footing completely. If I hadn't picked up the gun, he never would have gotten the chance to use it!

There was a dead weight of misery on her shoulders, coupled with the fear that pushed her from behind, urging her on even though she had no idea where she was running to. She found herself in the car park with the fire alarms still ringing in the building behind her. Kagome wondered where Inuyasha was, and whether or not anyone would find Kikyo in the hindrance of an evacuation.

The thought of Kikyo made her want to stop and go back. What if she was still alive, and Kagome was just abandoning her? But if she went back, Inuyasha would find her… and she didn't know what to expect if he got her alone. Would he try and kill her again? No, she wouldn't take that chance. She had to keep moving.

Behind the car park was a park, cut off from Kagome by a tall, chain link fence. Barbed wire lined the top, and it cut cruelly into Kagome's hands and legs as she climbed over to drop down on the other side. Her dress had been snagged and ripped, but she pressed on, ignoring the pain of her cuts and grazes as she dashed through archways of trees.

A few people were in the park at that hour, and they stopped and stared as Kagome rushed past, wondering why she was in such a state. She ran through a playground where several small children were playing on a roundabout, and then on past the pond where a group of teenage boys were loitering around a bench. “What's the hurry, babe?” they jeered as she shot past them. Once upon a time she would have been a little intimidated, but today she swore that if any one of them tried to stop her, she would shove them straight into the water without a second thought.

She would have made it all the way through the park and out into the town beyond if the girl in grey hadn't stepped out in front of her, as if from nowhere. Kagome collided into her with a gasp and was sent tumbling to the grass as easily as a rag doll. The girl she'd knocked into seemed perfectly fine, as if Kagome was nothing more than a feather. “Are you alright?” she asked Kagome, crouching down to help her up. From her casual sweatpants and grubby trainers, Kagome guessed she was a jogger. “Sorry, I didn't see you there. I'm afraid I'm very absent when I have these earphones in. Are you hurt?”

“It's ok, I'm fine.” But Kagome was winded, and it took her a moment before she could even think about sitting up. When she took the hand the jogger offered, she hesitated slightly. The girl's hands were severely battered, and as Kagome's eyes trailed to her face, she realised that her hands weren't the only assaulted part of her body. Dark rings of bruises circled her eyes, and scabs of a recent injury marred her cheeks and lower lip.

The girl noticed her stare and smiled grimly. “Don't worry, you didn't do it. I just had a bad fall last week.”

Kagome flushed. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…”

“I'd stare too if I was looking at this face.” The girl helped Kagome to her feet and looked concerned when she swayed slightly. “Are you sure you're ok?”

“F-fine.” Kagome glanced over her shoulder anxiously, beginning to feel impatient with the interruption. “I just need to go - I'm sorry - and thank you-”

“Wait!” The girl's hand caught her sleeve, and she unplugged the earphones from her ears. “You seem a little shaken. Are you sure you're ok?”

“I'm fine,” Kagome repeated. “I just need to go.”

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” A look of genuine concern crossed the girl's beaten face.

Kagome took a deep breath, deciding that if it was exactly the opposite of what Inuyasha would tell her to do, then she'd do it. “Yes, actually. I-I need to find a police station or something.” Then she couldn't stop herself as everything inside her loosened. The lump of tears she'd been holding in her throat dissolved, and they spilled freely down her cheeks as the secrets she'd kept since Inuyasha had kidnapped her came surging forth. “I'm Kagome Higurashi. My cousin tried to kill me by sending the Coalescence after me, but they failed, and now my cousin is dead, and I'm sure Inuyasha wants me dead as well because he knows I can expose him as a member of the Coalescence, so I have to find the police and tell them and find my family and tell them as well.”

She rushed on to explain everything. How Kikyo had wanted the formula for Zero-G, and how Inuyasha had been keeping her locked in a tiny apartment, telling her that he was protecting her. She told the bemused looking girl about Kikyo's relationship with Inuyasha, and how Kikyo had just attempted to kill her, but had wound up dead herself.

As she rattled on, almost unintelligibly when the tears overwhelmed her voice, the girl slowly turned her mp3 player off and wrapped the earphones around it. She slipped it into the pocket of her jumper before withdrawing something else that interrupted Kagome's outburst.

A police badge.

“I'm Sergeant Sango Hara.”

Kagome's heart soared, even though the name rung an ominous bell in the back of her mind. “Please!” She grasped the young woman's hands. “Please, you have to help me.”

“Your accusations are quite serious,” the policewoman frowned slightly. “I can take you down to the station now and have someone assigned to the case, if you'd like?”

Kagome nodded quickly. “Yes, I need that, thank you.”

Perhaps here was where her life began to regain its balance again?

“My car's this way.” Sango Hara started to lead her away.

It struck Kagome as rather odd that someone would have brought a car when they intended to jog. But then again, she simply may have wanted to jog around the park rather than around her block, so Kagome wasn't too concerned. However, `Sango Hara' was a name that still rang familiar… she just couldn't remember where she'd heard it before.

The car was parked along the pavement outside the park gates, but at an odd angle as if Sango had parked in a hurry. But again, there was not much call for alarm… unless she turned out to be a bad driver as her parking might indicate.

The third thing that struck another apprehensive knot in Kagome's thoughts was how nice the car was. It was new, expensive, and not a speck of dust marked its paint job. The interior was just as clean and the `new car' smell still clung to the leather seats. There was nothing in the pockets of the doors: no maps, no letters that needed posting, no shopping lists. There were no sweet wrappers around Kagome's feet, no spare change for parking metres, and there was still paper lining the floor behind Kagome's seat.

Very odd.

Kagome frowned deeply as she snapped her seatbelt in place. Sango Hara… I'm sure I've heard it on the news or something.

Then it hit her.

Kagome glanced at the police officer with startled eyes. “Wait - aren't you the Chief of Police's daughter?” Kagome asked, knowing as she said it that it was too much of a coincidence to be wrong. “I thought you were killed by the Coalescence.”

Sango seemed to be ignoring her as she pulled a bag from the backseat into her lap. Kagome followed her movements with mounting trepidation. “What are you doing?”

“I'm sorry, I really, truly am.” Sango said quietly as she pulled a bottle and swab of old cloth from the bag.

Kagome's hand moved like lightening to unhook herself from the belt and escape from the car, but Sango was faster, and the younger girl soon found she had been locked inside. She whipped back to face Sango, not understanding why this was happening or how, but knowing that she was prepared to fight for her life if necessary.

However, Sango was strong. She pushed Kagome's resisting arms down and pinned her against the back of the seat, pressing the cloth against her mouth until all Kagome could smell and breathe were bitter tasting vapours. They invaded her lungs like pinpricks, paralysing her from the inside out. Her vision swam, and her body fell asleep moments before her mind did the same.

When it was over and Sango was sure the girl was fully unconscious, she sat back and packed the chloroform away again. She plucked her phone from her pocket and hastily dialled. As it rung out, she looked at the girl in dismay, shaking her head slightly as she guiltily flicked a lock of hair between her fingers.

The ring tone ended. “Did you get her?” a voice asked her shortly.

Sango ground her teeth. “Yeah.”

“Good. Bring her to me.”

Sango snapped her phone shut angrily and threw it behind her. “I hate you,” she muttered as she threw the car into first gear and took off down the street.

………………………&# 8230;…………………

Kikyo awoke to the irritating sensation that someone was drilling a hole in her head with a jackhammer. It was a few seconds before she realised the jackhammer was really the sound of the fire alarm going off.

Heaving a groan of pain, she sat up and began unbuttoning her jacket. A single bullet fell out into her lap as she peeled her flimsy bullet-proof vest out of the way to examine her chest.

A nasty purple and red bruise was spreading over her left breast, and by the feel of it, she could almost bet that she had suffered a broken rib or two. That was the drawback of modern vests. They were thinner and easier to disguise, but although they did their job by stopping bullets, they didn't always absorb much of the impact.

That's what I get for sacrificing practicality for appearance, she thought wryly.

Kikyo had been wearing the vest for nearly three weeks, ever since attempts had been made on her life by the rival cosmetic companies. She'd chosen to wear the thinner vest, knowing that the conventional vest would tarnish her image of `slim and gorgeous'.

But still, broken ribs and an ugly bruise weren't particularly attractive or practical features either, as she discovered when hauling herself up from the floor to pull the phone from her desk. She slowly and meticulously dialled Naraku's number and rested her back against the floor as she waited for him to pick up. It didn't take long.

“Why, hello, Kikyo. What can I do for you?” his smooth voice inquired charmingly.

A sour smile twisted Kikyo's lips. “You'll never guess who just charged into my office and shot me,” she rasped.

But Naraku could guess, and neither of them had to say anything for him to understand the situation. Naraku's end went deadly quiet.

“I told you,” Kikyo said, giving a pained cough. “He's gone to the bad, that boy.”

………………………&# 8230;……………………

The first indication that things weren't going Inuyasha's way was when the fire alarm went off. The hanyou stood in the foyer of Kikyo's office block, looking around intently as hoards of workers and employees came pouring out of every crook and cranny to escape the building. There was little doubt in Inuyasha's mind that Kagome had tripped the alarm, deliberately or otherwise, and he knew that there was a possibility that she had outsmarted him and taken another route out of the building. Panicky minds were easier to predict and control, but Kagome was always surprising him.

He would have liked to carry on searching for her, to ensure that she was safe and that she wouldn't go running straight to the police to give the game away, but Naraku's message cut his afternoon short.

“Meet me by the tube station. It's urgent.”

Inuyasha didn't question the order. His shoulders sagged slightly as he left Kikyo's building and flagged down the next passing taxi. It was another matter of threatening the driver and kicking out the previous passenger to get to the tube station, but his heart wasn't in it as he absently waved his knife at the back of the man's head. He was dropped off beside the fountain he'd been waiting beside earlier, and the taxi took off as if the driver had dropped a brick on the accelerator.

Typically, there was no one waiting for him outside the station, just like before. The only difference now was that the area was virtually empty. Rush hour had ended, and the workers had gone home, leaving only a scant few shoppers in their wake. The sun was fading behind the clouds, and a cool breeze had picked up, rustling through his hair. The hanyou scowled slightly, feeling that, since this morning, his day had slowly spun out of control, and he was teetering on the very edge of an abyss. He couldn't see over the edge, but he knew that one wrong step now would send him over.

After five minutes of waiting for Naraku's `urgent' business, Inuyasha grew concerned. Perhaps he hadn't meant for Inuyasha to wait beside the fountain, but to wait on the subway platform instead? There wasn't much harm in checking, just in case, so Inuyasha shoved his hands into his pockets and made his way down to the underground station.

There were only two platforms to choose from, and they faced each other across a set of rail tracks that disappeared into two tunnels on either end of the station. Inuyasha stood behind the painted yellow line on Platform 1, peering around in utter confusion.

Three other people stood on the platform with him, two of them reading newspapers and the third busy listening to his earphones. When the next train came along, they wedged themselves aboard a crowded carriage before it took off, disappearing down one of the black tunnels. Inuyasha watched it leave with a perplexed frown as he realised he was alone on the platform and Naraku had yet to appear.

A cold breeze blew through the station, scraping empty packets of crisps along the concrete platform and sending a stray page from a newspaper down onto the tracks. Inuyasha's ears pricked as a deep rumble sounded from the tunnel to his right, but no train emerged. The station was completely empty… and it put Inuyasha on edge.

“Hum,” he said, trying to break the stiff silence that surrounded him, but like ice it broke and froze over again, colder than ever and making him feel twice as isolated as before.

Scratching the back of his head, Inuyasha moved to sit down on a vacant plastic seat under the severe glow of a florescent light. Anyone would think it was midnight on a weekday for all the activity around the station, or else they would assume it had been closed down.

Something was terribly wrong here.

Have I got the wrong station?

Almost in answer to his question, his phone began to shudder and ring in his pocket. The number was unknown to him, but he answered it anyway. “Hello?”

There was a long pause on the other end. “Do you like proverbs, Inuyasha?”

It wasn't Naraku, or Kouga, or anyone else that he knew, and the question caught him off guard. “What?” He pulled a face and sat up, looking around warily. “Who is this?”

“There's an old Irish proverb that I think you'd like,” the anonymous caller told him.

Somewhere behind Inuyasha, a door slammed shut. The hanyou sprang up from his seat and peered up the stairs that led to street level, but daylight was no longer visible, and the doors had been bolted shut.

Dread crawled down Inuyasha's spine as the florescent tubes of light above his head began flickering. Another distant rumble billowed forth from the tunnels, setting his teeth on edge. “Who is this?!” he demanded more forcefully.

“Why don't you ask the people behind you?”

Inuyasha turned slowly to face the other platform, his blood running cold as he did so. His fingers tightened around the phone, and automatically he reached for his knife. Normally this wasn't the kind of reaction he exhibited upon seeing the three other members of his cell, but these weren't normal circumstances.

Kouga, Bankotsu, and Jakotsu stood across from him carrying various types of weapons that ranged from simple daggers to overblown knives that were so long they could have been classed as swords. Their eyes weren't friendly or welcome, but the feeling was mutual. The only man present who dared smile was Kouga. “I'm so going to enjoy this,” he heard the wolf mutter.

“Can you guess what's happening, Inuyasha?” his caller asked evenly.

Inuyasha swallowed hard, refusing to answer just in case this was simply one large bluff. He didn't dare say anything to incriminate himself. “I don't understand. Who are you?”

“I'm the leader of the Coalescence,” the man responded. “You should be honoured. I don't often waste my time with small fry like you. But you have been making a reputation for yourself lately.”

Now Inuyasha really didn't understand. As far as he was concerned, Naraku was the leader of the Coalescence, but this man was clearly not the boss he had been obeying for the last ten years. He didn't dare take his eyes off his comrades as he whispered into the phone, “If this is about the Higurashi girl, I can explain-”

“This has nothing to do with her or Kikyo Higurashi,” was the blunt response.

A nasty feeling settled in Inuyasha's chest, constricting his breathing. “If you're my boss, then I've been lied to.”

“Yes,” the man conceded, “but no more than you have been lying to us.”

Anger unfurled in his belly, making his fists clench. “I see.”

“You're the weak link in our chain, Inuyasha,” he was told. “You have to be removed if we are to survive. And as the proverb goes, `You cannot run with the hares and hunt with hounds.' I'm sure you understand what that means.”

“Perfectly.” Inuyasha closed his eyes in despair.

“Then I suggest you start running.”

 

……………………… ;…………………………R 30;..

Fackyews. Because you're worth it.

 

I'm British, from Essex. Where are you from?

Manchester, and am now living in a little town just outside Wales, but strangely, most of my favourite relatives live in Essex.

Do you say `Shite' instead of `Shit'?

As a matter of fact… I do…

This chapter is too short.

Um… sorry?

Why are Brits so looked down upon?

Most likely because we're so damn short.

100 words a minute… you could write a whole chapter in an hour! You could write a whole story in two days!

Yes, but for most of my writing time, I stare off into space a lot. After careful research I've discovered that I roughly spend one minute writing for every twenty minutes I spend thinking about writing.

Ahah! I get to see Howl's Moving Castle before you!

I shall kill you, steal your life and watch the film. Then we'll see who's laughing!

(sidenote: if you don't know what Howl's Moving Castle is, I urge you to go out right now and order the book off Amazon. It's by Diana Wynne Jones, who, IMHO, outclasses Mrs Rowling by far.)

How's your dog? Didn't you get one a while back?

He's fine. He has an insatiable appetite for junk food and tends only to obey when he's promised a sweetie for his efforts. He's always the topic of conversation at our dinner table and receives fusses, cuddles and kisses whenever he does something cute, like… uh… blink. He's a much loved member of our household and despite all the spectacles, shoes, gloves, knickers and bras that he's eaten/demolished over the past year and a half, we wouldn't trade him for the world. So… please don't call the Animal Cruelty people on our asses.

When are Inuyasha and Kagome going to get together?

You mean you're actually expecting them to get together? What was that? There's an `Inu/Kag' in the summary?! Well how on earth did that get there? I better remove it. This is purely a Kagome/Jaken story, I'll have you know.