InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ 'life' and 'death' ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: I do not own anything regarding Inuyasha.

Previously:

"You don't know anything! Just go away and let me handle things. I don't need you help. I don't need anybody else's help. Just stay the fuck away!" She could feel tears forming at the corners of her eyes but she willed them all away. She would not let anyone see her pain, or see her cry. When she heard the name "Ryo" it tore the broken pieces of her heart to even smaller shreds. She felt as if she had just died by reliving her whole experience with just the mention of one man's name. To whom ever it concerned, she had died two years, three months, and twelve days ago. `Why am I even alive?' `Maybe if I didn't live it would take away all the pain that I know is soon to come.' `I could save not only my life from this "death" that seems to linger near by but also save the many who will inevitably perish for my mistakes.'

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

Chapter Nine:

After that little outburst, Kagome pulled her legs up onto her seat and wrapped her arms around them for comfort. She smoothed out the fabric as much as possible and then closed her eyes lightly. `Take a deep breath in…hold it…let it all out.' She repeated this procedure several times. She couldn't even look at him anymore. Leaning over to the right, she placed her head on the edge of the head rest so that she could watch the passing city lights and various buildings as he took them back to their complex. They drove through the downtown and through the business district in complete awkward silence.

He would try to ask her a question, and she would not replay. After about ten minutes of "question and no answer," he decided to give it up. `Women are so fucking complicated.' `I still wanna know what that little fit was about; it must be something big', and sooner or later he would find out.

He reached his hand over to the center consol and with a push of a button he turned the radio back on. In a un-Inuyasha like act, he kept the volume down and the music soft because he thought that she probably wouldn't appreciate loud music just right now.

Inuyasha took his eyes off the road and looked at her. It appeared that she had been coaxed into sleep as her eyes were shut and she had a somewhat peaceful look on her face. He wasn't sure what made him do it, but he found him self running a finger across her chin; perhaps it was to comfort her. She looked so unlike the person he had seen fifteen minuets ago. This Kagome looked peaceful in her unburdened sleep.

He pulled his hand away and placed it back on the gear shifter. They were only a few blocks away from being home.

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

Tai was furious. `God, Sesshoumaru can be such a pompous dick head when he wants to.' `Blah blah blah, I am god; thou are unworthy of being in the presence of this Sesshoumaru,' he imagined Sesshoumaru saying. It brought a grin to his face

He still liked Sesshoumaru; they had lived together for a few years and in the same city occasionally after that. Just knowing that it made Inuyasha jealous and furious that he was close with his brother made Tai want to live with Sesshoumaru even more. But doing so meant having to put up with "Fluffy" when he was in one of his moods, and it was best to stay away at those times What Tai failed to realize was that he was usually the cause of those bad moods.

The truth was that all three "boys", Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, and Tai, were a lot more alike than they would ever admit. It was the stubbornness and pride that left them to their arguments.

`Great, so where the hell am I supposed to go?' `I guess I should start out with finding out where Inuyasha lives and where Kagome lives.' `Maybe they are going back to one of those places… it's a starting point I guess.' `Now that god is gone I guess I can use my cell phone again.'

He flipped open his phone and dialed *411, the information service that his phone provided. "Welcome to Japan wireless, this is Emi, how may I direct your call tonight Mr.Kage?" the operator said while pulling up his information on her computer screen.

"I need the address and possibly the phone listing for an Inuyasha Taiyouki."

"One moment please while I retrieve the information."

Tai tapped his fingers impatiently on his steering wheel.

"I'm sorry sir but that information is unlisted; would you like to try another name?"

"Yes, I would like to try another," he said in almost a mocking voice. "Is there a listing for a Kagome Hiragarshi?"

"Just a moment," she said again.

After about thirty seconds she came back to tell him that the information on Kagome was also unlisted.

"GOD DAMNIT!" he yelled before shutting his phone, startling the receptionist, and throwing the phone down at the passenger seat. `Now how the hell am I supposed to find that fucker?'

Just then, an idea hit it. It was like a moment of complete clarity or an answer for his prayer from up above. It was like that light bulb in your head switching on that gave off a brilliant light. He knew exactly how to find Inuyasha: ask one of the strippers down at that club where he had seen Inuyasha take one, two, or three of the girls home from.

He whipped around the block and headed straight towards to Ladies de Tama.

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

Tai walked into the Ladies de Tama club. It was an upper class strip joint. You had to either be someone or know someone who was someone to get in. Cages hang from the ceiling which contained strippers who were dancing. There was also a main stage where performances took place. All of the tables not directly connected with the main stage had poles in the middle where one could special order a dancer to grace their table. Tai was lucky that this place was open from 4 pm- 6 am everyday. Instantly he was swarmed by several women; they all realized who he was and more importantly who he was related to.

"Hello ladies," he said while flashing them his trademark grin. "I seem to have a slight problem, I lost my cousin, Inuyasha, earlier this evening and I feel really stupid about this but I forgot his address. I know that he wanted to party with you girls later on so I guess I'm doing him a favor but do any of you remember where he lives?" He was lying. Oh well, as long as he got the information that he needed, he didn't really care at this moment.

"Awwww, how cute, don't worry honey; I'll show you where he lives," a red head wearing nothing but a g-string and a small bikini top said.

"Perfect," he said back while putting an arm around her waist.

"Tai, we're coming too." He looked over at the girl who had said that. What he saw was a girl with purple hair in a painted on bikini that was holding hands with another girl who had blonde hair and was wearing knee high boots, booty pants and a small tube top. It seems that Tai wasn't a stranger with the ladies either.

"I could never deny two beautiful women such as your selves," he said while extending his arm toward the girl with the purple hair.

"Ladies, shall we?"

They all nodded their heads as they went out into the parking lot towards Tai's car.

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

Inuyasha parked his car in its space in their underground parking ramp. He looked over at Kagome again and saw that she was still sleeping, and pretty peacefully at that. He decided not to wake her and just carry her up instead.

He got out of his car and walked around to the other side and opened her door. He didn't realize that she had been leaning against the door as she started to fall out. Kagome was awaked with a shock as she started to fall but he caught her before she could get hurt.

"Opps," he told her. He couldn't really read what she was feeling or thinking. It kind of looked like she was confused more than anything. She started to stand up on her own while trying to push him away.

"Stop being so damn stubborn and let me help you."

Her vision and her mind were both cloudy. It must have been from being completely exhausted. She felt disoriented so she allowed him to help her, for the time being anyway. Inuyasha swept her off her feet, literally, as he put and arm under her knees and one across her back and lifted her up. She wanted to protest his actions but she felt too weak to do so. Instead, she let her head rest on his body right near his shoulder.

He managed to "push" the elevator up button with a kick of his foot. The doors opened instantly. He pushed the button for his floor, the twentieth floor, the top floor. Kagome stirred in his arms and said "sixteen."

Inuyasha guessed that she probably wanted to sleep in her own bed. Either that or she thought he was the door man who occasionally helped people with the elevator when their hands were full. `The door man best not be carrying you like this,' he thought to him self. He couldn't blame her for wanting to go back to her floor. `Oh well,' he could help her just as much in her place as he could in his.

Minutes went back and finally the elevator came to a halt and the doors began to slide open. Inuyasha walked a few feet where he stopped in front of the large oversized door. `They're the same on every floor.'

He dropped her legs gently to the floor. She had fallen asleep again and really didn't want to wake her but there was just no other way to get her password on the door. "Hey Kagome," he said while rubbing her cheek, "what's your password sweetie; we need to get in through your door if you wanna sleep in your own bed."

"mmmmmmmmgrmmmm," was the only sounds that escaped her mouth.

He chuckled at this. "Kagome, I need you to wake up and tell me the code so I can punch it in. Either that, or you're sleeping at my place."

"mmmm5367mmm98502*," he tried the combination that she said and much to his surprise, it actually worked.

Inuyasha scooped Kagome back up in his arms and walked into the entry way. He knew that to his left was the hall way that led to the gym he had been in earlier, so he decided to go straight. "Don't wanna stay with me, huh girl?" He playfully ruffled her hair and heard some sort of grumble in response.

"Damn girl, you have one hell of a decorator," he said as he made his way into her living room. Everything was done in schemes of blacks, and whites. The living room was filled with all white furniture, from the couches to the end tables, to the large surround sound system. The walls were black while the carpet was white with black throw rugs. Everything was so clean looking and modern. She didn't have too many decorations, a few white sculptures here and there, but the dramatic color was the whole emphasis on the room.

He walked through the living room and came to a different room. It must have been some sort of classics room. There were a few large chairs and a baby grand piano in the center of a room. The lights on the ceiling shined down on it as if created a spot light. The room was created to have perfect acoustics, but Inuyasha wouldn't have known that.

He turned around and went down the hall way. He knew where her gym was, so he headed in the opposite direction. After coming across a formal dining room, an office, and several spare bed rooms, he finally found her bed room. `Hey, her bedroom is right where mine is.'

Inuyasha laid Kagome carefully on her bed. He really didn't know what to do with her right now. She couldn't just crawl in bed all bloody and dirty, could she? `What would my mom do?' `Make me clean up, that's for damn sure!' He looked at her again. Her legs were dangling off and her arms were sprawled out everywhere.

He leaned over and started to shake her gently. "Kagome, wake up."

No response.

"Kagome, we need to change your clothes." `Or should I just strip the bitch down?' An evil smirk went across Inuyasha's face.

After a few more attempts of trying to wake her up he decided it was pointless, and he was just going to have to things his way.

Inuyasha made his way into the master bath that was attached to her bedroom and found what he was looking for. "I guess all of the floors were designed the same." He climbed the three stairs that led to the large Jacuzzi bath tub and began to run some water.

He took a look around at all of the different bath soaps and salts. `Why the hell does one woman have so much shit just for a bath?' he asked himself. "Let's see," he said out loud, "green tea and willow sea salt, what the fuck is this shit? Oh well, it's going in" He dumped half of the jar into the tub. He picked up the next closest bottle to him and read it out loud. "Aromatique bath herbal body soak…not sure what the fuck you are but don't you sound interesting?" He emptied the rest of the bottle, about the last remaining third, into the gushing water below. "What the fuck is Earth harmony sesame oil? What the hell, in you go too!" For some strange reason Inuyasha was beginning to enjoy himself as he dumped every single one of Kagome's bath products into the bath, even if they were not intended to be used in the bath, but he didn't know that.

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

Sango couldn't sleep. Sesshoumaru had told her told get some rest but she felt so useless by not being at Kagome's side. `I wonder what she's doing right now.' `I wonder where he went and what he's doing. `I wonder where she is.' "I wonder if she's holding up…. If she knows…'

Her menacing thoughts were interrupted when her house phone began to ring. "Hello," she said with a little bit of excitement hoping that it was Kagome telling her how she was faring.

"Hey there beautiful, miss me?" a seductive voice asked.

Sango's heart skipped a beat at the realization of who was calling her. He caused all of her worry to temporarily go away with just the sound of his voice alone. "Well I guess that all depends now, doesn't it?" she said back coolly.

"Honey, I'm hurt…"

"You know I'm just teasing. Where have you been the past three days, I've missed you."

"Out of town, went to the states, just got back in and I want to see you right now, this very moment. Can I come over?" he asked.

"I suppose that would be alright, let me kick this other man out of my bed first," she loved to get a reaction out of him. They had been secretly dating for the past week and a half. If her mother ever found out she was dating one of the guys who worked for her uncles, shit would hit the fan, figuratively speaking of course.

"Yea, yea, he better be gone and real fast! I'm almost to your floor."

"I see how you are, just calling to make it seem like you're the gentlemanly type."

He chuckled at this. "You know me well, beautiful Sango." He hung up the phone without saying goodbye as he knocked on her door.

She sprinted to the door in her pajamas and opened it with a big grin. She jumped up into his arms and he caught her, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Hey handsome," Sango said seductively while kissing quickly on the lips.

"Hello to you too Sango," he said while kissing her back. "Aren't you even going to invite me in?"

"Come on in Miroku," she said in a teasing voice.

He carried Sango, shutting the door with his foot, and walked straight into her living room and plopped down on the dark purple leather couch, pulling her down onto his lap. He took around at his surroundings and let out a little sigh. "It's good to be home."

She didn't even question him about calling her place his "home." "And I'm glad that you're back," she said while playing with the short pony tail on the back of his neck.

When she first meet him, all she could think of was `hey, remember the eighties?' in reference to his rat tail pony tail. She had been able to convince him via relationship, or no relationship, to either cut it all completely off, or at least grow it out a little more. He ended up choosing the latter.

"Something bad has happened," she said as her thoughts and voice turned back to the sadness that they were before his call.

"What's wrong precious?" He asked as he felt her whole body tense up.

"Ryo's back." With only two words she could explain all of the hate, all of the pain, and all of the sadness that would take book after book to write down.

Sango continued to fill Miroku in on all that she knew had happened. She told him that she knew Kagome was okay, but she didn't know exactly where she was and how she was handling things.

Miroku had been with the Family for about six years. When she was fifteen, he was sixteen and had just started working for the Family. When he was younger he had constantly gotten in trouble and his mischievous ways led him directly to where he was now. Whether it was explosions, implosions, or just plain demolition, Miroku was the guy to go to. He was after all the Families' demolition specialist. He didn't work for any one particular capo and their crew. He helped out wherever his services were needed. Miroku brought about a whole new meaning to "blowing the competition away."

"Would you feel better if we go check and see if she's at her place?" he asked. He couldn't stand to see her like this. It was only a few floors up, anyway.

Sango nodded her head as if implying a "yes."

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

Kagome awoke from what felt like a deep sleep as many different fragrances filled her nostrils. Her whole body was aching; it was completely and utterly exhausted. She heard the soft pitter patter of what seemed to be the start of rain as it fell from the sky to the ground. It took her a few minutes to realize where she was. It's like waking up from a bad hangover only to realize that you've been sleeping on the bathroom floor. It takes you awhile to fully remember where and why you are there, but piece by piece, everything starts to come back. She was lying on her bed…She was staring at her ceiling. These walls were hers, as was that sweet aroma coming from her bathroom. `Did I run a bath for my self and fall asleep?' And then it hit her.

Kagome pulled her legs up on the bed and situated her self so that she was laying down the right way. She rolled onto her side and closed her eyes as the night's events flashed back into her mind. She saw it all, the blood, the killing, and the fight for her life; most importantly, she saw Ryo or what she remembered of him the last time she laid eyes on him. She wanted it to all go away. She didn't want to feel like this. A lone tear made its way down her cheek of off to the side onto the bed before it even passed her nose.

Inuyasha walked back into her bedroom and noticed that she had moved from the position that she was previously in. `She must be awake.' He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. "Hey Kagome, get up," he ordered softly. When she didn't answer he leaned over to look at her face to see if she was sleeping, her eyes were wide open, staring lifelessly off at the wall. He put a hand on her shoulder and told her to get up again, and that she was taking a bath.

Kagome heard him, but didn't feel like answering. It's not that she just didn't want to; it was that she couldn't answer him. Even if she did try, she knew that something inside of her would drag her back down into that dark melancholy that she had known all too well over the past few years. It sucked the life out of her and left her immobile for hours. When she was out in public she could hide it for awhile. But when she was by herself, she didn't have the will to do much of anything. She wanted to feel again, real emotion other than pain. She was certain that her skin wouldn't even crack or start to peel if placed directly into a hot white flame. Ryo had taken her life and she would never be able to get it back.

Inuyasha was growing very impatient with Kagome. "Hey bitch, I was nice enough to run you a bath so the least you can do is drag your stupid ass in there and get all cleaned up." Sometimes things came out a lot harsher than he had imagined in his head. Much to his surprise, he didn't get yelled at.

"I'm not moving and there's nothing you can say or do about it," she replied coldly. The bitterness was also starting to consume her.

"Is that so?" he said in reply to her challenge. Before she knew it Inuyasha was stripping off his clothes. In some form of odd modesty not often known of him, he left his gray boxer-briefs on.

She couldn't see, nor did she care to see. She just wanted to lay there surrounded by her own misery. Kagome was pulled out of her self wallowing, literally as Inuyasha yanked her up from the bed and made her stand up, facing away from him as he unlaced the corset on the back of her dress. His fingers tugged and pulled at the ribbons that bound the corset together. After that task was completed he unzipped the tiny green zipper and slid the tiny shoulder straps off of her shoulders. The dress fell off of her tiny frame and cascaded to the floor. He had undressed her so quickly that she barely knew what was going on before she actually realized what he had just done.

Kagome turned around quickly, facing him with a cold anger in her eyes. "I told you to go away and leave me alone…. SO GO!" she yelled while fighting back tears again. Her mind turned back to her dark thoughts. `You cannot get close to anyone, they will only end up leaving you, hurting you, or you will end up killing them.' `Get him out of here now before it's too late.' `Do you really want the death of someone else on your conscience?' `Haven't you killed enough innocent people lately?'

"Stop it…" Kagome quietly whispered to her self while closing her eyes tightly, still fighting the tears.

Inuyasha ignored her outburst and instead pulled her into a tight embrace. He could see the tears that were threatening to fall and wanted to comfort her. "I'm not going anywhere so get used to it. And we're going to get cleaned up whether you like it or not."

She didn't hear a word he said but before she knew it he had thrown her over his shoulder and then emerged her body into the rumbling Jacuzzi, neck high in bubbles. He jumped in and sat behind her. Her bathtub was more like a hot tub that could hold at least six people comfortably.

Kagome coughed and sputtered as the bubbles made there way into her mouth. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she yelled as she felt her mood slipping once again. The hot water caressed her broken skin, it burned but felt warm and welcome at the same time. She felt the blood being washed away. Or maybe it was Inuyasha who had picked up a wash cloth, sat down besides her, and was now trying to remove all of the excess blood.

"I'm fucking helping you so shut the fuck up and let me help damnit."

Never had anyone helped her quite like this. It felt almost…good.

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