InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ 21 Bullets ❯ Chapter 2

Man, I can't believe it's been so long since I first started this fic. I was watching old episodes of Trigun for inspiration. I do kind of like the gunslinger genre and I always wanted to do something like this! I really recommend Trigun, especially the English Dub, to any anime fans out there looking for a new, or old, anime to get into.

 

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. I'm still trying to get the setting together for the story and give little hints of the beginning of a relationship. (wink)

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, nor will I say I have the brilliance like that or Romiko Takahashi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

21 Bullets: Chapter 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Already ten in the morning and he could hear police sirens outside of his window. “Nothing ever changes in this town.” He huffed as Kagome came out of the bathroom, her clothes wrinkled, but otherwise in their expensive splendor. She nervously inched toward the couch he was sitting on.

 

“So how are we going to find out about these guys?” Kagome leaned against the arm of the furniture.

 

Inuyasha looked her up and down, noticing the glare she gave him when he did. Brushing it off, he said, “First thing's first, we have to get you some new clothes.”

 

“What's wrong with these clothes?” Kagome clicked her teeth.

 

“If you go out in this part of town wearing clothes that cost more then one person spends in a month, you're just begging to get targeted… And I'm not the best person to take you shopping.”

 

She crossed her arms doubtfully. “So what do you suggest?”

 

Inuyasha stood and headed toward the door, pulling out a pair of keys from his pocket. “Guess we'll have to play it by ear to see if any of those gang members have made a move. As for you're new outfit, we need to visit an old friend.”

 

He gestured for her to follow him outside the apartment. In the hallway, Kagome watched as he locked the four bolts on his door shut and then walked behind him down the stairs. Out on the streets, where only few cars raced through the roads and people sat down on the dirty stone of building porches or leaned against the graffiti covered walls, Kagome really did feel out of place with her brightly colored, silk outfit. Sure she was only wearing a pair of jeans and a short sleeved, pink shirt, but the quality of her pants compared to the faded colors of the young girls and boys that stared at her while she walked a few steps behind Inuyasha, made Kagome really emphasize on the fact that she was rich kid in a poor neighborhood.

 

It was not a welcome feeling. She knew that she came from a privileged life, but seeing the difference in settings, Kagome felt lucky for her wealth and pity that such poverty had to exist in the same time. Maybe Inuyasha was right when he said that her kind were ignorant of what happens outside of their closed off villa.

 

Speaking of Inuyasha, Kagome thought impatiently as she stared at the long black hair that ended on his lower back. It would be nice if he at least turned around and acknowledged her so that all the people in the street wouldn't make her feel like an alien following someone from this planet, or in this case, this neighborhood.

 

“Everyone's staring.” She mumbled.

 

“See why it's better to blend in.” He answered without turning to look at her.

 

Kagome ground her teeth. A gentleman would walk along side her, not in front like he didn't have a care in the world. Of course what would she expect from someone like him.

 

“You won't have to worry about them anymore. We're here.” Kagome ignored the eyes that were stinging her back and scanned the little store that Inuyasha had just stopped in front of. It stood on a street corner with a large glass window showing the inside. Inuyasha opened the door and the jingle of a bell was heard before Kagome followed him inside.

 

“Connie? Are you here?” Inuyasha called when he walked up to the counter. On the other side were all kinds of knickknacks; it was a simple gift shop.

 

“Is that you Inuyasha?” A woman came from behind the cloth that was placed over a door that led to the back of the shop. She was of average height and weight with black eyes and dark, brown curls that framed her golden skinned face.

 

“What back already? I just gave you a tune-up four days ago.” She rolled her eyes.

 

“I don't need repairs. Actually I need clothes.”

 

Connie raised her brows at him. “I don't specialize in fabric, Inuyasha.”

 

“Not for me, for her.” He pointed at Kagome. She timidly waved to Connie from where she stood by the white, wooden door.

 

Connie looked at Inuyasha and then to Kagome. “Are you sure you don't want new clothes? You're shirt seems too big. You're so thin, Inuyasha.” Now that Kagome thought about, he was pretty slim, tall and very lean. “It's all muscle.” She heard Inuyasha say.

 

“Riiight. How you manage to stay so skinny when you eat so much junk food I'll never know. Men, they have it so easy.” Connie mumbled as she walked to the edge of the counter, lifting a small wooden flap and coming out to stand in front of Kagome.

 

“Hey Hon, how are ya?” Connie smiled.

 

“Uh, fine. Nice to meet you, I'm Kagome.”

 

“Connie Reynard. Hmm…” She circled Kagome, saying things under her breath, which did little to help Kagome's nervousness.

 

“I think something of Sango's would fit you better then some of my clothes. I can see why you asked Inuyasha; she'd stick out like a sore thumb. What's an uptown girl like you doing down here anyway?”

 

Kagome didn't know whether to answer or not, but it didn't matter because Connie said she would rather not know. “We all have things to keep to ourselves I guess. Come with me.”

 

Kagome followed the older woman into the back of the store, looking over her shoulder to Inuyasha as she disappeared in the room. He however didn't pay much attention to her absence because around that same time, the bell signaled another coming into the shop. He didn't have time to see who it was because the person's face was hidden behind brown, paper bags.

 

“Need help?” He picked up some of the load from her. “Hey Sango.” He said as her face appeared.

 

“Hi, Inuyasha.” The pale girl with long brown, straight hair answered, putting down the three bags on the counter. She breathed in a sigh of relief. “So, did you wreck another revolver? Or are you here to pick up your back up pistol? You didn't scratch Dragon did you?” She teased.

 

“I would never scratch my favorite gun and I'm not here for weapons.”

 

Sango laughed and pulled out a can of nuts from one of the bags. “Connie let you out for grocery shopping?” Inuyasha mocked.

 

“I'm a better cook then you'll ever be! And I buy the healthy stuff, not eat out every other night or spend every morning eating pancakes.” Sango popped a peanut in her mouth. “So why are you here?”

 

“To get clothes for a client.”

 

Sango almost chocked. “Client?”

 

“This girl that got herself into a heap of trouble in the club last night.”

 

Sango put down her snack and headed behind the counter. “Where are you going?” Inuyasha called.

 

“To make sure she knows who she's dealing with. I can't have a girl walk around with you without knowing how to deal with you.” Sango was gone in seconds.

 

“Whatever.” Inuyasha said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I can't wear this.” Kagome tugged at the shirt she'd just pulled over her head.

 

“Why not?” Connie asked. “It fits you.”

 

“But these aren't girls' clothes. They're just baggy, cargo jeans, a t-shirt and sweater. I look like a gangster.” Kagome pulled the hood over her head to hide her face.

 

“Trust me,” Connie said as she pushed back the cloth covering her head, “that's what you want to look like down here. If you're covered, you're safe.”

 

“But-”

 

“I'd take her advice if I were you.” Kagome turned to look out of the small closet. The girl at the doorway laughed at her pouting face. “I think you look cool, but it's probably my clothes that are doing the work.”

 

“This is Sango.” Connie introduced.

 

“Hi.” Kagome smiled weakly during their handshake.

 

“So I hear that Inuyasha's taking you under his wing.” Sango pulled out a blue sweatshirt and handed it to Kagome. She noticed that the girl watched her and Connie warily, but shrugged it off as a normal occurrence.

 

“Well…” Kagome took the shirt Sango handed to her.

 

“Don't worry about him. He's a big jerk outside by a softie inside.”

 

I'm not so sure I can believe that. Kagome thought. It took several minutes for Kagome to make up her mind about an adequate outfit. She felt uncertain when Sango handed back her folded clothes, but decided that the new look would serve her better then they would. Descending the stairs, Kagome noticed a new face had come into the shop. He stood with Inuyasha at the counter.

 

“You owe me.” The man said as he placed a greasy looking bag in Inuyasha's hands.

 

Pulling out a burger, Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “Put it on my tab. You can be such a kill joy, Dover.”

 

As Kagome got near, and Inuyasha took a hefty bite out of the sandwich, she noticed that Dover wasn't as tall as Inuyasha, or as thin. He looked fit, with large brown eyes, though his pallid skin color contrasted sharply with his sandy hair. “You're going to have cholesterol problems one of these days.” Dover sighed.

 

Kagome wrinkled her nose. “You just ate all those pancakes and now you're eating burgers this early in the morning?”

 

“I'm hungry.” Inuyasha munched. Kagome heard Connie and Sango sigh from behind her as they came out of the back room. “You're always hungry.” Sango clicked her teeth.

 

Dover's eyes trailed from Inuyasha to Sango and Connie, to Kagome. He cocked his head in her direction and said, “Who's she?”

 

Swallowing a mouth full of beef, Inuyasha said, “I'll tell you in a moment.” He then turned and looked Kagome up and down. “Now you won't get mugged.” He said as he took in her appearance.

 

“So what do we do no-”

 

“Inuyasha,” Dover interrupted Kagome. “Can I talk to you alone for a moment?” He was pulled out so quickly that he dropped his burger, and Dover didn't give him a chance to recover it. “Hey, wait!” Inuyasha whined before he vanished through the door.

 

“What's with him?” Kagome asked Sango.

 

“Let's just say those two have a weird way of communicating.” Sango sighed as she picked up the discarded junk food. “You can go upstairs and wait for them in my room.” She suggested to Kagome. “There's nothing but our little store down here.”

 

As Kagome turned to go up the stairs she heard Connie say, “Those two together usually means trouble. I wonder if something happened last night.”

 

Could that mean Connie and Sango were aware of what Inuyasha did the night before? Kagome thought as she walked into the room she'd changed clothes in earlier. Just what kind of person was Inuyasha? She thought about earlier that morning when the gun she'd pointed at him had slid out of her fingers and zoomed into his hand. Did he use some kind of invisible wiring? There was also something strange about what he had done last night. With all those men pointing their guns, she and Inuyasha should have been full of holes.

 

What kind of new technology was he using? “You're one of them…” The leader from the night before had said that. Kagome felt a chill. Did she get into something worse then she had first imagined. Common sense told her to distrust Inuyasha and run to the police. But if what he said about her being in danger was true, there was no way she was going to risk her family's safety by returning to them. Besides, she didn't know what part of town she was in, or where the nearest police station was! Even if she did somehow locate the authorities, would they believe her family linage and return her to the rich section of town?

 

Kagome blew he bangs out of her eyes. If only she hadn't acted on impulse and told Inuyasha to take her to the cops instead of asking him to help. “You can't trust cops.” Kagome shook her head. This came from a kidnapper? Why didn't she see it before! No wonder he doesn't trust cops.

 

A knock was heard from the door before Sango came in. She threw an apple at Kagome. “I'm sorry if we don't have anything expensive for your tastes, but this should make a good breakfast. I'm betting that dummy friend of mine hasn't really offered you anything healthy to eat.”

 

Kagome made a wry smile, thinking of the pancakes he'd made that morning. She bit into her apple and said, “Where is that dummy?”

 

“He's downstairs arguing with Dover. I wouldn't interrupt them if I were you.” Sango added when Kagome walked past her and opened the doorway to the hall.

 

Kagome ignored her and moved toward the stairs. She decided to ask Inuyasha to take her to the nearest police station. She'd pay him and have this episode finished. Her father was probably having a fit at her disappearance already. Inuyasha's voice got louder as she descended the stairs. Kagome paused at the bottom when she heard Dover speak.

 

“Then take her to the police. She's not our problem. Why did you even suggest that she shouldn't go to the cops. They would treat her nice because she has cash.”

 

“They wouldn't do that if they saw her at the club last night, or if she turned up by the police department in this kind of neighborhood. Plus, she sure did smack one of those goons last night. They might be on her tail.”

 

“I'm sure her rich old man can take care of her.”

 

“Assuming he doesn't arrest me on sight thinking I kidnapped her.”

 

“You got yourself into this mess, don't expect me to bail you out! We have more important things to be doing then babysitting some chick! Or maybe you don't give a damn about your so-called revenge!”

 

“Of course I do!”

 

“Then dump her! We've got enough problems as it is. Or are you being nice to her because she reminds you of someone?”

 

“Fuck no. I don't give a damn about that bitch!”

 

“Then why bother? Just let the police handle it. It's none of our business. If she's super rich, she'll most likely disappear in her upper city. Problem solved. So you baby-sit her for one week. And what happens if you can't find anything? Give her back to her folks?”

 

“If I know that those guys aren't interested in her, then there's no reason to chase them down anymore.”

 

“If they already know who she is, they could just kidnap her for ransom. You shouldn't have gotten her involved.”

 

“And what the fuck was I supposed to do? Leave her there and let the cops arrest her with the rest of them?”

 

Kagome stomped out into the little room and walked straight passed Inuyasha and Dover without looking at either of them. She felt like she had swallowed a lump of coal because her face was burning.

 

“And where do you think you're going?”

 

She rounded on Dover with her teeth bared. “If you think you don't have time to waste on `this bitch' then I'll leave the both of you alone!” She stomped out of the store but not before hearing Inuyasha mumble, “Stupid girl.”

 

That asshole! Kagome fumed. If he thought she was that much trouble, she'd hire a taxi, go to back to her old man and vanish in the upper class area just like he said she would. Screw all those things he said about her being in danger. His friend sure sounded confident that their money would protect her.

 

“Hey babe, how ya doing?” Kagome stopped and looked up. In the short distance she she'd walked, a group of girls had surrounded her. They weren't what she'd imagined the poor to look like. Two girls had white, fair skin and blond hair. There was one girl with dark skin and one with brown. This didn't look like the people her family members had described.

 

“Good?” Kagome tested.

 

“So where's your wallet?” The white girl with braids said. She seemed to be the leader of the other four.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Don't play dumb, we saw you walking around with your sparkly clothes. Where's your fat ass wallet?”

 

The leather pouch felt like ten tons in Kagome's pocket. What was the point of changing clothes if she were going to get robbed anyway? “What the hell are you talking about? I don't have that kind of money one me.” She needed that cash to get back home!

 

The other white girl growled at her. “Trying to pull something bitch? There's no way you could have stolen your clothes. Give us the fucking wallet or do you want us to re-arrange your face?”

 

Before Kagome could think, she had jumped backward and begun sprinting. She heard the girls yell before the sound of their stomping footsteps came to her ears. Kagome skidded to a stop suddenly. Home was that way. She turned and rushed straight toward the girls. Too shocked to slow down, all they could do was scream as Kagome came dashing toward them. Just when she was two steps away from crashing into them, Kagome used her strong legs and flipped herself over the four girls while they were still frozen.

 

“Thank you gymnastics!” Kagome huffed as she began running across the street.

 

“That bitch! Get her!”

 

They were persistent, Kagome thought as the girls followed her down the pavement. She ran passed alleys and shops, looking for a place to hide or disappear from her chasers' view. As though it were a common day occurrence, no one on the street tried to stop the girls chasing her. No one so much as looked her way but it didn't matter. She could handle a few bullies.

 

On the other hand, the truck that appeared from the corner of the street was another thing. If the vehicle rushing toward her wasn't frightening enough, Kagome almost felt like her heart was going to pop when a window on the car's passenger side was slid down and a man leaned outward, pointing a gun in her direction! She screamed and fell, covering her face with her arms.

 

Yells were heard from the girls behind her and Kagome felt the atmosphere roar with a gunshot.

 

“There she is! That's the girl!”

 

“Kill the others and get her!”

 

Too scared to fully understand, all Kagome knew was that her life was in danger but she was too paralyzed by fear to move! A flash, some smoke, curses, and the next thing Kagome knew was that she was behind a wall of some kind. There was heavy panting close by and she turned her head to see the four girls that had been chasing her resting against the wall, shaking and trying to catch their breaths.

 

“I should have known those bastards would make a move already.” Kagome felt nauseated when she saw Dover replace a cartridge in the silver gun he was holding. Still to thunderstruck to comprehend fully, she managed to understand that he had pulled her and the others into an alley before she found herself full of gunshot wounds.

 

“Hey, chicks, if you don't want lead in your skulls I suggest you stick close to me.” The four girls nodded dumbly.

 

“Well looks like you didn't need to investigate at all. Eh, Inuyasha?” Dover peeked into the street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“What a pain.” Inuyasha sighed. Either there was something interesting about Kagome, or the Black Jack Gunners were extremely pissed. It was rare that they would act this quickly, let along send a truck full of armed kidnappers after the girl the next day. Either way, they saved him a lot of work. He no longer had to prove that they were going to come after her. It was a good thing he'd decided to follow her. She sure knew how to run from those girls. He was lucky he had come in time; otherwise she would be carried off by now.

 

“Nice cover, Sango.” Inuyasha said while pulling off the gas mask from his face. When the dust from Sango's smoke bomb clears, he had a few headshots to deal with.

 

“Thanks, Inuyasha.” Sango said through her smoke mask from next to him. The dust cleared from view, leaving the enemy in clear sight. Six coughing men had come out from the van, which had skidded to a stop at the sidewalk because of the sudden cover of smoke.

 

“You bastards.” One of them wheezed. “You'll pay for that!”

 

“Showtime.” Sango and Inuyasha said together.

 

There wasn't even a moment of silence. Out of nowhere a cacophony of gunshots bombarded the small space between the two sides of the street. Inuyasha dodged the first flurry of bullets while countering with his own. Two of the gang members pushed their van till it toppled onto the side, shielding from Inuyasha's shots. Unfortunately, while they had their attention on him, they failed to notice the girl that had snuck up from behind.

 

By the time the six of them had seen Sango, she had already pulled the off the top of the smoke bomb with her teeth. The puff of dust caused their eyes to swell with tears. To busy hacking for air, they did not see Inuyasha rush into the dust cloud, relinquishing them of their weapons while Sango cuffed all their hands together. Within ten minutes the battle was finished. All six men sat in a circle. Sango had locked one of their cuffs to the van's door handle and interconnected the rest so that the men were all stuck together.

 

“For underlings, you chicken shits sure are packing some serious fire-power.” Inuyasha said while he examined the guns he'd collected.

 

“You…” One of the gang members coughed, but didn't get to speak because Sango kicked him in the knee. “Is there a reason you decided to rip apart my part of town? What does the Black Jack gang want here?”

 

Another gang member twitched, his eyes widening at the mention of the title. Inuyasha noticed the reaction. They were defiantly from that gang. What they wanted from Kagome was yet to be seen. “You were here for someone, weren't you?” He said.

 

“Fuck off you bastard. You really think we are going to tell you that!”

 

Before Inuyasha could punch his nose he heard sirens in the distance. “Always late.” He growled. Someone watching had had the sense to call the cops, which meant that he and Sango should make their exit. She didn't need to be told. Sango was already running toward the alley that Dover was guarding Kagome and the girls that were chasing her earlier.

 

“Dover, time to go.” She called.

 

Dover nodded. He grabbed Kagome by the wrist and ordered the other girls to follow. With their knowledge of the inner city shortcuts, Inuyasha, Dover and Sango maneuvered the way till they appeared behind Connie's shop. Kagome was leaning on her knees gasping, her face red. The other girls all stood looking at each other and their three saviors without saying anything.

 

“You still want her money?” Inuyasha asked to break the silence. “It's more trouble then it's worth. Get lost, and I'd keep your mouth shut if I were you.” He spat. With a glare, the four girls left.

 

“What was that all about?” Sango asked.

 

“Let's just say, she picked the worst people to slap yesterday. This proves that they are on her tail.” Dover said.

 

Kagome was half over her shock when she said, “Do they know who I am?”

 

“I'm not sure. The law enforcement decided to make an appearance before I could ask.” Inuyasha huffed before turning toward Kagome with a scowl. “I don't know why they're after you, Kagome, but unless you want to be six feet under somewhere, I suggest you don't run off like that again.”

 

Kagome swelled with anger. It was his fault she's rushed off! If he'd at least thought about her feelings! She wasn't in her comfort zone and it was possible there was criminal who might be after her life! Who was he to judge her when he didn't even understand the stress she found herself in? “Well if you hadn't been such an asshole earlier, I wouldn't have run off.”

 

“Excuse me? What the hell did I do?”

 

“First you say you'd help me for a week, then I hear that you don't give two shits about me. Make up your mind, are you helping me or not?”

 

“I just fucking saved your ass and you ask me that?”

 

“Enough!” Sango interrupted. “Shouting at each other is not going to solve anything. What we do know is that they are looking for her and most likely those guys won't be the last to appear. I suggest we take a breather and try discussing this rationally. Or you two could just stay here and bicker like immature brats. I don't really care.”

 

“You always let your mouth run off, don't you?” Dover said to Inuyasha.

 

“Shut up.” Inuyasha growled.

 

“Whatever. Either way, I'm intrigued. There might be something important about her that caused the Gunners to act this fast.”

 

“I thought you said you had other problems to deal with.” Inuyasha narrowed his eyes.

 

“I do, but I can't just wait for you to get this incident over with so we can get back to that. I'll be waiting inside.” Dover turned and entered Connie's shop through the back door.

 

“Keh. He just doesn't want to admit that he'd worried about the situation.” Inuyasha mumbled while he followed Dover.

 

Kagome glared at his back until he left. He didn't even bother trying to consol her. What a jerk. Her parents had been right: lower boys like him had no manners. Someone put a hand on her shoulder. Kagome blinked at Sango, unsure of what to say.

 

“I'm sorry about this. You must have been really freaked huh?”

 

“Y-yeah.” Kagome said.

 

“Come on, I'll get you some water while we talk about what to do next.”

 

Kagome bit her lip as she followed Sango into the shop. Would things only get more dangerous from here on? What happened several minutes ago only proved what Inuyasha said about the gang members searching for her. If she were smart, she'd demand that they take her home right now, but what if they targeted her family if they saw her? She still wasn't sure if she could place her trust in the three of them, but they had saved her skin earlier. At lest one thing was for sure: at least there were some people, like Sango, in the lower quarter of town that were nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Umm…how was it? I hoped you liked?