InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ 'life' and 'death' ❯ Chapter Seven ( Chapter 7 )

Here are a few new terms. (Don't worry; there won't be a vocabulary test at the end…or will there??????? He he.)

Clock: to keep track of someone's movements and activities.

Consigliere: the counselor in a crime Family; advises boss and handles disputes within the ranks.

Uppers: aka the administration: the upper-level power structure of an organized crime Family, composed of the boss, underboss (capos), and consigliere.

Young Turks: Younger, less traditional generation of Mafiosi. Less likely to live by the old rules.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything regarding Inuyasha.

Previously:

"What the fuck do you mean `I was sent here to fucking protect her'? Am I the only fucking one who doesn't have any fucking clue as to what the fuck is going on here??? Maybe if you were fucking doing you fucking job then she wouldn't be in this fucking position!"

Footsteps could be heard approaching the group. For split second everyone thought that it was Kagome. Their hearts all skipped a beat just thinking of the possibility but as the sound neared them the foot steps seemed to be too heavy. When they turned around they saw it to be a man.

"Little brother, has that certain word that used to get you in trouble when you were little became so engraved into your vernacular that it simply has lost it's meaning to you?"

"Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha and Tai both said at the same time. Obviously, they both said it with different connotations and different tones of voice.

"So this is your brother? He doesn't look as bad as you described him Inuyasha. In fact, he looks a hell of a lot like you."

**************

Chapter Seven

"Keh, I'm nothing like him." He said as he turned away from his brother much like a pouting child would.

"You have the temperament of a child, Inuyasha" Sesshoumaru emotionlessly stated.

"Why the hell are you here Sesshoumaru? Don't you have some gay bar to be at? Take you buddy Tai here and go head over the rainbow, or what ever the hell you two do."

Tai and Sesshoumaru rolled their eyes at Inuyasha.

"I, unlike you little brother," he emphasized, "have a job and do not simply live off of my trust fund."

"Oh shove it, Fluffy."

Sesshoumaru had left home when he turned eighteen to make a life of his own. He didn't wish to take over Taiyouki Securities, Trusts, and Bonds; he wanted to do things on his own terms. He had lived seven years on his own, moving from country to country. He started out fighting in illegal underground street fights; it had really earned him a reputation in many countries. That lasted two years. Later on he was recruited as a mercenary. That lasted one year. By the time he was twenty-one he was working for the CIA as an undercover agent for the United States. It had entertained him for about three years. He found that faking your death could really set a person free. For the past year and a half he had been a close associate with the Hiragarshi crime family. Only the top level people knew who he was. Despite the occasional accidental run in, he did not see Inuyasha that often.

His twenty-sixth birthday was soon approaching and he had yet to decide if he would return to his father and resume all prior responsibilities that Taishio had previously planned. It was pretty clear that Inuyasha had no real interest in business. To Sesshoumaru it seemed like Inuyasha had no ambition at all. He was more of a celebrity than anything else. Magazines tried to follow his every move and named him in the top ten list for every year for "most eligible bachelor," but he was a hard person to keep up with. He wasn't necessarily a good role or a moral person at times but this twenty-three year old really didn't seem to care. He was a bad boy and many women, and a few men, found that very attractive.

"You must be Sango," Sesshoumaru said turning to her with a nod. It must have been his way of saying hello and ignoring Inuyasha.

Sango continued to look back between Inuyasha and his brother. She could have sworn that they were twins. Sesshoumaru was a little bit taller and perhaps a little bit older looking, but their features were looked strikingly the same.

"Cut that shit out Sango," Inuyasha said as he noticed what she was doing. "Now will someone tell me what the fuck is going on here?!?!?!!?!"

"I guess I should start. Inuyasha I haven't been completely honest with you… Kagome is well how I should put this… She's not only my best friend, but she's also my cousin."

"Okay, right and your point?"

"Well, she's not just any plain rich girl; she's THE Kagome Hiragarshi of the Hiragarshi crime family." Sango smiled nervously. "My mother, her father, and our two uncles are all brothers and sisters." She shivered visibly at the mention of Kagome's father. Kagome refused to address him by that title so she felt wrong in doing so as well.

Inuyasha didn't know what to say, for one in his life I really wasn't sure what the right thing to say was.

"Okay, so you and Kagome are little mafia princesses… I can deal with that, but it still doesn't explain who's after her and what in the hell these two ass clowns are doing here," he said point towards Sesshoumaru and Tai.

Tai was ready to shoot back an insult back at Inuyasha but Sesshoumaru stopped him.

"Do no even dignify him with a response, it will only keep him talking longer and time is not something that we have on our side. We need to split up and start looking."

"Hold up, why should I trust you?" Sango asked Sesshoumaru and Tai.

"Well, your uncles trust me so I don't see why you wouldn't," Sesshoumaru stated back to her with coldness that not even Kagome, Daichi or Nori could muster.

Sesshoumaru let out a bored sigh. "Sango, I've been a close associate with your Family for more than year."

"So just exactly what do you do and why haven't I seen you around before?"

Well I guess you could say that I am a consigliere for the consigliere. They call me the watcher. I keep a close clock on certain people that the Family feel need to be clocked. Only the uppers know me."

"Okay…How do I know you haven't betrayed them and aren't working for the enemy and just want us to trust you so we'll come with you?"

"They said you say that. Here's a note from Nori." He reached into the inside pocket of his sport coat and handed a Sango a letter with the family seal stamped upon it. She tore the envelope open and read the letter quietly to herself.

Sango-

If you are reading this letter then it is quite obvious that I have taught you well. A situation has arisen and it is very important that you trust Sesshoumaru. Daichi and I will be returning shortly. Sesshoumaru will inform you on all that he knows. Other than them, trust no one else until our return.

With love,

--- Uncle Nori

"Okay, do you mind explaining the situation?" Sango asked.

Sesshoumaru wasn't saying and thing and didn't want to say anything due to his little brother being present. Even though they seemed to have their own problems he didn't want to get Inuyasha anymore involved than he already was.

Tai decided to take the liberty and answer this one. "Ryo's back."

Those two words put a fear not even conceivable into Sango's eyes. Her heart tore to shreds as she recalled all that he had done to his family. Among the family, and other rival families that eventful day in April was known as "The Ryo Day Massacre."

"Let me get this straight, Fluffy, you work for the Hiragarshi family? Dad's gunna be pissed!" Inuyasha started to laugh at this.

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes once again at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, are too stupid to realize that dad has been involved with the Hiragarshi's ever since he started the company thirty years ago?"

"Well isn't that just GREAT! Everyone has some connection to the mafia except me."

Sango shot him a look. "And you're upset about this Inuyasha?"

"Well not exactly Inuyasha, I privately contracted Tai to watch over Kagome after we figured out Ryo's plans. I needed someone I could trust who could also hold his own. Naturally, Tai was my first choice."

"Keh," he replied. "I'm a lot tougher than that asshole."

"Don't call me an asshole, asshole." Tai said as he stepped up to Inuyasha coming face to face with him.

"What's that asshole?" Inuyasha retorted.

I said don't call me an asshole, asshole!" Tai yelled back ready to settle things fist to fist.

"Say what asshole?" Inuyasha repeated; ready to take what ever Tai could throw at him.

"BOYS!!!" Sango yelled. They both froze. "How about we stop fighting and try to remember Kagome!" `Good god! I thought that Inuyasha hated his brother, but they sure seem to getting along a hell of a lot better than he and Tai do.'

"She's absolutely right," Sesshoumaru stated. "Follow me," Everyone listened to him and followed him back through the door of Club Elite.

**************

Kagome looked back at the Kanda-Kawa River one more time before deciding it was time to get out of there before someone else came along. `How am I going to get home?' `I could hitch hike maybe, but who the hell is going to stop and pick me up?' `I probably look like someone who has been murdered, thrown off a cliff, and then murdered again.' `Well at least I can see the city lights from here, I don't think we drove too far out of Tokyo, maybe a half mile at the most.'

She wrung out the bottom of her dress that was tattered, torn, and ripped to get the excess water out. The water trickled down her bare legs; washing away some of the blood that had began to flow again. Her dress clung to her body even tighter than it had before. She started to walk towards the road, thinking that it would be the easiest way back into the city. It might not be the safest, but at least it was the easiest. `If they want to fucking kill me then go ahead and try.' `I've lived this long and I'm starting to think that fate finds it entertaining to throw me into `fight to the death' situations.'

She followed the river until she came to the huge drop off where the car had lost control; it was going to be a difficult climb up. She reached up as high as she could and placed a firm grip on a rock that seemed to be sturdy. She pulled her self of and carefully placed her feet on new rocks. The rocks, sticks, and what ever else remained dug into her feet, but she couldn't feel a thing. What was one more cut or scrape? It didn't take her long to make it up the hill and back to the road that she once traveled.

The road was unusually quiet. `I guess it must be pretty late.' `Or maybe people just don't travel on this road that much, it really isn't a main one I guess.' Kagome was lost in her thoughts until she realized that she was already back within the city limits of Tokyo. `How long have I been walking and thinking without even noticing anything else around me?' She looked around and examined her surroundings. To her luck, there was a payphone a block ahead. At least she wouldn't have to go too far and get too many pitiful looks.

Kagome picked up the phone and held the plastic receiver to her ear. She twirled the metal cord as best as she could around her finger as she thought of who she should call. `Okay, so there is only one person that I can call… I only have one number memorized; the rest lie at the bottom of the stupid river.' "I sure hope Sango accepts collect calls…"

*************

Sesshoumaru, Sango, Inuyasha and Tai all sat in a booth towards the back of the club. The night crew was cleaning up everything but no one seemed to care. They had been making plans for the past five minutes.

"Sango, you will come with me and we will search the sector one," Sesshoumaru pointed at the area he had circled on the map and named `sector one.' "Inuyasha, since I do not trust you and Tai to actually corporate for more than five minutes, that and we only have three vehicles, you will take sector two while Tai will take sector three."

"Feh." No one even had to look up to know whose mouth that noise came out of.

"Is everyone clear on the plans?" No one even had time to say know before Sesshoumaru barked his next order. "Okay good, here, everyone is going to need these." Sesshoumaru placed black telephone like looking objects in front of everyone.

"Aren't we a little too old to be playing with walkie talkies, Fluffy? We're trying to find Kagome, not play---"

Inuyasha was interrupted before he could even finish his sentence. "Inuyasha, if you had even half a brain left you would know that we can't use our cell phones, at least for tonight. They are probably just waiting to intercept the call."

"Well then what the hell makes these walkie talkies any different?" Inuyasha asked.

"They are not walkie talkies Inuyasha; they are a hybrid between a cell phone and two way radios. They send an encrypted signal on a private channel which can be networked and connected with whoever needs to be connected. There is no possible way for anyone to intercept our conversations. Our specialist devised them himself."

"The mafia has technology specialists?" Inuyasha asked back to his brother.

Tai decided that he needed to be part of this conversation as well. "Isn't technology a pretty big word for you to know Inuyasha?"

Sango kicked Tai, who was sitting directly across from her, from underneath the table. He took this warning and decided to shut up. She glanced over at Inuyasha and gave him a death glare. He decided not to tell Tai his come back even though he thought that saying `a word isn't the only big thing I have' would have been pretty damn great. Inuyasha smirked; it didn't go unnoticed by Sango. Yes, he would definitely save it for later when Sango wasn't around.

"Yes Inuyasha, the Hiragarshi family isn't exactly the stereotypical mafia that you see on TV or on a movie. They are a very young group when compared to all of the other families out there. They don't follow all of the rules put together by people we like to call for lack of a better term, the `old schoolers.' The people who stick with the old ways likewise call people like us the `young turks.' Times have changed and the Hiragarshi family has progressed along with the times. They are very diversified when it comes to `business', it is why they are one of the top mafias in the world."

Inuyasha looked pleased with Sesshoumaru's answer. At least he wasn't completely in the dark anymore, so to speak.

"It is time for us to depart; remember, we check in with each other in two hours unless someone finds Kagome. In the occurrence that she is found, every one will be relayed the information, do I make myself clear?"

Inuyasha stood up and gave Sesshoumaru a crisp military salute. "Aye Aye Cap'n!" Tai just sneered at Inuyasha as he stood up, followed by Sesshoumaru and Sango. They all made their way out their respective cars.

*************

"We've covered almost our entire sector Sesshoumaru, what if we can't find her? Sango asked.

"Do not fret, one of us will find her. Do not forget that we have two other units searching two other sectors."

"Well maybe if you said that with just a little conviction I could believe you." Inwardly he smiled. At least he knew that hiding his emotions made people upset, it would come in hardly when in the presence of enemies.

Sango was about to start yelling at him when her cell phone rang. She dug around her purse desperately. `My wallet…a pen…a shot glass?' `Where the hell did that come from?' `ah-ha! Here you are you little bastard.' She answered her phone after checking the caller id that came up as "unavailable." "Hello?"

Sesshoumaru was going to object and remind Sango of the no cell phone rule when she screamed. "Of course I will accept!! Oh my god, Kagome, are you alright, what happened to you, where are you, are you okay, did anyone hurt you?"

"Sango, please calm down, I have one hell of a headache. One question at a time."

"Okay, where are you?" Sango asked.

"I'm not really sure; I don't think I've ever been to this part of the city before. It's on the south side of town... It's that road that has the big bridge that crosses the Kanda-Kawa River."

Sango relayed this information to Sesshoumaru who then relayed it to Inuyasha since the south was included in his sector.

"Ok. Kagome, are you okay? I don't want a bullshit answer of, `yes Sango, I'm fine,' because I know how you like to pretend things are fine when they really aren't.

"Sango, I'm fine. I just want to go home."

Sango knew Kagome was lying, but she wasn't going to call her out on it. At least Kagome was alive.

Sesshoumaru said something to Sango who then relayed it to Kagome. "Inuyasha is in the area looking for you, we're sending him to pick you up. He should be in a charcoal gray Aston Martin Vanquish. Wait right where you are and don't go anywhere, alright?"

"Yes Sango."

"I'm serious Kagome, promise me."

"Okay, I promise Sango."

"Good, I'll see you in a little big Kags," she started to choke up and release her fear that had been accompanying her the entire time, "I'm so glad that you're alright."

"I'll see you later Sango,' Kagome whispered up before hanging the phone back up.

She stepped away from the phone booth and decided to sit on the side of the curb. She had been on her feet for entirely too long tonight. She turned her head up towards the night sky and looked up at the moon. "Are you mocking me as well?" she whispered to the moon. She could feel tears build up in her eyes but she forced them to go back down. She would not cry; crying was for the weak. She was not weak.

She needed something else to think of, something that wouldn't make her cry. `So Inuyasha drives a Vanquish.' It was more of a statement than a question. `I guess it suits him; the cars name I mean.' `Vanquish: to over come, to conquer, to gain mastery over emotion, passion, and temptation.' `I guess that I haven't known him that long but he comes off as that sort of guy.' `He's the sort of guy who can go through life and never have any problems.' `I kind of feel like I have seen him before.' `He's the guy who will always get what he wants.' `He's the guy that will never be alone.'

A light breeze made its way toward the trees and down though her hair that was almost dry again. It flew softly through and moved all of her hair to her left side. The moon shone down and reflected off of her skin. She would have looked like an angel had it not been for the blood and tattered dress. The wind blew again but a little bit harder. Her whole body shivered causing her to bring her hands up to her chest, folded across one another in order to rub her hands up and down the lengths of her biceps. She looked like death that was cursed to roam this land forever, she was a tragic angel.

`I'm all alone,' was her second to last thought before a car made it's way to where she sat. `And no matter how hard I try, I will always be alone in the end.'

************