InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Laying Down the Law ❯ 2nd Stage: Infiltration ( Chapter 32 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: The Kouga Lucius Connection 
The second stage of Sesshomaru's plan: infiltration of the headquarters.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 03.04.2007 | Pages: 7 | Words: 10.8K | Visits: 1.2K | Status: Completed
The second stage of Sesshomaru's plan: infiltration of the headquarters.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 03.04.2007 | Pages: 7 | Words: 10.8K | Visits: 1.2K | Status: Completed
Alright guys, here I am, back again and ready to go! I was really excited by the positive feedback in the last chapter and, with everyone's help, I hope we can make it to 300 reviews on fanfiction and close to 200 on Mediaminer! I think fanfiction's goal is more realistic, but I have faith in my Mediaminer fans.
Okay, well this one is totally action packed. Not nearly as action packed as the next one but, like, DAMN, lot's of action in here. We're coming to the climax, so prepare yourself for lots and lots of anime like action-angst!
Read on!
Footsteps approached her and she jerked her head towards the newcomer, who turned out to be Akago, crimson eyes a simmering orange behind his spectacles. His hair was braided back and he was wearing a venetian shirt and tight black pants, making him look like some sort of swashbuckler from the 1800s, which would've caused Shitora to laugh if it hadn't been so attractive.
"Where's Ranbou? Is he alright? Did he make it? D-"
Akago cut off the girl's many questions with an upraised hand as he checked her wounds, peering beneath the bandages on her arms where a few deep gashes were located. After a moment, he murmured, "Ranbou is awake and moving, with or without my permission or advisement. How do you feel?"
"Fine, I'm fine," Shitora replied shakily, suddenly feeling shivers encasing her body. "Where is he? I need to see him..."
As she renewed her search, Akago sighed and directed her eyes towards the front of the warehouse, where the source of the commotion could be seen. Gang members were running about, arming themselves with weapons and generally outfitting themselves for war, shouting to each other as they ran back and forth between stations. She could vaguely make out the back of Shippo's head from where he sat in a chair, facing several computer and TV screens she couldn't remember being there that morning; Souten was standing behind his chair, watching him work nervously. It wasn't until she heard the sound of a drill that she finally felt somewhat at ease; mechanics always made her that way. The direction of the drill noise seemed to be the same direction that Akago was pointing so, without another word, Shitora pushed gingerly off the table in her bandage-tube top and black leather pants, walking as quickly as she could towards the sound.
She manuevered her way distractedly around the scurrying gang members, feeling like a passersby in Times Square, as she approached the motorcycle area on the far left. As she neared, she could vaguely make out a familiar broad back bent over a workbench, drilling away at what appeared to be a Yamaha broadside body kit. Without another thought, she began hurrying towards him, exclaiming, "Ran!"
Ranbou glanced over his shoulder, grinning brilliantly as Shitora launched herself into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and hugging his neck fiercely. He managed to hold her up with only his right arm, as his left was still recovering from the extensive shoulder injury. Demon healing was fast, but not that fast.
"Hey baby girl, I'm glad you're awake," he said into her ear, making her want to cry even more than she already did. She decided, however, that far too much crying had already gone on in the past two days. She wasn't going to add any more to it and that was final.
"I'm glad your alive," she countered as his arm tightened gently around her midsection; he was obviously wary of her chest. "Where is everyone?"
As Ranbou set Shitora down on the ground, he turned to pick up where he'd left off on the body kit, pulling the drill trigger experimentally. "They already left for the invasion."
"What?! Without us?" Shitora demanded hotly, thoroughly enraged; she'd risked her life for this cause and they had the nerve to neglect her?
"No, I told them to go on ahead," Ranbou replied, shaking his head as he continued drilling calmly. He seemed completely unworried about all of this, as though he were just carrying on a normal day in the warehouse, fixing bikes and drinking beer. Shitora's wide eyes were trained on his back, watching the muscles moving beneath his wifebeater; how could he be so nochalant? "There we go," he said triumphantly as he finished the last screw, holding the piece of the body kit up to the light as he examined his work. "Put this on the Yamaha."
Ranbou tossed the piece to Shitora, who caught it quickly, watching as he hurried over to his motorcycle and kicked a piece of dented plastic back into place; apparently, their bikes had taken a bit of a beating during some point in the fight. "Ran-"
"Just do it, Sukini, or yer gonna miss that fight you want in on," Ranbou called back, grinning garulously before jogging over towards the computer set-up Shippo was so dilligently tending to.
Shitora, however confused, popped the body kit back on to the Yamaha and hurried in her boyfriend's wake; she was still rather fuzzy on what was going on, but as long as she got to be part of the invasion, she was happy. Shippo sat, back erect and eyes narrowed, as he adjusted the mouthpiece on his headphones and watched a few video camera hookups playing out across numerous screens. Shitora was momentarily reminded of the Matrix, but she said nothing of the kind; this was supposed to be serious.
"Inuyasha," Shippo said into the microphone. "Where are you?"
A voice crackled out of the speakers in response. "We're less than a mile out. She awake yet?"
Shitora realized he must've been talking about her and she bent down, practically commandeering the microphone as she said hurriedly, "Yeah, I'm awake, I'm coming!"
Ranbou grabbed on to Shitora's arm as she turned, preparing to drive recklessly off into the morning. "Hold up, baby girl, wait fer me. Shippo, see if you can get in touch with Ayame and Max."
Shippo nodded and reached over towards what appeared to be a switchboard, adjusting the frequency and pushing a few buttons to get in line with Mad Max's earpiece. Before the others left, Shippo offered six of them ear pieces and explained that, while he used the old blue prints of the Shark headquarters to navigate, he would keep in touch with them via microphone. As was part of the plan, the invasion squad would split in to six groups upon arrival and enter from six different angles, a sort of insurance to make sure that at least someone made it to the center most chamber where Kagome was most likely being held.
"Max, can you hear me?"
The line crackled and someone muttered, "Fucking piece of- Ship? You there mate?"
"Yeah, I'm here," Shippo replied, smiling a bit at Max's inability to work with electronics.
"Wotcha want, then?"
"Where are you?"
"Comin' up on the place, smells like a fuckin' sewer," Max replied; the dull roar of a motorcycle engine provided a buzz in the background. "Ran can meet us any time."
"Alright," Shippo replied. "Hold still for a minute; I'm sending him out now. Radio Inuyasha and get him to hold still too; Shitora is awake and ready to go."
The line clicked off and Shippo said, "Alright, you two can go meet your groups."
Shitora and Ranbou nodded before Ranbou hurried to prep the motorcycle and Shitora ran back to pull on a shirt over her bandages, pain and discomfort suddenly forgotten; the adrenaline was already pumping in her veins. Akago came walking out of the storage room as Shitora pulled on her wifebeater, grabbing the keys to her motorcycle, which had been laid next to her makshift sickbed.
The demon smiled cooly, eyes taking on a crimson edge as he murmured, "Are you going to meet them?"
"Yeah," Shitora replied distractedly as she reached for her belt, checking to make sure her gun had been reloaded. "Are you gonna head out soon?"
"As soon as-"
But Akago never got to finish his sentence for someone entered the room, a girl Shitora couldn't remember seeing before. She'd exited the storage room quite calmly, looking as though she belonged there, but Shitora couldn't help but be suspicious. Despite her suspicions, however, the hanyou's seppanyoukai wasn't even raising it's head. Why didn't she feel threatened?
The girl had magnificent blonde locks, which fell in waves somewhere past her mid-back, and the most intriguing violet eyes...Shitora's brow furrowed. She remembered knowing someone with violet eyes, but they certainly weren't a woman. The only pair of violet eyes she'd ever seen belonged to-
"Gan," Akago greeted with a slight inclince of his head, tone surprisingly placid.
The girl avoided Akago's gaze, never meeting his eyes as she continued staring at the ground. "Akago," she murmured quietly, before continuing, "I'm leaving."
"I knew you would be," the Shark leader replied in kind. The two of them were so quiet, Shitora was quite sure that a human wouldn't have heard them. It was a wonder the girl could hear Akago's words at all.
"I'm sorry to have caused you trouble. If you'll excuse me," the girl said, glancing up at Shitora and giving her a brief nod before walking purposefully towards the front of the warehouse. Shitora watched her go, eyes wide as her mind began putting together the most impossible series of events.
"That wasn't..." she mumbled, glancing at Akago with questions evident in her stare.
"It was," Akago replied bitterly. "She fooled us all quite well, don't you think? A brilliant performance. She used scent masker; we never would've known."
Shitora desperately wanted to sit down on the floor and ponder this strange miracle, but Ranbou's voice jerked her out of her haze. She remembered quite suddenly that she had a job to do and, offering Akago a look which could best be described as pitying but tough, she pocketed her keys and began jogging towards her boyfriend. Ranbou had apparently seen Gan exiting the warehouse, for he asked confusedly, "Who was that girl?"
"That was Gan the Gun," Shitora replied, still stunned herself. "Akago kind of explained it...not really. I dunno. We've gotta go."
"Wait...what?" Ranbou called after her, watching blurrily as his girlfriend threw on her helmt and began to mount her motorcycle.
"Bo, c'mon!" she called urgently, snapping him out of his trance; this other matter would have to wait until the invasion was resolved.
As Shitora and Ranbou pulled out of the warehouse, speeding off on their newly modified motorcycles towards the groups, Akago calmly approached Shippo and said, "Tell Sesshomaru I'm coming to meet them; I'll be there in less that a minute."
Shippo nodded, frowning slightly as Akago walked towards his car, boot heels clicking and chains rattling as his white braid swung back and forth. Shippo could tell the Shark leader was hurting inside, though he wasn't quite sure to what extent or why. Just before the others left, Akago had carried on a hushed conversation with Sesshomaru, who's eyebrows had raised indefinitely, before they both entered the storage room and came out looking bitter. Word had spread quickly that Gan the Gun was not who he seemed and was in fact a she, but Shippo, for some reason, wasn't incredibly surprised. Somehow, looking at Gan as a woman was easier than looking at him as a man; Gan had always seemed uncomfortable as a boy.
The young fox demon was sure that this incredibly discovery would've been magnified twenty fold if the invasion hadn't been taking place. Thanks to the unfolding war, Gan's newly uncovered gender was simply regarded with great surprise as the others suited up. Shippo was quite sure it hadn't dawned on everyone yet just how big of a deal this would turn out to be. Someone had pretended to be the opposite sex, for Christ's sake; it was magnanimous!
The sound of Akago's tires crunching on the gravel broke Shippo from his thoughts and he quickly got back to his duties.
"Sesshomaru? Akago is on his way."
Kouga, Skull and Hiten were the speed group; all three of them were fleet of foot and light on their toes. They fit into the center of Sesshomaru's brilliant plan for it was their duty to retrieve Kagome from captivity once they arrived in the center chamber and encountered what would surely be an altercation. It was the Fang leader's hope that, while the other groups distracted Naraku's attention, the three speed demons could safely smuggle Kagome out of the warehouse and get her treated. Sesshomaru was figuring rather nasty wounds into the plan, for it was well known that Naraku became perverse with his female prisoners.
The speed group was currently sitting behind a group of boxes, shielded from view as the Northern entrance guards looked obliviously on. The two guards happened to be human, which was a blessing, before they couldn't sense or smell anything out of the ordinary. They also happened to be out of hearing distance, so whispered plans were no longer dangerous.
Skull winced as his back began to grow stiff from where he was sitting against a crate; his blonde hair created a curtain in front of his face as he rolled his shoulders, sighing impatiently. "This is a fair lot, then. I'm sick of waiting."
"Who isn't?" Hiten murmured, crimson eyes trained whimsically on the sky.
"What with the way they got themselves beaten up, should Ran and Tora even be coming?" Skull continued. His blue eyes were conflicted; he was truly worried about his friends.
Kouga glanced around the box again, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, and said absent mindedly, "Eh, you know them. They wouldn't miss this for anything."
Just as Kouga said this, his ear piece began to crackle and he placed a hand to it, trying to get it in a comfortable position. "Come in, Kouga," a voice said, obviously that of Shippo.
"Yeah, I'm here," Kouga said, glancing over at Skull and Hiten, who looked up in excitement as they made contact with someone for the first time since they arrived.
"We start the infiltration in thirty seconds; get into position."
Kouga motioned for Skull and Hiten to rise, which they did to a safe distance where their heads were still hidden by the boxes. Kouga glanced down at his watch, which he'd synchronized with the others groups before they left the warehouse. 23, 22, 21...
On the opposite side of the warehouse at the South entrance, Shitora had just joined Bankotsu, Inuyasha and Axle in the weapons group. The weapons group was in charge of putting Naraku and his allies under heavy fire as the speed group made away with Kagome, so their entrance and timing was crucial. Shitora had parked her bike about a half mile away and sprinted the rest of the distance, arriving in the specified alley where the others were getting ready to move out.
Inuyasha glanced up as his sister, smiling faintly as she jogged towards him. "Hey kid."
"Hey," she replied breathlessly, glancing down at the pile of guns on the ground before beginning to outfit herself with a few. "Sorry I'm late."
"Thought you were gonna miss the party," Bankotsu said cheekily, giving her a crimson wink as he redid his black braid in a tighter fashion.
"And a party with guns besides that," Axle entered in, eyes twinkling kindly. He flexed his brawny limbs routinely before letting out a yawn, running a hand along his sky blue cornrows. "Guess riding through the night finally hit me, then."
Shitora strapped an automatic weapon across her back, hissing a little as she torqued her torso too much. Bankotsu furrowed his brow and asked, "You alright, Tora?"
"Fine, just stiff. It won't get in the way," she promised, meeting eyes with her brother as she said this.
Inuyasha offered his sister a nod, but she was the least of his worries. He was confident that Shitora could hold her own, no matter what kind of injuries she was suffering from; it was Kagome he was really concerned about. She was in the hands of a madman, not even a mile away from him, and the desire to go charging in, shooting blindly was quite tempting. He knew Sesshomaru wasn't going to put up with any of his impulsive decisions, a fact he'd made clear by knocking Inuyasha unconscious at the mere insinuation, but Kagome's smiling face kept appearing in his mind. He wanted his Kagome, to hold her and take in her scent, and he wanted her now.
"Easy mate," Axle murmured, placing a comforting hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "You're twitching."
Inuyasha nodded distractedly and tried to calm his hands, which were clenching and unclenching almost without his knowledge. They wanted to spill Naraku's blood until the gutters ran red, but he was going to stick with Sesshomaru's plan; its outcome would no doubt be better than that of his plan. Of course, Inuyasha plan was simply shoot to kill until no one from the North was breathing, but that was beside the point. Inuyasha momentarily satiated himself with remembering that, by the end of the day, Naraku would be dead.
"Inuyasha?"
At the sound of Shippo's voice in his ear, Inuyasha jumped and let out a soft curse. "Jesus, Shippo, stop freakin' me out!"
"Sorry. Move out in thirty seconds."
As Shippo crackled off the line, Inuyasha mumbled something mutinous and announced that the group would be moving out within the minute, earning nods from the others. Inuyasha cocked the release on the pistol he was holding and stared coldly down at the gun. Today the Spiders would pay. They would all pay.
According to the plan, on Shippo's word the six groups would come out of their hiding places and quickly take out the two guards at their specified entrance with a few well placed bullets from silenced pistols. It was imperative that the bullets hit their mark and every shooter aware, but no one had it in their hearts to be nervous; the only thing on everyone's mind was revenge.
Sango thought quiet thoughts of sweet revenge as she cocked back the pistol she was holding, glancing over at Rin; the two were currently camped out behind a deteriorating brick wall, located near the South West entrance. Both girls were holding weapons and preparing to take out the guards efficiently because they were needed inside the center chamber before the other groups. Sango and Rin's job was to distract Naraku and his guards until the others arrived, charging in from every possible direction with their weapons raised. Though Sesshomaru was hesitant to let Rin take up this job, she argued that she and Sango could keep Naraku talking long enough for the others to get in position. To this Sesshomaru had no answer; both girls were skilled talkers.
As Rin adjusted the grip on her pistol, staring down the sight at the silencing mechanism which Shippo had rigged for her, she thought briefly of Kagome, who handled this gun more than its owner. Her cousin's laughter and snarky comments echoed in her head as Rin tried to shake them away and focuse on her job; if she didn't focus, it would be all for naught.
"Go."
As soon as the word came over Sango's earpiece, she gave a nod to Rin and the girls placed their fingers on the trigger, staring at the oblivious guards lingering outside the entrance. They squeezed the triggers in unison and let out simultaneous breaths of relief as both guards fell in heaps to the ground, hit straight through the heart by both bullets. Luckily, the girls had managed to get within a close enough range that missing was less likely, but the possibility was always there.
Rin took a deep breath and muttered, "Let's go."
Ayame shrugged her shoulders as smoke drifted lazily from her cigarette; she had to admit that Ranbou was right. After taking out the guards with a few well placed bullets, Ayame, Ranbou and Mad Max had made their way easily inside, almost like strolling into a restaurant. They'd expected to meet Spiders the minute they stepped in the door, but they hadn't seen a single Spider since they entered the headquarters.
Upon entering, they were met with the sight of a narrow hallway, which had several doors and pathways leading off from it. Shippo reported that he had no record of such a place in the old blue prints, which had made Ranbou curse. His and Shitora's failure to retrieve new blue prints was beginning to seem more and more unfortunate by the second.
After wandering blindly for a while, the three had entered a random room with only a table and some chair inside. Knowing it was pointless to wander around in the maze, they decided to sit for a while and have a few cigarettes; the whole place smelled like cigarette smoke anyway, so who would know?
"It's kinda like they were letting us in," Ayame mused, running her hands along her leather clad thighs.
Max nodded, gnarled face contorted in a frown. "They're not the fuckin' idiots we take them for; they've got a plan just like us."
"Don't say shit like that," Ayame replied dully, snubbing out her cigarette on the counter. "Makes me nervous."
"It damn well should," Ranbou murmured. He leaned back against the wall as he blew a few perfect smoke rings, finding them strangely unsatisfying. He, like the others, was itching to go in and get the job done. He felt as though he needed to gain back what honor he'd lost by failing in his previous mission to retrieve the blue prints. Being an assassin for a living and finding yourself unable to complete a simple recon job was startling and made him cringe. He briefly wondered what Shitora was doing at that exact moment, but he soon dismissed the thought; thinking about his girlfriend would only lead to distraction and that was what cost them before.
"S'far as I can tell, we're pretty fuckin' close to the center chamber," Max mentioned, smoke spilling out of his twisted mouth. His red mohawk seemed abbrassive in the colorless room, but he was a pretty abbrassive fellow in the first place. He simply pocketed his hands, causing several chains to rattle. "We might as well just wait it out until the other get their shit together, know what I mean?"
Ranbou nodded as he threw his cigarette to the ground crushing it beneath his boot toe. "Yeah. But maybe we can smell around for Kagome's scent. I wanna know where the center is for sure."
"We could try," Ayame agreed, pushing herself off the table. "If the plan doesn't work out, somebody's gotta grab her and get away before things get ugly. She's probably already beaten up."
At the thought, the two boys grew steely eyed and gave curt nods; when other gangs messed with their women, gang men in general seemed to become incredibly defensive and hostile. Despite the fact that Kagome wasn't technically part of the South, she still had her place in their hearts and nothing could change that. Even Max, who'd only met her at Race Wars, regarded her with the highest respect; she could shoot like the devil and keep Inuyasha in check, so she was obviously worth his time.
The three demons exchanged glances before nodding and exiting the room, trying to pick up Kagome's scent above the countless others.
Kinanme let out a heavy sigh as she rolled her ice blue eyes, staring frustratedly over her shoulder at Ginta and Hakkaku. For the past thirty minutes since they'd entered through the North West gate, both wolf demons hadn't wasted a moment before showering her with questions about her recent reappearance in Tokyo, confused as to why she left in the first place. Kinanme was well acquainted with both Ginta and Hakkaku for they'd been friends of Ranbou's since their younger years in elementary school. This didn't, however, change the fact that she was trying to concentrate on the job at hand.
Bones narrowed his green eyes thoughtfully as he pocketed his hands, staring down the seemingly endless hallway curiously. They'd been walking this hall since they arrive inside the warehouse and it seemed positively endless. It almost seemed like a trap, but Bones was sure the Spiders hadn't erected something so elaborate just for the Fangs. Maybe this had once been an office building or something of the sort; the blueprints never indicated as such, but then again the blueprints could be wrong.
"I've said it a million times, but I'll say it again; we needed time," Kinanme said curtly, never meeting Ginta or Hakkaku's eyes as she stared vehemently forward.
Hakkaku cocked his head to the side, upsetting the balance of his mohawk. "Time? For what?"
"To think about things. And to be away from everything," Kinanme replied, trying to keep herself occupied looking for a way out of the hallway.
"Were you mad at your dad?" Ginta asked curiously.
"Kind of," the girl allowed.
"But wh-"
"Why don't you two cut it out for the time being, ay?" Benkan interrupted, flashing the group a brilliant smile but managing to be commanding nevertheless. Ginta and Hakkaku exchanged glances and shrugs before returning to the original task at hand: looking for the center chamber.
Kinanme narrowed her eyes and zeroed in her gaze on a small black device anchored at the ceiling joint. It was some feet ahead, not within range of them quite yet, and she held out her arm to bar the others before raising her silenced gun. She took out the surveillance camera with ease, watching as it shattered and fell to the floor. Bones smiled and ruffled the girl's hair fondly.
"That's our Kina," he said with a smile.
"Wolves are really observant, at least when they're focused," Kinanme replied, shooting a deliberate look back at Ginta and Hakkaku.
As the two wolf demons cowered behind him, Benkan adjusted his ear piece and said, "Can anyone hear me?"
After a moment, a few voices crackled over the line and said various forms of, "Yes." Benkan walked over to the broken video camera and examined its remains as he said, "Looks like they've got video cameras; Kina took it out before it saw us, but keep an eye sharp, ay?"
"Video cameras? Fuck."
"Max, it oughta be no problem fer you," Inuyasha reminded him. "Do yer little electronic zap thing."
"Oh, fuck yeah!"
Benkan clicked off the line and sighed, placing his hands thoughtfully on his hips. "Well, the others are alright. Might as well keep searching, mates."
The others nodded and followed behind Benkan, glancing at each closed door and wondering where the center of this labrynth could possibly be.
The three of them were talking amiably as they went, not at all afraid of meeting Spiders. If they met any kind of resistance, they would just take them out, no questions asked. So why not talk while they went?
"I'm confused as to how you ended up dating my sister," Kouga admitted, giving Skull a sheepish grin. "I wouldn't've pulled that one out of a hat."
"Me neither," Hiten laughed, giving Skull a friendly punch to the shoulder.
Skull shrugged, smiling his usual garulous smile. "I dunno. When she first came, we hated each other, fought all the time; somewhere in between there and here, we...uh..."
"Fell in love?" Kouga offered, unabashed by the idea. After all, he was in love with Ayame so it stood to reason that other couples were falling in love as well.
The blush which rose to Skull's cheeks was unmistakable and Hiten chuckled, exclaiming smugly, "The great Tobi Skull blushing; what the hell man? Are you really? With Kina?"
Skull glanced down at the floor, trying to hide his smile; so what if he was? Kouga and Hiten seemed to understand and they simultaneously patted him on the back in a brotherly fashion. They were just passing what seemed to be their millionth door when Hiten jerked back, crimson eyes wide and hackles raised indefinitely. Both Skull and Kouga whirled around to face him, urgently searching around for anything amiss, but they found nothing.
"Hiten? Dude, what's wrong?" Kouga asked curiously.
In turn, Hiten narrowed his eyes and whirled to face the door to his right, staring so fiercely at it that holes might've appeared in the wood. "There's something electronic behind that door. And it ain't kosher."
Kouga's jaw tightened; Hiten was a thunder demon and, like Max, was very sensetive when it came to detecting electronic dangers. With a frown, Skull stared at the door and murmured, "Wanna go in then?"
Hesitating a sniff at the door crack, Kouga replied, "Well, there's no one in there, so might as well."
With a nod, Skull reached for the door knob and clutched in his hand, almost expecting some sort of shock to resonate through his body, though nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Finally, he turned the knob and pushed the door open, trying to adjust to the ink black darkness inside. Kouga and Hiten followed him tentatively into the mysterious room, allowing their fingers to dance along the tops of their weapons; the noiselessness made them nervous.
Kouga instinctively reached up his hand to look for a light switch and, surprisingly, found one on the left side of the doorway. None of the boys would ever forget what they saw there until the end of their days.
Every single wall in the room, which was at least thirty by twenty feet, was covered with weapons. Guns, grenades, flame throwers and others which were unrecognizable were anchored on hooks, an assortment of different colors and makes. Kouga couldn't identify more than ten of them for sure, which was saying something since there had to be well over four hundred in this room alone.
Skull let out a low whistle. "Damn," he murmured. "So these are the weapons Max was on about."
Kouga only nodded dumbly. "Yeah, guess so."
"This shit is dangerous," Hiten whispered, unable to bring his voice above this quiet level. "Real dangerous."
And neither Skull nor Kouga could argue; even without thunder demon powers, they were under the distinct impression that none of these weapons were among the garden variety. In fact, Kouga almost felt as though some of them were alive; there certainly seemed to be a strange pulse around the area.
"Let's get outta here," Kouga murmured to the others, who nodded. Quietly, they backed out of the room and turned off the light, closing the door behind them. The three boys, merriment forgotten, continued soberly down the hall with nary a word, looking for the center chamber in silence.
Akago, Sesshomaru and Kotone were in, perhaps, the most confusing place of all. While the other five groups contented themselves with the seemingly endless hallways of doom, the three demons were currently in the central electronics room, staring at a multitude of switchboards, blinking lights and circuit breakers. Sesshomaru had realized that, should the other parts of the plan fail, they needed a reasonable back up plan. His back up plan involved wiring the lights to turn off upon command which then left Axle, who had incredible night vision, to whisk Kagome away as the others involved themselves in an all out fight with the North. In the dark. The plan wasn't exactly perfect, but even Sesshomaru couldn't put together a flawless plan in an hour's time.
Since Kotone had left a few months before Gan arrived in the North, she was rather confused by the girl's gender issues and had been asking polite but curious questions for about a half hour. Akago seemed content answering said questions, a fact which Sesshomaru atributed to the desire for closure. The three of them were currently waiting for the system decoder to do its duty and, according to Shippo, it would take at least forty five minutes, a time during which they could only sit and wait. If the thick layer of dust surrounding the electronic equipment was any indication, the Spiders didn't make it their business to enter the control room anyway.
Sesshomaru translated Kotone's sign language and Akago furrowed his white brow, cocking his head to the side as though wondering if he could explain it more clearly. "Well, yes. The bit about breasts: I found out she was a girl the hard way. I was checking her wounds to see if they were healing nicely...and found breasts instead."
Kotone read his lips and made a small "o" with her mouth, as though finally understanding where breasts fit in to all of this. After a moment, she signed rather urgently, "So she left? Why did you let her leave?"
"Let her leave?" Akago asked almost indignantly after Sesshomaru's amused translation. "Good riddance as far as I'm concerned. She lied to me for three entire years of close, undying companionship, Kotone. It's not like I can honestly forgive that."
But Kotone only narrowed her ice blue eyes and signed irritatedly, "Well, there had to be some reason why she did what she did. I don't just think she crossdressed for shits and giggles."
Akago was quiet for the moment following Sesshomaru's interpretation of Kotone's signs, crimson eyes downcast on the flithy floor. He hadn't really thought about the numerous reasons why Gan might've done what she did; he'd been a little too preoccupied with the deed itself. Regardless of this all, Akago couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so betrayed by anyone, not even his whore of a sister. In fact...this betrayal meant even more than his foster father's drunken rages. All his life, Akago had been continuously abandoned, first by his parents, then by his foster parents, then by his sister and now this. If this wasn't any indication that he was meant to live alone, what was it?
A sudden beep jerked Akago out of his thoughts and Sesshomaru rose, glancing down at the small device which he'd used to unscript the system. "We have full access," he announced, glancing back at Kotone and Akago. "Now, Akago, go insert the timer in the lighting system."
Akago pushed himself off the counter on which he sat and glanced up the high wall at the many tangled wires leading towards the ceiling; he sighed. If only the Spiders had kept better care of their house electronics, he wouldn't have to do such a miserable task. After all, climbing half the wall just to insert a timing device seemed a little out of reach, no pun intended.
As Akago puzzled over the ten or so feet he now had to climb, Sesshomaru turned to Kotone and signed efficiently, "The computer is yours."
Kotone nodded and hurried over to the computer, typing as quickly as her fingers could carry her hands. The screen flashed to life before her eyes, reflecting in her very pupils as she decoded scripts and overlayed firewalls, finally at ease before the one thing in this world which could connect with her without a voice.
Meanwhile, Akago sighed and reached up his hand, finding a small ledge in the badly laid brick, before hoisting himself upwards at the beginning of his arduous climb. He had since placed the small timer in his teeth and Sesshomaru smirked.
"With that timer in your mouth, you look like a pirate right out of an Erol Flynn movie. Maybe its your shirt. Or your pants. Or...you."
"Shut up," Akago growled distractedly around the timer, trying to bypass stepping on as many cords as possible on his way up the wall.
Eventually, he'd scaled the necessary ten feet using only the brick as footholds; while this was no easy task by itself, he now had to insert the timing device while keeping himself steady against the wall. Now was when the real test of skill arose. Narrowing his eyes in concetration, Akago tightened his grip with his left hand and used his right hand to remove the timer from his mouth, looking at the wires nearest him. The timer belonged in between the red and green wires with the blue wire inserted in the back. This was all well and good until Akago noticed something odd.
"Purple? Yellow? Orange? Sesshomaru, what are all the rest of these wires?"
The dog demon glanced up and looked at the indicated wires, blinking before walking towards the power splitter and examining each of them. "Clever. These idiots apparently didn't know much about wire coding. None of these colors are correct."
Akago groaned; now the red, green and blue wires didn't do what they were supposed to. "What do we do now?"
"Hold on," Sesshomaru murmured. "Give me a moment."
Akago readjusted his grip on the wall, tactfully declining to mention that he barely had a second's worth of time remaining in his aching hands, nevertheless a moment. As Sesshomaru examined the wire box and began giving Akago instructions from the ground, Kotone smiled mysteriously to herself. She was in.
The computer light reflected in her eyes as she came across the numerous files keeping Naraku and his business files in order. As she sifted through the files, which documents a number of interesting incidents and transactions, her ice blue eyes gave a twinkle; there was enough in these files to keep Naraku quiet until the day of his death.
"Kotone, are you done?" Sesshomaru called, watching as Akago began climbing slowly down, the timer suspended by several wires above his head.
The girl turned, nodding slightly and pointing to the computer. "We could practically indict him with all this."
"Excellent," Sesshomaru murmured. "Hurry, Akago. We've got to find the center of this ridiculous place."
The moth demon arched his back, popping a few vertebrae as he muttered mutinously in reply, "Hold on, your majesty, I'm just realigning my spine after a death defying climb and a seven minute suspension with only my hands."
"Let's go," Sesshomaru said with a quick nod, exiting the room with Kotone in tow as though he'd never heard Akago's rebellion. Rolling his crimson eyes plantively, Akago wondered how he'd gotten himself in this mess before charging after his friends, trying to ignore the stinging in the back of his mind. If Gan had already left, why was her face still there?
Dried blood on her neck nearly prevented Sango from turning her head, though she managed to angle her vision slightly to the right. "Yeah?" Her voice was a whisper, barely even escaping her mouth.
"Do you think we're..." Rin's words ended abruptly as she winced, numerous chains clamoring together and making a cold, distant noise. "-we're...gonna die here?"
Sango allowed her head to lean forward on her neck, lolling like the dead, as she pondered Rin's question. Sango could feel the skin on her wrists and ankles disappearing rapidly with each movement of her shackles, but she'd lost interest in skin some thirty minutes ago. Somewhere past the screaming, the struggling and the whipping, she'd lost interest in just about everything but escape. At the current time, she and Rin were in the worst position she could ever imagine.
The two girls had entered the warehouse easily, finding the guards pathetic enough that one could barely constitute them as obstacles. Upon arriving inside, however, they'd only managed to walk for about twenty minutes before they were ambushed by a select number of core Spiders. The two human girls were overpowered easily and dragged into a dark room, where they'd been chained to a wall and whipped mercilessly under a panther demon's direction. He kept repeating questions which Sango and Rin had no answers to.
"What kind of deal do the Fangs have with the Yakuza?"
"Where does Taisho get the boosted cars?"
"How much is made with each transaction?"
Rin and Sango had never really cared to ask their friends and boyfriends what went on for, frankly, they had little desire to know. As long as everyone came home safe at the end of the night, what did it matter? Sango had silently decided to let that one issue slide from under her radar; her relationship with Miroku wouldn't be disrupted by something as trivial as night time gang activities.
Blood dripped down Sango's face and smoothed a course along her cheek, dripping off her chin only to end with a drop on the floor below. A large red pool was already collecting beneath her and Sango was silently wondering if she and Rin would make it out alive like she was about to promise.
"We're not dying," Sango whispered, throat raw and sore from screaming with pain. It was a wonder that no one had heard them for, indeed, she and Rin screamed as loudly as possible in hopes to attract attention. Unfortunately, no one heard their cries for help and their supposed pain only served to excite their tormenters further. Only once they'd quieted down had the inquirers left them to hang from their shackles in silence.
"I never th-thought it would g-go this w-way," Rin choked out, trying to ignore the salty tears mingling with her blood as they dripped from her eyelashes. If only she could find herself in Sesshomaru's strong arms, snug against his chest as the world raged outside. Sesshomaru could protect her from anything...so where was he?
Sango winced as her chest began to ache; she'd obviously lost too much blood. The torturing itself was a blur to her, a bloody red blur with pain on its edges, but as she hung from her moorings, she could barely even recall a single moment of the whipping. It was as though she'd crept into the warehouse and suddenly arrived at her current location with blood wetting her skin, blinding her eyes and stuffing her nose.
"We have to get out," Sango ground out hoarsely. "I refuse to die here."
As these words echoed throughout the empty room, the expanse of which was beginning to frighten both girls, Sango gritted her teeth and rocketed her body forward, using the last energy she could muster to propel herself. She cried out in pain and Rin's scream soon joined hers, though the second was of a different manner.
"Sango, stop!"
The desire to move began to seep from her body and Sango sighed, eyelids threatening to close. "Just...I just have to..."
"No, Sango," Rin said quietly, tears dripping down her cheeks and mingling with her blood, which pooled on the floor beneath her. "Don't. If we're actually ever meant to leave here, someone will find us."
"But-"
"NO!" Rin shouted, coughing slightly as blood bubbled up in her throat. She wasn't sure why there was blood in her throat, but none of the possibilities were enjoyable to think about. Swallowing patiently, Rin continued in a gentle manner, "We wait. Don't move anymore. It'll only kill you faster."
At the mention of death, Sango tried to slow her breathing and glanced distractedly up at the ceiling, which she could barely make out in the darkness. She didn't fear death and frankly, neither did the others. They flirted with death on a regular basis, but she'd never come this close to an actual date. Several things about this situation made her uneasy, most notably the chains and the wounds, but other things were starting to get on her nerves. There was, for instance, the smell of the Spiders' hideout. It smelled like sex and beer. Not the good kind of Friday night party sex and beer, but the "I'm a slut, rape me" sex and the "I need to forget my pathetic life" beer. Then she also knew that her friends might be fighting for their lives as well and this unnerved her to the core. And I've got this shitty buzzing in my ear...
Buzzing.
In her ear.
"Rin," Sango practically whispered, swallowing blood and saliva almost disbelievingly. "I still...I still have the earpiece."
"What?"
"The earpiece. I still have the earpiece. In my ear."
Rin hesitated to glance over, in case this was just a farce, but she managed to shift her vision ever so slightly. "If you're joking, Sango..."
"I'm not," her friends whispered in reply. Closing her eyes softly, she managed to angle her head foreward until her hand was just touching her ear; the chain pulled at her skin and caused her to hiss, but she just barely brushed the comlink button with her thumb nail. The microphone snapped to life and soon a voice was radiating over the line.
"Sango? What's up," Shippo asked.
Sango nearly cried at the sound of the boy's voice, but she managed to compose herself. "Shippo..." she choked out. "Rin and I were captured. We're in a room somewhere, we don't know where..."
"What?! Captured?!" Shippo practically screamed, out of his mind with worry; he hadn't thought to check on Sango and Rin, as they were only the distraction team, but obviously he should've rethought this strategy. Shaking his head free of thoughts, the young kitsune began typing feverishly away at the keyboard, tracing Sango's headset. "Nevermind. Okay, I've got your longitude and latitude on the computer, I'll send someone over to get you. Just stay calm, okay?"
Sango swallowed and murmured, "Okay," before stretching her muscles to turn off the connection. She could barely process a thought as she hung there, wondering how, after a summer of blithe happiness and oblivious nothingness, she and her friends were caught in the middle of a raging war. This seemed rather anti-climatic, almost as though the mountain leading up to this peek of aggression hadn't amassed to anything. After all, could it really be considered a fight when only one side was manuevering successfully?
"This isn't real," Rin muttered, closing her eyes as more tears threatened to fall. "We're the good guys, right? We're the best. We've always been the best. So why are we losing?"
Sango didn't answer, instead staring at the ground with half hooded eyes which were barely striving to care. Somehow, that hope she'd learned from Miroku was beginning to slip away. How did she even know he was alive? Was he struggling against the Spiders just as they were? Had he even run across them? Too many questions. Sango almost had the urge to vomit, to purge herself of the questions, when she realized that this was the beginning of depressive suicide.
"I don't know why we're losing," Sango said finally.
The two girls hung in silence.
Axle grunted and dropped to his knees, ignoring Inuyasha's shout as he steadied his machine gun on its steel legs before letting loose a string of bullets, which caught some ten Spiders in the chest at once. Blood exploded from cracked torsos, mixing with brief screams as men fell to the floor, landing on cold concrete or the bodies of the fallen. Axle sighed, eyes sparkling momentarily before he dodged behind a thick steel table, which Inuyasha, Shitora and Bankotsu were using as a shield. Bullets rang out in another spurt as the Spiders retaliated, shots clapping against the table as the Southerners tried to catch their breath.
Bankotsu wiped blood from his forehead, where a bullet had grazed the skin above his eye and lazily lit a cigarette. "This is a fucking fair crop."
The weapons group had only made it halfway to the monstrous building's center before being met with a group of seemingly neverending Spiders, all of whom were armed with pistols and shotguns. The two parties battles it out and, at the current time, the winner was uncertain; despite the small numbers from the South, the Northerners were obviously expendable underlings whom Naraku had dispatched to slow them down. When quality found itself faced with quantity, the odds were still iffy.
"I say we charge," Inuyasha murmured, blood staining his white hair and face.
Shitora nodded stiffly, echoing, "I say charge. Let's do it."
The siblings met eyes and could barely constrain their grins; however much they complained about this situation, they couldn't help but find a certain pleasure in it. Inuyasha soon remembered the nature of his mission and his smile fell indefinitely; his grin couldn't survive without Kagome. After giving brief nods to Bankotsu and Axle, who nodded in return, the four demons spun away from the protection of the steel table, listening as gun shots rang out on the floor, the ceiling, and whatever else they could possibly collide with.
Inuyasha managed to take out several Spiders with his semi-automatic while Axle continued wreaking havoc with his machine gun. Bankotsu had taken to using a shotgun, for reasons unknown, and was adding to the already monstrous noise with every solitary "boom." Shitora was weilding an automatic in each hand and rotating slightly at the torso, catching enemies in the chest and, often, the face.
Axle was just glancing up to make his next move when he noticed one of the Spiders fiddling with a small, circular device. In a moment's time, the Spider prepared to slide it along the floor towards the South and Axle managed to scream, "Scatter!" just before the inevitable happened.
The device exploded with tremendous force, shaking the rafters and walls of the room. It wasn't an altogether huge bomb, but any sort of explosion in an enclosed space is bound to cause troubles. Inuyasha, Bankotsu and Axle flew backwards, managing to escape the worst of the shrapnel as they shielded themselves with their arms. Shitora leaped in a different direction than her friends, as she had been keeping a safe distance so as not to accidentally shoot one of her own. She found herself huddled against the west wall, attempting to shield her face from the unbearable heat and her ears from the noise as the bomb. The girl was just about to look up and rejoin her group when a grimy smelling hand covered her mouth, sticky with sweat and smelling of blood. Shitora's amber eyes widened in surprise and fear as she attempted to scream, but to no avail. Arms soon appeared with the hand and dragged her backwards into an offset room where more problems awaited her.
The room was, like most of the others, completely barren and badly lit. Shitora struggled against her captor's hold but was soon released of their volition, leaving her to stare wildly around at a group of six more Spiders. The hanyou girl furrowed her brow and shouted in exasperation, "Where the fuck are you all coming from?! Naraku never had this many men before!"
The Spiders didn't answer but advanced, withdrawing knives from their belts as they closed in around her. Shitora clenched her hands and gritted her fangs, wishing she hadn't released her hold on her semi automatics during the explosion. Even with her claws, she didn't stand a chance; she was still suffering from the wound on her stomach and numerous injuries from the recent fight. Weakened and outnumbered, it look as though Shitora were in for a beating.
Something unexpected happened, however: what little light there was disappeared. The room went completely dark and Shitora became vaguely aware of a new presence before the choking sounds of death and the crunching of flesh and bone acosted her ears. She could smell liquids leaking from what she assumed were now dead bodies.
As quick as they retreated, the lights returned and Shitora blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the sight before her. The Spiders who had cornered her in this room were now lying in puddles of their own blood, each of them frozen in death with their eyes wide open and mouths agape. Wrenching her eyes away from the gruesome sight, Shitora turned her attention to the figure by the light switch. Her eyes narrowed for a perfectly good reason.
Ryuukoytsusei flexed his claws as he walked slowly towards her, leaning down briefly to wipe them free of blood on one of the victims' shirts. His crimson eyes were surprisingly dull as he glanced up at Shitora, observing her with the strangest blank expression on his face. Shitora remembered vaguely the fact that Dragon demons had impeccable night vision, which would explain the turning off of the lights, but the real question lay in Ryuu's original motives.
"Why?"
Ryuu said nothing in answer to Shitora's question, only continuing to stare blankly at the girl, who was growing increasingly crimson in the cheeks. As the dragon stared levelly at her, nearly drawing the life right out of her body, she could barely think of further words to say. He seemed content to look at her like this, searching, seething, frightening. Eventually, he seemed to grow either bored or nervous, Shitora couldn't tell, and turned on his heels to leave.
"Wait! I asked you a question!"
Ryuukoytsusei's emerald green hair shimmered ever so sightly in the dim lights as he glanced over his shoulder, muttering, "Everyone's death has a time. It's not your time." And with these cryptic and oddly genius words, Ryuu exited the room and only his scent remained, one of blood and mystery. Shitora stared, open mouthed, at the door before her. Had that really just happened? It was like Race Wars all over again...times seventy when it came to strangeness.
"Tora!"
At Inuyasha's frantic call, Shitora wrenched her mind away from Ryuu's appearance and screamed, "Coming!" before hurrying towards the main room, preparing to charge back into the fray.
Ranbou didn't answer Ayame's question, running his hand lightly over the door before them as he refereed an internal debate between his head and his heart. In his mind, he knew that getting Sango and Rin out of captivity and into their waiting arms was the safe, rational thing to do. In his heart, he knew that seeing them might just be the last thing anyone's fragile psyche could take. According to Shippo's radio message, both of the girls were probably in a bad way. Narrowing his ice blue eyes critically, he finally decided that heartache was better than heartbreak and he turned to Mad Max, who was standing stiffly to Ayame's left.
"Max, check fer electronics and whatever, would ya?"
Shrugging his bony shoulders, Max stepped forward and placed one of his tattooed hands flat on the door, grimacing slightly before he emitted a strange white wave, one which could possibly be described as a flash of lightning in the corner of your eye. There was a short buzz before the electrical hum in the air seemed to die and Ayame shivered; the hairs on the back of her neck had suddenly laid down. Max fearlessly turned the door handle and pushed it open, glancing at Ranbou and Ayame behind him. He was less worried about Ranbou, but Ayame...these were two of her dearest friends.
"Are you ready, love?"
The soft quality of Max's voice was startling, though not unpleasant. All the same, Ayame felt her face grow white as she realized what such a reaction must mean. Max was obviously preparing her. Closing her eyes, she could vaguely remember playing in a sandbox with Sango, buying her first bra with Rin, attending her mother's funeral with both of them at her side.
"Yes," she heard herself breathe, though the answer might've been altogether untrue.
It seemed almost anticlimatic as Max threw the door wide and the three demons walked slowly inside, blinking against the dim lighting which seemed to inhabit every small room in this place. They could barely make out Rin and Sango chained up against the wall, speaking in hushed tones. The girls looked up upon their friends' entrance and Sango's voice sounded almost smiling.
"What took you so long?"
Ranbou muttered a curse and jogged forward, finally able to make out their blood streaked faces in the light. Max hurried to meet them as Ayame walked almost robotically behind them. She was startled at first by the sight of her friends, but soon grew used to the blood, the bruising, the ripped clothing. It wasn't as bad as she'd imagined, but she could still hear her heart beating in her ears. It made her feel unreal.
By the time Ayame had a grip on her heartbeat, Max and Ranbou had freed Rin and Sango from the rusty chains and easily hefted the girls into their arms. "Aya?"
The voice was Rin's and Ayame answered almost strongly. "Yes? Are you okay?"
Rin managed to reach out one bloody hand to her friend, who took it without thinking; the sticky liquid between their palms almost provided closure, if Ayame could put a word to it. "Don't look so freaked out," Rin chuckled, coughing slightly as that metallic blood in her throat choked her once more.
"Sorry," was all Ayame could say, thought it came out as a whisper.
"C'mon," Ranbou said, clearing his throat officiously. "We gotta go."
"Right," Ayame echoed, letting go of Rin's hand with a fake smile on her face, just to ease her friend's mind. All she could think as she stood there was this: where was Kouga and did he look anything like this?
Max narrowed his eyes as he watched Ayame standing there, trying to shake herself free of such thoughts. As the group hurried out the door, both boys careful not to jostle their loads too much, the combustion demon briefly wondered why the war had to come down to this. He wasn't exactly a member of the peace corps, but he wasn't a bloody lunatic either. He just wanted a life of peace for everyone. God only knew that half the people he knew deserved one.
Sighing lightly to himself, Max shook his head. Until Naraku and his operations were finished, there was no hope of peace. For anyone.
I'm really sorry it took so long, thanks for sticking around! Below is the link to Jackie's newest drawing of LDTL, one of Kagome up on the cross. It's gorgeous! I'm so jealous of your talent, Jackie! GRRR! But love.
h t t p : / / w w w . d e v i a n t a r t . c o m / d e v i a t i o n / 4 8 2 1 6 9 9 2 /
Alright. The next chapter should come quicker, since exams and the paper will be over. Then I won't have anything until APs...JESUS....
Love all of you! Sorry again for the wait! Go reviewers!
KOLU
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Okay, well this one is totally action packed. Not nearly as action packed as the next one but, like, DAMN, lot's of action in here. We're coming to the climax, so prepare yourself for lots and lots of anime like action-angst!
Read on!
*!*!*!*
Shitora awoke with a start, feeling as though she'd only closed her eyes for a moment; she could hear shouting and clamoring around her, echoing off the high ceilings of what she recognized as the Fang warehouse. Her chest ached, but her hanyou powers had begun to take effect and the cuts were scabbing over, as someone had taken the liberty of cleaning the wounds and bandaging them snugly. Shitora noticed that she was wearing no shirt and was rather confined in a white-bandage tube top sort of thing, but that was the least of her worries. She began looking frantically around for that familiar pair of ice blue eyes, framed by midnight black hair.Footsteps approached her and she jerked her head towards the newcomer, who turned out to be Akago, crimson eyes a simmering orange behind his spectacles. His hair was braided back and he was wearing a venetian shirt and tight black pants, making him look like some sort of swashbuckler from the 1800s, which would've caused Shitora to laugh if it hadn't been so attractive.
"Where's Ranbou? Is he alright? Did he make it? D-"
Akago cut off the girl's many questions with an upraised hand as he checked her wounds, peering beneath the bandages on her arms where a few deep gashes were located. After a moment, he murmured, "Ranbou is awake and moving, with or without my permission or advisement. How do you feel?"
"Fine, I'm fine," Shitora replied shakily, suddenly feeling shivers encasing her body. "Where is he? I need to see him..."
As she renewed her search, Akago sighed and directed her eyes towards the front of the warehouse, where the source of the commotion could be seen. Gang members were running about, arming themselves with weapons and generally outfitting themselves for war, shouting to each other as they ran back and forth between stations. She could vaguely make out the back of Shippo's head from where he sat in a chair, facing several computer and TV screens she couldn't remember being there that morning; Souten was standing behind his chair, watching him work nervously. It wasn't until she heard the sound of a drill that she finally felt somewhat at ease; mechanics always made her that way. The direction of the drill noise seemed to be the same direction that Akago was pointing so, without another word, Shitora pushed gingerly off the table in her bandage-tube top and black leather pants, walking as quickly as she could towards the sound.
She manuevered her way distractedly around the scurrying gang members, feeling like a passersby in Times Square, as she approached the motorcycle area on the far left. As she neared, she could vaguely make out a familiar broad back bent over a workbench, drilling away at what appeared to be a Yamaha broadside body kit. Without another thought, she began hurrying towards him, exclaiming, "Ran!"
Ranbou glanced over his shoulder, grinning brilliantly as Shitora launched herself into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and hugging his neck fiercely. He managed to hold her up with only his right arm, as his left was still recovering from the extensive shoulder injury. Demon healing was fast, but not that fast.
"Hey baby girl, I'm glad you're awake," he said into her ear, making her want to cry even more than she already did. She decided, however, that far too much crying had already gone on in the past two days. She wasn't going to add any more to it and that was final.
"I'm glad your alive," she countered as his arm tightened gently around her midsection; he was obviously wary of her chest. "Where is everyone?"
As Ranbou set Shitora down on the ground, he turned to pick up where he'd left off on the body kit, pulling the drill trigger experimentally. "They already left for the invasion."
"What?! Without us?" Shitora demanded hotly, thoroughly enraged; she'd risked her life for this cause and they had the nerve to neglect her?
"No, I told them to go on ahead," Ranbou replied, shaking his head as he continued drilling calmly. He seemed completely unworried about all of this, as though he were just carrying on a normal day in the warehouse, fixing bikes and drinking beer. Shitora's wide eyes were trained on his back, watching the muscles moving beneath his wifebeater; how could he be so nochalant? "There we go," he said triumphantly as he finished the last screw, holding the piece of the body kit up to the light as he examined his work. "Put this on the Yamaha."
Ranbou tossed the piece to Shitora, who caught it quickly, watching as he hurried over to his motorcycle and kicked a piece of dented plastic back into place; apparently, their bikes had taken a bit of a beating during some point in the fight. "Ran-"
"Just do it, Sukini, or yer gonna miss that fight you want in on," Ranbou called back, grinning garulously before jogging over towards the computer set-up Shippo was so dilligently tending to.
Shitora, however confused, popped the body kit back on to the Yamaha and hurried in her boyfriend's wake; she was still rather fuzzy on what was going on, but as long as she got to be part of the invasion, she was happy. Shippo sat, back erect and eyes narrowed, as he adjusted the mouthpiece on his headphones and watched a few video camera hookups playing out across numerous screens. Shitora was momentarily reminded of the Matrix, but she said nothing of the kind; this was supposed to be serious.
"Inuyasha," Shippo said into the microphone. "Where are you?"
A voice crackled out of the speakers in response. "We're less than a mile out. She awake yet?"
Shitora realized he must've been talking about her and she bent down, practically commandeering the microphone as she said hurriedly, "Yeah, I'm awake, I'm coming!"
Ranbou grabbed on to Shitora's arm as she turned, preparing to drive recklessly off into the morning. "Hold up, baby girl, wait fer me. Shippo, see if you can get in touch with Ayame and Max."
Shippo nodded and reached over towards what appeared to be a switchboard, adjusting the frequency and pushing a few buttons to get in line with Mad Max's earpiece. Before the others left, Shippo offered six of them ear pieces and explained that, while he used the old blue prints of the Shark headquarters to navigate, he would keep in touch with them via microphone. As was part of the plan, the invasion squad would split in to six groups upon arrival and enter from six different angles, a sort of insurance to make sure that at least someone made it to the center most chamber where Kagome was most likely being held.
"Max, can you hear me?"
The line crackled and someone muttered, "Fucking piece of- Ship? You there mate?"
"Yeah, I'm here," Shippo replied, smiling a bit at Max's inability to work with electronics.
"Wotcha want, then?"
"Where are you?"
"Comin' up on the place, smells like a fuckin' sewer," Max replied; the dull roar of a motorcycle engine provided a buzz in the background. "Ran can meet us any time."
"Alright," Shippo replied. "Hold still for a minute; I'm sending him out now. Radio Inuyasha and get him to hold still too; Shitora is awake and ready to go."
The line clicked off and Shippo said, "Alright, you two can go meet your groups."
Shitora and Ranbou nodded before Ranbou hurried to prep the motorcycle and Shitora ran back to pull on a shirt over her bandages, pain and discomfort suddenly forgotten; the adrenaline was already pumping in her veins. Akago came walking out of the storage room as Shitora pulled on her wifebeater, grabbing the keys to her motorcycle, which had been laid next to her makshift sickbed.
The demon smiled cooly, eyes taking on a crimson edge as he murmured, "Are you going to meet them?"
"Yeah," Shitora replied distractedly as she reached for her belt, checking to make sure her gun had been reloaded. "Are you gonna head out soon?"
"As soon as-"
But Akago never got to finish his sentence for someone entered the room, a girl Shitora couldn't remember seeing before. She'd exited the storage room quite calmly, looking as though she belonged there, but Shitora couldn't help but be suspicious. Despite her suspicions, however, the hanyou's seppanyoukai wasn't even raising it's head. Why didn't she feel threatened?
The girl had magnificent blonde locks, which fell in waves somewhere past her mid-back, and the most intriguing violet eyes...Shitora's brow furrowed. She remembered knowing someone with violet eyes, but they certainly weren't a woman. The only pair of violet eyes she'd ever seen belonged to-
"Gan," Akago greeted with a slight inclince of his head, tone surprisingly placid.
The girl avoided Akago's gaze, never meeting his eyes as she continued staring at the ground. "Akago," she murmured quietly, before continuing, "I'm leaving."
"I knew you would be," the Shark leader replied in kind. The two of them were so quiet, Shitora was quite sure that a human wouldn't have heard them. It was a wonder the girl could hear Akago's words at all.
"I'm sorry to have caused you trouble. If you'll excuse me," the girl said, glancing up at Shitora and giving her a brief nod before walking purposefully towards the front of the warehouse. Shitora watched her go, eyes wide as her mind began putting together the most impossible series of events.
"That wasn't..." she mumbled, glancing at Akago with questions evident in her stare.
"It was," Akago replied bitterly. "She fooled us all quite well, don't you think? A brilliant performance. She used scent masker; we never would've known."
Shitora desperately wanted to sit down on the floor and ponder this strange miracle, but Ranbou's voice jerked her out of her haze. She remembered quite suddenly that she had a job to do and, offering Akago a look which could best be described as pitying but tough, she pocketed her keys and began jogging towards her boyfriend. Ranbou had apparently seen Gan exiting the warehouse, for he asked confusedly, "Who was that girl?"
"That was Gan the Gun," Shitora replied, still stunned herself. "Akago kind of explained it...not really. I dunno. We've gotta go."
"Wait...what?" Ranbou called after her, watching blurrily as his girlfriend threw on her helmt and began to mount her motorcycle.
"Bo, c'mon!" she called urgently, snapping him out of his trance; this other matter would have to wait until the invasion was resolved.
As Shitora and Ranbou pulled out of the warehouse, speeding off on their newly modified motorcycles towards the groups, Akago calmly approached Shippo and said, "Tell Sesshomaru I'm coming to meet them; I'll be there in less that a minute."
Shippo nodded, frowning slightly as Akago walked towards his car, boot heels clicking and chains rattling as his white braid swung back and forth. Shippo could tell the Shark leader was hurting inside, though he wasn't quite sure to what extent or why. Just before the others left, Akago had carried on a hushed conversation with Sesshomaru, who's eyebrows had raised indefinitely, before they both entered the storage room and came out looking bitter. Word had spread quickly that Gan the Gun was not who he seemed and was in fact a she, but Shippo, for some reason, wasn't incredibly surprised. Somehow, looking at Gan as a woman was easier than looking at him as a man; Gan had always seemed uncomfortable as a boy.
The young fox demon was sure that this incredibly discovery would've been magnified twenty fold if the invasion hadn't been taking place. Thanks to the unfolding war, Gan's newly uncovered gender was simply regarded with great surprise as the others suited up. Shippo was quite sure it hadn't dawned on everyone yet just how big of a deal this would turn out to be. Someone had pretended to be the opposite sex, for Christ's sake; it was magnanimous!
The sound of Akago's tires crunching on the gravel broke Shippo from his thoughts and he quickly got back to his duties.
"Sesshomaru? Akago is on his way."
*!*!*!*
Kouga shifted his weight slightly as his rear end began to go numb; he, Skull and Hiten had been sitting outside the North entrance to the Spider headquarters for the past thirty minutes awaiting instructions. Kouga was desperately craving a cigarette, though he knew a trail of smoke would obviously give away their position; he almost released a whine in the back of his throat. Waiting made him anxious.Kouga, Skull and Hiten were the speed group; all three of them were fleet of foot and light on their toes. They fit into the center of Sesshomaru's brilliant plan for it was their duty to retrieve Kagome from captivity once they arrived in the center chamber and encountered what would surely be an altercation. It was the Fang leader's hope that, while the other groups distracted Naraku's attention, the three speed demons could safely smuggle Kagome out of the warehouse and get her treated. Sesshomaru was figuring rather nasty wounds into the plan, for it was well known that Naraku became perverse with his female prisoners.
The speed group was currently sitting behind a group of boxes, shielded from view as the Northern entrance guards looked obliviously on. The two guards happened to be human, which was a blessing, before they couldn't sense or smell anything out of the ordinary. They also happened to be out of hearing distance, so whispered plans were no longer dangerous.
Skull winced as his back began to grow stiff from where he was sitting against a crate; his blonde hair created a curtain in front of his face as he rolled his shoulders, sighing impatiently. "This is a fair lot, then. I'm sick of waiting."
"Who isn't?" Hiten murmured, crimson eyes trained whimsically on the sky.
"What with the way they got themselves beaten up, should Ran and Tora even be coming?" Skull continued. His blue eyes were conflicted; he was truly worried about his friends.
Kouga glanced around the box again, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, and said absent mindedly, "Eh, you know them. They wouldn't miss this for anything."
Just as Kouga said this, his ear piece began to crackle and he placed a hand to it, trying to get it in a comfortable position. "Come in, Kouga," a voice said, obviously that of Shippo.
"Yeah, I'm here," Kouga said, glancing over at Skull and Hiten, who looked up in excitement as they made contact with someone for the first time since they arrived.
"We start the infiltration in thirty seconds; get into position."
Kouga motioned for Skull and Hiten to rise, which they did to a safe distance where their heads were still hidden by the boxes. Kouga glanced down at his watch, which he'd synchronized with the others groups before they left the warehouse. 23, 22, 21...
On the opposite side of the warehouse at the South entrance, Shitora had just joined Bankotsu, Inuyasha and Axle in the weapons group. The weapons group was in charge of putting Naraku and his allies under heavy fire as the speed group made away with Kagome, so their entrance and timing was crucial. Shitora had parked her bike about a half mile away and sprinted the rest of the distance, arriving in the specified alley where the others were getting ready to move out.
Inuyasha glanced up as his sister, smiling faintly as she jogged towards him. "Hey kid."
"Hey," she replied breathlessly, glancing down at the pile of guns on the ground before beginning to outfit herself with a few. "Sorry I'm late."
"Thought you were gonna miss the party," Bankotsu said cheekily, giving her a crimson wink as he redid his black braid in a tighter fashion.
"And a party with guns besides that," Axle entered in, eyes twinkling kindly. He flexed his brawny limbs routinely before letting out a yawn, running a hand along his sky blue cornrows. "Guess riding through the night finally hit me, then."
Shitora strapped an automatic weapon across her back, hissing a little as she torqued her torso too much. Bankotsu furrowed his brow and asked, "You alright, Tora?"
"Fine, just stiff. It won't get in the way," she promised, meeting eyes with her brother as she said this.
Inuyasha offered his sister a nod, but she was the least of his worries. He was confident that Shitora could hold her own, no matter what kind of injuries she was suffering from; it was Kagome he was really concerned about. She was in the hands of a madman, not even a mile away from him, and the desire to go charging in, shooting blindly was quite tempting. He knew Sesshomaru wasn't going to put up with any of his impulsive decisions, a fact he'd made clear by knocking Inuyasha unconscious at the mere insinuation, but Kagome's smiling face kept appearing in his mind. He wanted his Kagome, to hold her and take in her scent, and he wanted her now.
"Easy mate," Axle murmured, placing a comforting hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "You're twitching."
Inuyasha nodded distractedly and tried to calm his hands, which were clenching and unclenching almost without his knowledge. They wanted to spill Naraku's blood until the gutters ran red, but he was going to stick with Sesshomaru's plan; its outcome would no doubt be better than that of his plan. Of course, Inuyasha plan was simply shoot to kill until no one from the North was breathing, but that was beside the point. Inuyasha momentarily satiated himself with remembering that, by the end of the day, Naraku would be dead.
"Inuyasha?"
At the sound of Shippo's voice in his ear, Inuyasha jumped and let out a soft curse. "Jesus, Shippo, stop freakin' me out!"
"Sorry. Move out in thirty seconds."
As Shippo crackled off the line, Inuyasha mumbled something mutinous and announced that the group would be moving out within the minute, earning nods from the others. Inuyasha cocked the release on the pistol he was holding and stared coldly down at the gun. Today the Spiders would pay. They would all pay.
According to the plan, on Shippo's word the six groups would come out of their hiding places and quickly take out the two guards at their specified entrance with a few well placed bullets from silenced pistols. It was imperative that the bullets hit their mark and every shooter aware, but no one had it in their hearts to be nervous; the only thing on everyone's mind was revenge.
Sango thought quiet thoughts of sweet revenge as she cocked back the pistol she was holding, glancing over at Rin; the two were currently camped out behind a deteriorating brick wall, located near the South West entrance. Both girls were holding weapons and preparing to take out the guards efficiently because they were needed inside the center chamber before the other groups. Sango and Rin's job was to distract Naraku and his guards until the others arrived, charging in from every possible direction with their weapons raised. Though Sesshomaru was hesitant to let Rin take up this job, she argued that she and Sango could keep Naraku talking long enough for the others to get in position. To this Sesshomaru had no answer; both girls were skilled talkers.
As Rin adjusted the grip on her pistol, staring down the sight at the silencing mechanism which Shippo had rigged for her, she thought briefly of Kagome, who handled this gun more than its owner. Her cousin's laughter and snarky comments echoed in her head as Rin tried to shake them away and focuse on her job; if she didn't focus, it would be all for naught.
"Go."
As soon as the word came over Sango's earpiece, she gave a nod to Rin and the girls placed their fingers on the trigger, staring at the oblivious guards lingering outside the entrance. They squeezed the triggers in unison and let out simultaneous breaths of relief as both guards fell in heaps to the ground, hit straight through the heart by both bullets. Luckily, the girls had managed to get within a close enough range that missing was less likely, but the possibility was always there.
Rin took a deep breath and muttered, "Let's go."
*!*!*!*
"That was pretty damn easy."Ayame shrugged her shoulders as smoke drifted lazily from her cigarette; she had to admit that Ranbou was right. After taking out the guards with a few well placed bullets, Ayame, Ranbou and Mad Max had made their way easily inside, almost like strolling into a restaurant. They'd expected to meet Spiders the minute they stepped in the door, but they hadn't seen a single Spider since they entered the headquarters.
Upon entering, they were met with the sight of a narrow hallway, which had several doors and pathways leading off from it. Shippo reported that he had no record of such a place in the old blue prints, which had made Ranbou curse. His and Shitora's failure to retrieve new blue prints was beginning to seem more and more unfortunate by the second.
After wandering blindly for a while, the three had entered a random room with only a table and some chair inside. Knowing it was pointless to wander around in the maze, they decided to sit for a while and have a few cigarettes; the whole place smelled like cigarette smoke anyway, so who would know?
"It's kinda like they were letting us in," Ayame mused, running her hands along her leather clad thighs.
Max nodded, gnarled face contorted in a frown. "They're not the fuckin' idiots we take them for; they've got a plan just like us."
"Don't say shit like that," Ayame replied dully, snubbing out her cigarette on the counter. "Makes me nervous."
"It damn well should," Ranbou murmured. He leaned back against the wall as he blew a few perfect smoke rings, finding them strangely unsatisfying. He, like the others, was itching to go in and get the job done. He felt as though he needed to gain back what honor he'd lost by failing in his previous mission to retrieve the blue prints. Being an assassin for a living and finding yourself unable to complete a simple recon job was startling and made him cringe. He briefly wondered what Shitora was doing at that exact moment, but he soon dismissed the thought; thinking about his girlfriend would only lead to distraction and that was what cost them before.
"S'far as I can tell, we're pretty fuckin' close to the center chamber," Max mentioned, smoke spilling out of his twisted mouth. His red mohawk seemed abbrassive in the colorless room, but he was a pretty abbrassive fellow in the first place. He simply pocketed his hands, causing several chains to rattle. "We might as well just wait it out until the other get their shit together, know what I mean?"
Ranbou nodded as he threw his cigarette to the ground crushing it beneath his boot toe. "Yeah. But maybe we can smell around for Kagome's scent. I wanna know where the center is for sure."
"We could try," Ayame agreed, pushing herself off the table. "If the plan doesn't work out, somebody's gotta grab her and get away before things get ugly. She's probably already beaten up."
At the thought, the two boys grew steely eyed and gave curt nods; when other gangs messed with their women, gang men in general seemed to become incredibly defensive and hostile. Despite the fact that Kagome wasn't technically part of the South, she still had her place in their hearts and nothing could change that. Even Max, who'd only met her at Race Wars, regarded her with the highest respect; she could shoot like the devil and keep Inuyasha in check, so she was obviously worth his time.
The three demons exchanged glances before nodding and exiting the room, trying to pick up Kagome's scent above the countless others.
*!*!*!*
"Wait, I still don't get it. Why'd you stay away so long?"Kinanme let out a heavy sigh as she rolled her ice blue eyes, staring frustratedly over her shoulder at Ginta and Hakkaku. For the past thirty minutes since they'd entered through the North West gate, both wolf demons hadn't wasted a moment before showering her with questions about her recent reappearance in Tokyo, confused as to why she left in the first place. Kinanme was well acquainted with both Ginta and Hakkaku for they'd been friends of Ranbou's since their younger years in elementary school. This didn't, however, change the fact that she was trying to concentrate on the job at hand.
Bones narrowed his green eyes thoughtfully as he pocketed his hands, staring down the seemingly endless hallway curiously. They'd been walking this hall since they arrive inside the warehouse and it seemed positively endless. It almost seemed like a trap, but Bones was sure the Spiders hadn't erected something so elaborate just for the Fangs. Maybe this had once been an office building or something of the sort; the blueprints never indicated as such, but then again the blueprints could be wrong.
"I've said it a million times, but I'll say it again; we needed time," Kinanme said curtly, never meeting Ginta or Hakkaku's eyes as she stared vehemently forward.
Hakkaku cocked his head to the side, upsetting the balance of his mohawk. "Time? For what?"
"To think about things. And to be away from everything," Kinanme replied, trying to keep herself occupied looking for a way out of the hallway.
"Were you mad at your dad?" Ginta asked curiously.
"Kind of," the girl allowed.
"But wh-"
"Why don't you two cut it out for the time being, ay?" Benkan interrupted, flashing the group a brilliant smile but managing to be commanding nevertheless. Ginta and Hakkaku exchanged glances and shrugs before returning to the original task at hand: looking for the center chamber.
Kinanme narrowed her eyes and zeroed in her gaze on a small black device anchored at the ceiling joint. It was some feet ahead, not within range of them quite yet, and she held out her arm to bar the others before raising her silenced gun. She took out the surveillance camera with ease, watching as it shattered and fell to the floor. Bones smiled and ruffled the girl's hair fondly.
"That's our Kina," he said with a smile.
"Wolves are really observant, at least when they're focused," Kinanme replied, shooting a deliberate look back at Ginta and Hakkaku.
As the two wolf demons cowered behind him, Benkan adjusted his ear piece and said, "Can anyone hear me?"
After a moment, a few voices crackled over the line and said various forms of, "Yes." Benkan walked over to the broken video camera and examined its remains as he said, "Looks like they've got video cameras; Kina took it out before it saw us, but keep an eye sharp, ay?"
"Video cameras? Fuck."
"Max, it oughta be no problem fer you," Inuyasha reminded him. "Do yer little electronic zap thing."
"Oh, fuck yeah!"
Benkan clicked off the line and sighed, placing his hands thoughtfully on his hips. "Well, the others are alright. Might as well keep searching, mates."
The others nodded and followed behind Benkan, glancing at each closed door and wondering where the center of this labrynth could possibly be.
*!*!*!*
Kouga, Skull and Hiten were encountering the same problem as their friends; the hallways were all identical. Though there wasn't much light, they could see the numerous doors lining the walls, all of them the same color and make, and occasionally, they would come across a video camera. Skull easily took care of the video cameras with a few well placed bullets, but Kouga was more worried about finding the center chamber; at this rate it seemed impossible.The three of them were talking amiably as they went, not at all afraid of meeting Spiders. If they met any kind of resistance, they would just take them out, no questions asked. So why not talk while they went?
"I'm confused as to how you ended up dating my sister," Kouga admitted, giving Skull a sheepish grin. "I wouldn't've pulled that one out of a hat."
"Me neither," Hiten laughed, giving Skull a friendly punch to the shoulder.
Skull shrugged, smiling his usual garulous smile. "I dunno. When she first came, we hated each other, fought all the time; somewhere in between there and here, we...uh..."
"Fell in love?" Kouga offered, unabashed by the idea. After all, he was in love with Ayame so it stood to reason that other couples were falling in love as well.
The blush which rose to Skull's cheeks was unmistakable and Hiten chuckled, exclaiming smugly, "The great Tobi Skull blushing; what the hell man? Are you really? With Kina?"
Skull glanced down at the floor, trying to hide his smile; so what if he was? Kouga and Hiten seemed to understand and they simultaneously patted him on the back in a brotherly fashion. They were just passing what seemed to be their millionth door when Hiten jerked back, crimson eyes wide and hackles raised indefinitely. Both Skull and Kouga whirled around to face him, urgently searching around for anything amiss, but they found nothing.
"Hiten? Dude, what's wrong?" Kouga asked curiously.
In turn, Hiten narrowed his eyes and whirled to face the door to his right, staring so fiercely at it that holes might've appeared in the wood. "There's something electronic behind that door. And it ain't kosher."
Kouga's jaw tightened; Hiten was a thunder demon and, like Max, was very sensetive when it came to detecting electronic dangers. With a frown, Skull stared at the door and murmured, "Wanna go in then?"
Hesitating a sniff at the door crack, Kouga replied, "Well, there's no one in there, so might as well."
With a nod, Skull reached for the door knob and clutched in his hand, almost expecting some sort of shock to resonate through his body, though nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Finally, he turned the knob and pushed the door open, trying to adjust to the ink black darkness inside. Kouga and Hiten followed him tentatively into the mysterious room, allowing their fingers to dance along the tops of their weapons; the noiselessness made them nervous.
Kouga instinctively reached up his hand to look for a light switch and, surprisingly, found one on the left side of the doorway. None of the boys would ever forget what they saw there until the end of their days.
Every single wall in the room, which was at least thirty by twenty feet, was covered with weapons. Guns, grenades, flame throwers and others which were unrecognizable were anchored on hooks, an assortment of different colors and makes. Kouga couldn't identify more than ten of them for sure, which was saying something since there had to be well over four hundred in this room alone.
Skull let out a low whistle. "Damn," he murmured. "So these are the weapons Max was on about."
Kouga only nodded dumbly. "Yeah, guess so."
"This shit is dangerous," Hiten whispered, unable to bring his voice above this quiet level. "Real dangerous."
And neither Skull nor Kouga could argue; even without thunder demon powers, they were under the distinct impression that none of these weapons were among the garden variety. In fact, Kouga almost felt as though some of them were alive; there certainly seemed to be a strange pulse around the area.
"Let's get outta here," Kouga murmured to the others, who nodded. Quietly, they backed out of the room and turned off the light, closing the door behind them. The three boys, merriment forgotten, continued soberly down the hall with nary a word, looking for the center chamber in silence.
*!*!*!*
"So let me see if I've got this. She pretended to be a boy for three years for some unknown reason and used scent masker to ensure that no demons would find out. And then she got hurt and something about...her breasts?"Akago, Sesshomaru and Kotone were in, perhaps, the most confusing place of all. While the other five groups contented themselves with the seemingly endless hallways of doom, the three demons were currently in the central electronics room, staring at a multitude of switchboards, blinking lights and circuit breakers. Sesshomaru had realized that, should the other parts of the plan fail, they needed a reasonable back up plan. His back up plan involved wiring the lights to turn off upon command which then left Axle, who had incredible night vision, to whisk Kagome away as the others involved themselves in an all out fight with the North. In the dark. The plan wasn't exactly perfect, but even Sesshomaru couldn't put together a flawless plan in an hour's time.
Since Kotone had left a few months before Gan arrived in the North, she was rather confused by the girl's gender issues and had been asking polite but curious questions for about a half hour. Akago seemed content answering said questions, a fact which Sesshomaru atributed to the desire for closure. The three of them were currently waiting for the system decoder to do its duty and, according to Shippo, it would take at least forty five minutes, a time during which they could only sit and wait. If the thick layer of dust surrounding the electronic equipment was any indication, the Spiders didn't make it their business to enter the control room anyway.
Sesshomaru translated Kotone's sign language and Akago furrowed his white brow, cocking his head to the side as though wondering if he could explain it more clearly. "Well, yes. The bit about breasts: I found out she was a girl the hard way. I was checking her wounds to see if they were healing nicely...and found breasts instead."
Kotone read his lips and made a small "o" with her mouth, as though finally understanding where breasts fit in to all of this. After a moment, she signed rather urgently, "So she left? Why did you let her leave?"
"Let her leave?" Akago asked almost indignantly after Sesshomaru's amused translation. "Good riddance as far as I'm concerned. She lied to me for three entire years of close, undying companionship, Kotone. It's not like I can honestly forgive that."
But Kotone only narrowed her ice blue eyes and signed irritatedly, "Well, there had to be some reason why she did what she did. I don't just think she crossdressed for shits and giggles."
Akago was quiet for the moment following Sesshomaru's interpretation of Kotone's signs, crimson eyes downcast on the flithy floor. He hadn't really thought about the numerous reasons why Gan might've done what she did; he'd been a little too preoccupied with the deed itself. Regardless of this all, Akago couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so betrayed by anyone, not even his whore of a sister. In fact...this betrayal meant even more than his foster father's drunken rages. All his life, Akago had been continuously abandoned, first by his parents, then by his foster parents, then by his sister and now this. If this wasn't any indication that he was meant to live alone, what was it?
A sudden beep jerked Akago out of his thoughts and Sesshomaru rose, glancing down at the small device which he'd used to unscript the system. "We have full access," he announced, glancing back at Kotone and Akago. "Now, Akago, go insert the timer in the lighting system."
Akago pushed himself off the counter on which he sat and glanced up the high wall at the many tangled wires leading towards the ceiling; he sighed. If only the Spiders had kept better care of their house electronics, he wouldn't have to do such a miserable task. After all, climbing half the wall just to insert a timing device seemed a little out of reach, no pun intended.
As Akago puzzled over the ten or so feet he now had to climb, Sesshomaru turned to Kotone and signed efficiently, "The computer is yours."
Kotone nodded and hurried over to the computer, typing as quickly as her fingers could carry her hands. The screen flashed to life before her eyes, reflecting in her very pupils as she decoded scripts and overlayed firewalls, finally at ease before the one thing in this world which could connect with her without a voice.
Meanwhile, Akago sighed and reached up his hand, finding a small ledge in the badly laid brick, before hoisting himself upwards at the beginning of his arduous climb. He had since placed the small timer in his teeth and Sesshomaru smirked.
"With that timer in your mouth, you look like a pirate right out of an Erol Flynn movie. Maybe its your shirt. Or your pants. Or...you."
"Shut up," Akago growled distractedly around the timer, trying to bypass stepping on as many cords as possible on his way up the wall.
Eventually, he'd scaled the necessary ten feet using only the brick as footholds; while this was no easy task by itself, he now had to insert the timing device while keeping himself steady against the wall. Now was when the real test of skill arose. Narrowing his eyes in concetration, Akago tightened his grip with his left hand and used his right hand to remove the timer from his mouth, looking at the wires nearest him. The timer belonged in between the red and green wires with the blue wire inserted in the back. This was all well and good until Akago noticed something odd.
"Purple? Yellow? Orange? Sesshomaru, what are all the rest of these wires?"
The dog demon glanced up and looked at the indicated wires, blinking before walking towards the power splitter and examining each of them. "Clever. These idiots apparently didn't know much about wire coding. None of these colors are correct."
Akago groaned; now the red, green and blue wires didn't do what they were supposed to. "What do we do now?"
"Hold on," Sesshomaru murmured. "Give me a moment."
Akago readjusted his grip on the wall, tactfully declining to mention that he barely had a second's worth of time remaining in his aching hands, nevertheless a moment. As Sesshomaru examined the wire box and began giving Akago instructions from the ground, Kotone smiled mysteriously to herself. She was in.
The computer light reflected in her eyes as she came across the numerous files keeping Naraku and his business files in order. As she sifted through the files, which documents a number of interesting incidents and transactions, her ice blue eyes gave a twinkle; there was enough in these files to keep Naraku quiet until the day of his death.
"Kotone, are you done?" Sesshomaru called, watching as Akago began climbing slowly down, the timer suspended by several wires above his head.
The girl turned, nodding slightly and pointing to the computer. "We could practically indict him with all this."
"Excellent," Sesshomaru murmured. "Hurry, Akago. We've got to find the center of this ridiculous place."
The moth demon arched his back, popping a few vertebrae as he muttered mutinously in reply, "Hold on, your majesty, I'm just realigning my spine after a death defying climb and a seven minute suspension with only my hands."
"Let's go," Sesshomaru said with a quick nod, exiting the room with Kotone in tow as though he'd never heard Akago's rebellion. Rolling his crimson eyes plantively, Akago wondered how he'd gotten himself in this mess before charging after his friends, trying to ignore the stinging in the back of his mind. If Gan had already left, why was her face still there?
*!*!*!*
"S-Sango?"Dried blood on her neck nearly prevented Sango from turning her head, though she managed to angle her vision slightly to the right. "Yeah?" Her voice was a whisper, barely even escaping her mouth.
"Do you think we're..." Rin's words ended abruptly as she winced, numerous chains clamoring together and making a cold, distant noise. "-we're...gonna die here?"
Sango allowed her head to lean forward on her neck, lolling like the dead, as she pondered Rin's question. Sango could feel the skin on her wrists and ankles disappearing rapidly with each movement of her shackles, but she'd lost interest in skin some thirty minutes ago. Somewhere past the screaming, the struggling and the whipping, she'd lost interest in just about everything but escape. At the current time, she and Rin were in the worst position she could ever imagine.
The two girls had entered the warehouse easily, finding the guards pathetic enough that one could barely constitute them as obstacles. Upon arriving inside, however, they'd only managed to walk for about twenty minutes before they were ambushed by a select number of core Spiders. The two human girls were overpowered easily and dragged into a dark room, where they'd been chained to a wall and whipped mercilessly under a panther demon's direction. He kept repeating questions which Sango and Rin had no answers to.
"What kind of deal do the Fangs have with the Yakuza?"
"Where does Taisho get the boosted cars?"
"How much is made with each transaction?"
Rin and Sango had never really cared to ask their friends and boyfriends what went on for, frankly, they had little desire to know. As long as everyone came home safe at the end of the night, what did it matter? Sango had silently decided to let that one issue slide from under her radar; her relationship with Miroku wouldn't be disrupted by something as trivial as night time gang activities.
Blood dripped down Sango's face and smoothed a course along her cheek, dripping off her chin only to end with a drop on the floor below. A large red pool was already collecting beneath her and Sango was silently wondering if she and Rin would make it out alive like she was about to promise.
"We're not dying," Sango whispered, throat raw and sore from screaming with pain. It was a wonder that no one had heard them for, indeed, she and Rin screamed as loudly as possible in hopes to attract attention. Unfortunately, no one heard their cries for help and their supposed pain only served to excite their tormenters further. Only once they'd quieted down had the inquirers left them to hang from their shackles in silence.
"I never th-thought it would g-go this w-way," Rin choked out, trying to ignore the salty tears mingling with her blood as they dripped from her eyelashes. If only she could find herself in Sesshomaru's strong arms, snug against his chest as the world raged outside. Sesshomaru could protect her from anything...so where was he?
Sango winced as her chest began to ache; she'd obviously lost too much blood. The torturing itself was a blur to her, a bloody red blur with pain on its edges, but as she hung from her moorings, she could barely even recall a single moment of the whipping. It was as though she'd crept into the warehouse and suddenly arrived at her current location with blood wetting her skin, blinding her eyes and stuffing her nose.
"We have to get out," Sango ground out hoarsely. "I refuse to die here."
As these words echoed throughout the empty room, the expanse of which was beginning to frighten both girls, Sango gritted her teeth and rocketed her body forward, using the last energy she could muster to propel herself. She cried out in pain and Rin's scream soon joined hers, though the second was of a different manner.
"Sango, stop!"
The desire to move began to seep from her body and Sango sighed, eyelids threatening to close. "Just...I just have to..."
"No, Sango," Rin said quietly, tears dripping down her cheeks and mingling with her blood, which pooled on the floor beneath her. "Don't. If we're actually ever meant to leave here, someone will find us."
"But-"
"NO!" Rin shouted, coughing slightly as blood bubbled up in her throat. She wasn't sure why there was blood in her throat, but none of the possibilities were enjoyable to think about. Swallowing patiently, Rin continued in a gentle manner, "We wait. Don't move anymore. It'll only kill you faster."
At the mention of death, Sango tried to slow her breathing and glanced distractedly up at the ceiling, which she could barely make out in the darkness. She didn't fear death and frankly, neither did the others. They flirted with death on a regular basis, but she'd never come this close to an actual date. Several things about this situation made her uneasy, most notably the chains and the wounds, but other things were starting to get on her nerves. There was, for instance, the smell of the Spiders' hideout. It smelled like sex and beer. Not the good kind of Friday night party sex and beer, but the "I'm a slut, rape me" sex and the "I need to forget my pathetic life" beer. Then she also knew that her friends might be fighting for their lives as well and this unnerved her to the core. And I've got this shitty buzzing in my ear...
Buzzing.
In her ear.
"Rin," Sango practically whispered, swallowing blood and saliva almost disbelievingly. "I still...I still have the earpiece."
"What?"
"The earpiece. I still have the earpiece. In my ear."
Rin hesitated to glance over, in case this was just a farce, but she managed to shift her vision ever so slightly. "If you're joking, Sango..."
"I'm not," her friends whispered in reply. Closing her eyes softly, she managed to angle her head foreward until her hand was just touching her ear; the chain pulled at her skin and caused her to hiss, but she just barely brushed the comlink button with her thumb nail. The microphone snapped to life and soon a voice was radiating over the line.
"Sango? What's up," Shippo asked.
Sango nearly cried at the sound of the boy's voice, but she managed to compose herself. "Shippo..." she choked out. "Rin and I were captured. We're in a room somewhere, we don't know where..."
"What?! Captured?!" Shippo practically screamed, out of his mind with worry; he hadn't thought to check on Sango and Rin, as they were only the distraction team, but obviously he should've rethought this strategy. Shaking his head free of thoughts, the young kitsune began typing feverishly away at the keyboard, tracing Sango's headset. "Nevermind. Okay, I've got your longitude and latitude on the computer, I'll send someone over to get you. Just stay calm, okay?"
Sango swallowed and murmured, "Okay," before stretching her muscles to turn off the connection. She could barely process a thought as she hung there, wondering how, after a summer of blithe happiness and oblivious nothingness, she and her friends were caught in the middle of a raging war. This seemed rather anti-climatic, almost as though the mountain leading up to this peek of aggression hadn't amassed to anything. After all, could it really be considered a fight when only one side was manuevering successfully?
"This isn't real," Rin muttered, closing her eyes as more tears threatened to fall. "We're the good guys, right? We're the best. We've always been the best. So why are we losing?"
Sango didn't answer, instead staring at the ground with half hooded eyes which were barely striving to care. Somehow, that hope she'd learned from Miroku was beginning to slip away. How did she even know he was alive? Was he struggling against the Spiders just as they were? Had he even run across them? Too many questions. Sango almost had the urge to vomit, to purge herself of the questions, when she realized that this was the beginning of depressive suicide.
"I don't know why we're losing," Sango said finally.
The two girls hung in silence.
*!*!*!*
"HOW FUCKING MANY OF THESE BASTARDS CAN THERE BE?!"Axle grunted and dropped to his knees, ignoring Inuyasha's shout as he steadied his machine gun on its steel legs before letting loose a string of bullets, which caught some ten Spiders in the chest at once. Blood exploded from cracked torsos, mixing with brief screams as men fell to the floor, landing on cold concrete or the bodies of the fallen. Axle sighed, eyes sparkling momentarily before he dodged behind a thick steel table, which Inuyasha, Shitora and Bankotsu were using as a shield. Bullets rang out in another spurt as the Spiders retaliated, shots clapping against the table as the Southerners tried to catch their breath.
Bankotsu wiped blood from his forehead, where a bullet had grazed the skin above his eye and lazily lit a cigarette. "This is a fucking fair crop."
The weapons group had only made it halfway to the monstrous building's center before being met with a group of seemingly neverending Spiders, all of whom were armed with pistols and shotguns. The two parties battles it out and, at the current time, the winner was uncertain; despite the small numbers from the South, the Northerners were obviously expendable underlings whom Naraku had dispatched to slow them down. When quality found itself faced with quantity, the odds were still iffy.
"I say we charge," Inuyasha murmured, blood staining his white hair and face.
Shitora nodded stiffly, echoing, "I say charge. Let's do it."
The siblings met eyes and could barely constrain their grins; however much they complained about this situation, they couldn't help but find a certain pleasure in it. Inuyasha soon remembered the nature of his mission and his smile fell indefinitely; his grin couldn't survive without Kagome. After giving brief nods to Bankotsu and Axle, who nodded in return, the four demons spun away from the protection of the steel table, listening as gun shots rang out on the floor, the ceiling, and whatever else they could possibly collide with.
Inuyasha managed to take out several Spiders with his semi-automatic while Axle continued wreaking havoc with his machine gun. Bankotsu had taken to using a shotgun, for reasons unknown, and was adding to the already monstrous noise with every solitary "boom." Shitora was weilding an automatic in each hand and rotating slightly at the torso, catching enemies in the chest and, often, the face.
Axle was just glancing up to make his next move when he noticed one of the Spiders fiddling with a small, circular device. In a moment's time, the Spider prepared to slide it along the floor towards the South and Axle managed to scream, "Scatter!" just before the inevitable happened.
The device exploded with tremendous force, shaking the rafters and walls of the room. It wasn't an altogether huge bomb, but any sort of explosion in an enclosed space is bound to cause troubles. Inuyasha, Bankotsu and Axle flew backwards, managing to escape the worst of the shrapnel as they shielded themselves with their arms. Shitora leaped in a different direction than her friends, as she had been keeping a safe distance so as not to accidentally shoot one of her own. She found herself huddled against the west wall, attempting to shield her face from the unbearable heat and her ears from the noise as the bomb. The girl was just about to look up and rejoin her group when a grimy smelling hand covered her mouth, sticky with sweat and smelling of blood. Shitora's amber eyes widened in surprise and fear as she attempted to scream, but to no avail. Arms soon appeared with the hand and dragged her backwards into an offset room where more problems awaited her.
The room was, like most of the others, completely barren and badly lit. Shitora struggled against her captor's hold but was soon released of their volition, leaving her to stare wildly around at a group of six more Spiders. The hanyou girl furrowed her brow and shouted in exasperation, "Where the fuck are you all coming from?! Naraku never had this many men before!"
The Spiders didn't answer but advanced, withdrawing knives from their belts as they closed in around her. Shitora clenched her hands and gritted her fangs, wishing she hadn't released her hold on her semi automatics during the explosion. Even with her claws, she didn't stand a chance; she was still suffering from the wound on her stomach and numerous injuries from the recent fight. Weakened and outnumbered, it look as though Shitora were in for a beating.
Something unexpected happened, however: what little light there was disappeared. The room went completely dark and Shitora became vaguely aware of a new presence before the choking sounds of death and the crunching of flesh and bone acosted her ears. She could smell liquids leaking from what she assumed were now dead bodies.
As quick as they retreated, the lights returned and Shitora blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the sight before her. The Spiders who had cornered her in this room were now lying in puddles of their own blood, each of them frozen in death with their eyes wide open and mouths agape. Wrenching her eyes away from the gruesome sight, Shitora turned her attention to the figure by the light switch. Her eyes narrowed for a perfectly good reason.
Ryuukoytsusei flexed his claws as he walked slowly towards her, leaning down briefly to wipe them free of blood on one of the victims' shirts. His crimson eyes were surprisingly dull as he glanced up at Shitora, observing her with the strangest blank expression on his face. Shitora remembered vaguely the fact that Dragon demons had impeccable night vision, which would explain the turning off of the lights, but the real question lay in Ryuu's original motives.
"Why?"
Ryuu said nothing in answer to Shitora's question, only continuing to stare blankly at the girl, who was growing increasingly crimson in the cheeks. As the dragon stared levelly at her, nearly drawing the life right out of her body, she could barely think of further words to say. He seemed content to look at her like this, searching, seething, frightening. Eventually, he seemed to grow either bored or nervous, Shitora couldn't tell, and turned on his heels to leave.
"Wait! I asked you a question!"
Ryuukoytsusei's emerald green hair shimmered ever so sightly in the dim lights as he glanced over his shoulder, muttering, "Everyone's death has a time. It's not your time." And with these cryptic and oddly genius words, Ryuu exited the room and only his scent remained, one of blood and mystery. Shitora stared, open mouthed, at the door before her. Had that really just happened? It was like Race Wars all over again...times seventy when it came to strangeness.
"Tora!"
At Inuyasha's frantic call, Shitora wrenched her mind away from Ryuu's appearance and screamed, "Coming!" before hurrying towards the main room, preparing to charge back into the fray.
*!*!*!*
"Is this it?"Ranbou didn't answer Ayame's question, running his hand lightly over the door before them as he refereed an internal debate between his head and his heart. In his mind, he knew that getting Sango and Rin out of captivity and into their waiting arms was the safe, rational thing to do. In his heart, he knew that seeing them might just be the last thing anyone's fragile psyche could take. According to Shippo's radio message, both of the girls were probably in a bad way. Narrowing his ice blue eyes critically, he finally decided that heartache was better than heartbreak and he turned to Mad Max, who was standing stiffly to Ayame's left.
"Max, check fer electronics and whatever, would ya?"
Shrugging his bony shoulders, Max stepped forward and placed one of his tattooed hands flat on the door, grimacing slightly before he emitted a strange white wave, one which could possibly be described as a flash of lightning in the corner of your eye. There was a short buzz before the electrical hum in the air seemed to die and Ayame shivered; the hairs on the back of her neck had suddenly laid down. Max fearlessly turned the door handle and pushed it open, glancing at Ranbou and Ayame behind him. He was less worried about Ranbou, but Ayame...these were two of her dearest friends.
"Are you ready, love?"
The soft quality of Max's voice was startling, though not unpleasant. All the same, Ayame felt her face grow white as she realized what such a reaction must mean. Max was obviously preparing her. Closing her eyes, she could vaguely remember playing in a sandbox with Sango, buying her first bra with Rin, attending her mother's funeral with both of them at her side.
"Yes," she heard herself breathe, though the answer might've been altogether untrue.
It seemed almost anticlimatic as Max threw the door wide and the three demons walked slowly inside, blinking against the dim lighting which seemed to inhabit every small room in this place. They could barely make out Rin and Sango chained up against the wall, speaking in hushed tones. The girls looked up upon their friends' entrance and Sango's voice sounded almost smiling.
"What took you so long?"
Ranbou muttered a curse and jogged forward, finally able to make out their blood streaked faces in the light. Max hurried to meet them as Ayame walked almost robotically behind them. She was startled at first by the sight of her friends, but soon grew used to the blood, the bruising, the ripped clothing. It wasn't as bad as she'd imagined, but she could still hear her heart beating in her ears. It made her feel unreal.
By the time Ayame had a grip on her heartbeat, Max and Ranbou had freed Rin and Sango from the rusty chains and easily hefted the girls into their arms. "Aya?"
The voice was Rin's and Ayame answered almost strongly. "Yes? Are you okay?"
Rin managed to reach out one bloody hand to her friend, who took it without thinking; the sticky liquid between their palms almost provided closure, if Ayame could put a word to it. "Don't look so freaked out," Rin chuckled, coughing slightly as that metallic blood in her throat choked her once more.
"Sorry," was all Ayame could say, thought it came out as a whisper.
"C'mon," Ranbou said, clearing his throat officiously. "We gotta go."
"Right," Ayame echoed, letting go of Rin's hand with a fake smile on her face, just to ease her friend's mind. All she could think as she stood there was this: where was Kouga and did he look anything like this?
Max narrowed his eyes as he watched Ayame standing there, trying to shake herself free of such thoughts. As the group hurried out the door, both boys careful not to jostle their loads too much, the combustion demon briefly wondered why the war had to come down to this. He wasn't exactly a member of the peace corps, but he wasn't a bloody lunatic either. He just wanted a life of peace for everyone. God only knew that half the people he knew deserved one.
Sighing lightly to himself, Max shook his head. Until Naraku and his operations were finished, there was no hope of peace. For anyone.
*!*!*!*
Okay. That took me for-fucking-ever. Sorry, but I had a huge research paper and exams to contend with while writing this. And coming back from surgery. And boys. Whats up with boys anyway? Who do they think they are, looking like sexy anime characters and ruining my life? Anyway, here it is, no doubt the biggest chapter yet. Or at least it certainly felt like it.I'm really sorry it took so long, thanks for sticking around! Below is the link to Jackie's newest drawing of LDTL, one of Kagome up on the cross. It's gorgeous! I'm so jealous of your talent, Jackie! GRRR! But love.
h t t p : / / w w w . d e v i a n t a r t . c o m / d e v i a t i o n / 4 8 2 1 6 9 9 2 /
Alright. The next chapter should come quicker, since exams and the paper will be over. Then I won't have anything until APs...JESUS....
Love all of you! Sorry again for the wait! Go reviewers!
KOLU
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