InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Making Things Right ❯ Seperation ( Chapter 31 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: inufan625 
Kousotsu reveals his plan...
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.13.2005 | Updated On: 07.19.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 2.8K | Status: Work In Progress
Kousotsu reveals his plan...
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.13.2005 | Updated On: 07.19.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 2.8K | Status: Work In Progress
(**) a dream/vision
(~~) a note/letter
(*****) a scene/time change
___________________________________________________________ __________
Sesshomaru injected a small amount of poison into the two humans, rendering them unconscious, and dropped then onto the ground. He would have someone come and collect the filth, once he had an accounting of his half-brother’s odd behavior.
He approached his mate and offered her the fan that gave her full use of her powers. “Come. Stay close. We do not know what awaits us when we leave this place.”
Kagura bowed her head slightly and followed closely behind Sesshomaru as they made their made their way up and out of the building.
They encountered no resistance, nor any sign of InuYasha and his miko.
Sesshomaru stepped out into the sun and was greeted by the smell of many dead lesser youkai and many different humans: two of which were distinctly familiar. When he looked in the direction of those under his employ, to his shock, he saw InuYasha on his knees between them, and both Sango and Miroku looked as though they were trying to decide if it would be wiser to speak to him or to remain silent.
Then without warning, over the din of the helicopter blades and the men calling out as they checked the surrounding area for more youkai, came a low mournful cry, sounding almost like a howl. The sound stirred something in him and the Tenseiga pulsed at Sesshomaru’s side. His hand gripped the hilt and he was thrown into a memory.
He watched on as his mother fought fiercely against the leader of the panther youkai. His mother was beautiful in her true form: lush golden fur over taut lean muscle. Only now, gold was giving way to a much darker color, as her blood was spilled time and again. Repeatedly she was knocked down by vicious swipes of the panther youkai’s claws only to rise again and press forward, her only goal his protection.
He could only watch as her lifeblood drained out of her, slowing her and weakening her youki, but not her will. Suddenly she lifted her head, catching the soft breeze that was blowing across the tops of the trees. He knew the scent she was seeking; the one she had been desperately hoping would come. His father was finally close enough to answer her call. His mother raised her head and in doing so exposed her throat. She had time only to call for her mate before finding her throat viciously slit by her opponent.
As young as he had been, the heavy scent of her hot blood mingled with the smell of death was one he understood. He instinctively hid himself, burrowing deeper into the warmth of the pelt that was born with him, the one that would when he transformed become his shoulder ruff and tail.
A thunderous roar and the falling of trees caused him to peek out from the place where his mother had hidden him. His father leapt over his hiding spot and landed in front of the panther youkai, and beside the dying body of his mother. As she died, she was forced to return to her human form having used too much of her youki to sustain her true self any longer.
His father spared not a single glance at her blood-covered form, as he tore into the beast that had earned his ire. He savaged the youkai that had thought to murder his mate and son and did not relent until the panther had been rent completely and was beyond recognition.
Knowing that now the danger was past, Sesshomaru ventured out of his hiding place and toddled slowly over to his father as he sat on his knees beside the body of her mother, his Mokomoko-sama slowly soiling with the colors of dirt and blood. He stopped, too afraid to move, as a low cry rang through the trees.
When at last his father quieted, an unnatural silence had settled over the area; not a single sound could be heard save for the rustling of the leaves on the trees. His father rose as his mother’s body faded away leaving only her bones behind. He sent a wave of youki at them turning them to ash and a stiff wind carried them away.
Sesshomaru soon found himself lifted into his father’s arms and they both looked in the direction his mother’s remains had been carried. A whispered “thank you” was carried away on the breeze.
It was sometime before he could realize that his father had been thanking his mother for protecting him, for her sacrifice. That had been over two centuries ago.
InuYasha felt detached from himself as he cried out the loss of Kagome for all to hear.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She was defenseless, vulnerable, helpless and you left her. You fell for a trick, and not even one that you hadn’t fallen pray to before. You failed to protect her. I really am nothing more than a worthless half-breed.
We are only worthless if we don’t go after her, and find her, his human half said softly.
His youkai half was, for once, in complete agreement as it growled at him. Get off your ass and go after our mate. Find the bastard who would dare to take, to touch, what belongs to us, and tear him to shreds.
InuYasha growled loudly and dug his claws into the palms of his hands. He stood up.
Sango and Miroku looked on as InuYasha seemed to come to a decision inside himself and rose to his feet; briefly his eyes flashed red. Sango reached out and grabbed Miroku’s hand. They waited to see what he would do.
While it was true that InuYasha no longer transformed into a mindless beast when his youkai blood took over, if he gave into the rage that was threatening to consume him, it could still be a problem. To find Kagome they would need a plan and an InuYasha that could be reasoned with, not one who would tear the city apart, completely aware of, but not caring about the problems it would cause.
Slowly InuYasha’s eyes returned to their usual deep amber, though they were haunted by the shadow of his failure, and of his loss.
He was reminded daily that it was she who spared him the fate of the other youkai in his building, as the unnatural youki of those who had been altered brushed against his.
Hikyuu paused in opening the side door as he caught the scent of the very person to whom he owed his life. It puzzled him as to why she would have come to this place. He knew that she was going to try and set right the youki of all those in the building, but that was supposed to be done in a medical setting, not in their homes.
He at last shrugged it off as unimportant. Her mate did, after all, own the building, and who was he to say that she hadn’t come for that reason, or been called by one of the youkai, wanting to speak to her, or thank her. After all, several had spoken of their gratitude. One hawk youkai in particular told him how she had saved his life and given him hope that he would again be free. Surely it was nothing to be concerned about.
The following day when he left for the office where he was receiving his training for the job Sesshomaru had offered him, he detected no further trace of the Lady Kagome.
She tested her powers to see if they had been fully recovered by reaching out to see if InuYasha was near enough to hear her call for him. Kagome wanted to find out just how long she had been sleeping and whether or not the rescued Kagura safely. Instead of finding InuYasha though, she felt a strange youki.
“Awake at last, are we?” a smooth female voice asked. “No use pretending to sleep.”
Kagome opened her eyes and sat up. She found herself in a small room in which the single window was barred and the only furniture present was a bed, a side table, and the single chair occupied by the female youkai.
“Where am I, and who are you? Where is InuYasha?” Kagome demanded. “You better not have hurt him.”
“Or what, miko? You will use your power on me? I think not, seeing as how that rosary will not allow you to cast a barrier to protect yourself, or purify youkai,” the woman told her. “Now, Taiteki has instructed me to see to your wellbeing. You will eat, and then I will alert him that you have awoken at last.”
Kagome eyes the plate of food on the side table dubiously. Could she really trust food given to her by a strange youkai? Was the risk worth sating her hunger?
“There is nothing wrong with the food, I assure you,” the youkai said, as if reading her mind. “If Taiteki wanted you dead, then you would be so already.”
Kagome considered her words and realized that they were most likely the truth. Why bother to wait for her to wake up just to kill her? She took a single bite of the food, and after a moment with no ill effect, she continued eating everything on the plate.
InuYasha couldn’t sleep or eat. Even as a hanyou, the strain as he pushed himself beyond his limits, was beginning to show on his face and in his temper.
“Damn it, Sesshomaru!” InuYasha yelled. “Why the fuck did you call me here just to tell me you haven’t found her yet? As if I didn’t know that. You probably enjoy seeing me like this, torturing me, giving me false hope. You bastard!”
“I assure you, I take no pleasure in this,” Sesshomaru replied tolerantly.
InuYasha was lucky that Sesshomaru’s own pain at having thought his mate lost was still fresh, or else he would have found his brother much less amicable, through all his insults.
The taiyoukai had no doubt that InuYasha’s mate was alive and well, but it did no use to try and reason with an outraged hanyou. Had Kousotsu wanted the miko dead, he would have killed her at the first opportunity. No, she must serve some purpose in his plan. Sesshomaru even had his suspicions as to why there had been no word from her abductor.
Kousotsu would know that they would demand proof that Kagome was unharmed before they would even consent to speak with him, which meant that he had to wait for Kagome to recover her power and wake up.
InuYasha snorted and was headed for the door, to continue his own search for Kagome, when the phone rang. He turned back.
“Kousotsu,” she breathed.
He growled, and all at once, had her hair gripped tightly in his fist. “Never speak that name aloud again if you wish to keep the half-dog’s whelp you carry, is that clear?”
“Yes,” Kagome replied quickly, and to her relief, he released her hair.
“It has been along time since I was simply Kousotsu,” he told her. There was a certain melancholy in his voice, a hint of regret as he spoke those words. “Remain silent unless I give my permission for you to speak, or you will regret it. Is that clear?”
Kagome nodded.
She watched as he dialed the phone in his hand and waited.
“So the great dog, deigns to answer his own phone,” a male voice sneered.
Sesshomaru had no doubt who was on the phone, and InuYasha, seeing the look on his brother’s face as he transferred the call to speaker phone, figured it out as well.
“Where the hell is Kagome you bastard?” InuYasha bellowed into the phone.
“Ah the half-dog is there as well,” Kousotsu said amusedly. “I supposed it is better this way.”
“Quit your fucking babbling and tell me where the fuck you’ve taken my mate,” InuYasha growled. “If you’ve so much as touched a hair on her head-”
“Now, now, no need for threats,” Kousotsu interrupted. “The miko is alive and unharmed. It would do no good to damage my bargaining chip.”
“If she is truly well, then let her speak to us,” Sesshomaru said.
She gasped softly as he pulled sharply on her hair. “InuYasha?”
“Kagome, are you all right? Has he hurt you?” InuYasha asked quickly.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “He hadn’t done anything to me. InuYasha I - ”
Kousotsu snatched the phone away. “You see? She hasn’t been harmed in the least. Now listen closely, because if you ever want to see her alive again, you will agree to all my demands.”
Kagome wished she could’ve had just another moment to speak to InuYasha. She had wanted so badly to tell him that she loved him, to let him know that she wasn’t afraid because she knew he would be coming for her. She listened raptly to Kousotsu’s demands.
“You will gather all the clan leaders to a place of my choosing at a time of my choosing, to bear witness when I challenge you to a battle,” Kousotsu said. “When I defeat you in the fight, you will hand over your title of Youkai Lord to me, and both you and your brother will swear allegiance before all to the new Youkai no Taisho. If you chose not to accept my offer, I will send her back to you in pieces. I will give you one hour to decide.”
Kagome gasped. What he was demanding was impossible. She would never expect Sesshomaru to give up so much simply for her life. She would have to try and find a way to reach InuYasha and let him know where she was, so that he could rescue her.
As soon as Kousotsu left the room, followed closely by the female youkai, Kagome reached out with her power. Almost at once she realized where she was. She could feel that many youkai were in the same building as her and all of them had unnatural youki.
She expanded her power further, ignoring everything else, until she felt a familiar youki that was perhaps less five kilometers away. She let her aura convey a sense of desperation and prayed fervently that he would recognize it for what it was.
He debated with himself whether or not he should call the taiyoukai and ask after the miko. Had he not caught her scent only days before, he would have been likely to dismiss what he was currently feeling. Just as the feeling left him, he came to his decision.
“Please excuse the interruption, Takamori-san,” Hikyuu said, coming to his feet. He offered no explanation as he exited the room.
He pulled out the card given to him by the Inu no Taisho that listed the number of the phone line in his personal office.
Just as Sesshomaru was about to attempt to broach the sensitive subject. The phone rang again.
“It can’t be him already,” InuYasha said.
“Taisho Sesshomaru,” he answered.
“Please forgive me, Sesshomaru-sama. If I am wasting your time, may I apologize in advance, but I had to call,” Hikyuu said. “I mean no offense and am not trying to overstep my bounds, but I must know: the Lady Kagome, is she all right?”
Sesshomaru once again placed the call on the speakerphone. “Why would you ask such a thing?”
“A couple of days ago, I thought I detected her scent in my apartment building, and just now, I am positive I felt her touching me with her power,” Hikyuu replied. “Separately, I would have thought nothing of the incidents, but that they would happen so close together, they gave me pause.”
“When you felt her power, was she close?” InuYasha asked urgently.
“I would almost say she was at my apartment building if I didn’t know better,” Hikyuu offered.
“Stay where you are, my brother will meet you there,” Sesshomaru told him.
“So then, something has happened?” Hikyuu asked.
“Yes, but speak of this to no one,” Sesshomaru replied.
Sesshomaru hung up the phone and turned to InuYasha. “We must use this to our advantage. You will go to Hikyuu and speak with him. Do not go to his building but remain nearby watching for any sign of Kousotsu or of your mate. I will agree to his fight, and once he has left to meet me, you can retrieve her. I will stall Kousotsu, and when you arrive, we will defeat him.”
“Right,” InuYasha said. “This bastard is going to regret ever messing with us.”
The door opened once again admitting Kousotsu, or Taiteki, whichever one it was he wanted to be called. “Soon we will see just how much you are worth to your mate and his brother.”
Kagome remained silent, thinking it better not to give away anything, than risk saying the wrong thing.
“I find myself curious… You have never seen me before yet you know me, how is that?” he asked.
Kagome didn’t see any harm in telling him about her dreams. Maybe she could even make him remember the little boy who had played with his mother and asked for stories about his father. Surely there must be some good left inside him. “I dreamt about you.”
“Tell me about your dreams,” Kousotsu demanded.
“In one, I just saw your eyes, and felt the hate you carry in your heart because of what was done to you,” she explained quietly. “In another, I saw what they did to you through your eyes. I felt the pain you felt as K47. I wondered along with you how the hanyou guards could allow such a thing, when one of their own parents was a youkai. It is the reason Sesshomaru sent me into investigate the research facility. The last dream I had was the one where I learned of who you were before...” Kagome paused, not knowing if he would be angered if she said any more after the way he reacted after she spoke his name.
“Then it was because of you that I dreamed of my mother for the first time in five years,” he said distractedly. Kousotsu came to his feet and headed for the door. At the last instant, he turned back. “I thank you for that, and hope for your sake that the dogs accept my offer.”
Kagome didn’t know what to think. It wasn’t in her to hate her captor, when deep down, she had glimpsed more than his hate. She knew that beneath the rage, there was a staggering depth of pain and sadness within him. He had been abused and changed into something wholly unnatural by no fault of his own.
While she knew that he could not go unpunished for his crimes - for choosing to seek vengeance against all for the crimes of a few, instead of trying to prevent what happened to him from happening to other youkai - she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, and what he had suffered.
(~~) a note/letter
(*****) a scene/time change
___________________________________________________________ __________
Sesshomaru injected a small amount of poison into the two humans, rendering them unconscious, and dropped then onto the ground. He would have someone come and collect the filth, once he had an accounting of his half-brother’s odd behavior.
He approached his mate and offered her the fan that gave her full use of her powers. “Come. Stay close. We do not know what awaits us when we leave this place.”
Kagura bowed her head slightly and followed closely behind Sesshomaru as they made their made their way up and out of the building.
They encountered no resistance, nor any sign of InuYasha and his miko.
Sesshomaru stepped out into the sun and was greeted by the smell of many dead lesser youkai and many different humans: two of which were distinctly familiar. When he looked in the direction of those under his employ, to his shock, he saw InuYasha on his knees between them, and both Sango and Miroku looked as though they were trying to decide if it would be wiser to speak to him or to remain silent.
Then without warning, over the din of the helicopter blades and the men calling out as they checked the surrounding area for more youkai, came a low mournful cry, sounding almost like a howl. The sound stirred something in him and the Tenseiga pulsed at Sesshomaru’s side. His hand gripped the hilt and he was thrown into a memory.
He watched on as his mother fought fiercely against the leader of the panther youkai. His mother was beautiful in her true form: lush golden fur over taut lean muscle. Only now, gold was giving way to a much darker color, as her blood was spilled time and again. Repeatedly she was knocked down by vicious swipes of the panther youkai’s claws only to rise again and press forward, her only goal his protection.
He could only watch as her lifeblood drained out of her, slowing her and weakening her youki, but not her will. Suddenly she lifted her head, catching the soft breeze that was blowing across the tops of the trees. He knew the scent she was seeking; the one she had been desperately hoping would come. His father was finally close enough to answer her call. His mother raised her head and in doing so exposed her throat. She had time only to call for her mate before finding her throat viciously slit by her opponent.
As young as he had been, the heavy scent of her hot blood mingled with the smell of death was one he understood. He instinctively hid himself, burrowing deeper into the warmth of the pelt that was born with him, the one that would when he transformed become his shoulder ruff and tail.
A thunderous roar and the falling of trees caused him to peek out from the place where his mother had hidden him. His father leapt over his hiding spot and landed in front of the panther youkai, and beside the dying body of his mother. As she died, she was forced to return to her human form having used too much of her youki to sustain her true self any longer.
His father spared not a single glance at her blood-covered form, as he tore into the beast that had earned his ire. He savaged the youkai that had thought to murder his mate and son and did not relent until the panther had been rent completely and was beyond recognition.
Knowing that now the danger was past, Sesshomaru ventured out of his hiding place and toddled slowly over to his father as he sat on his knees beside the body of her mother, his Mokomoko-sama slowly soiling with the colors of dirt and blood. He stopped, too afraid to move, as a low cry rang through the trees.
When at last his father quieted, an unnatural silence had settled over the area; not a single sound could be heard save for the rustling of the leaves on the trees. His father rose as his mother’s body faded away leaving only her bones behind. He sent a wave of youki at them turning them to ash and a stiff wind carried them away.
Sesshomaru soon found himself lifted into his father’s arms and they both looked in the direction his mother’s remains had been carried. A whispered “thank you” was carried away on the breeze.
It was sometime before he could realize that his father had been thanking his mother for protecting him, for her sacrifice. That had been over two centuries ago.
InuYasha felt detached from himself as he cried out the loss of Kagome for all to hear.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She was defenseless, vulnerable, helpless and you left her. You fell for a trick, and not even one that you hadn’t fallen pray to before. You failed to protect her. I really am nothing more than a worthless half-breed.
We are only worthless if we don’t go after her, and find her, his human half said softly.
His youkai half was, for once, in complete agreement as it growled at him. Get off your ass and go after our mate. Find the bastard who would dare to take, to touch, what belongs to us, and tear him to shreds.
InuYasha growled loudly and dug his claws into the palms of his hands. He stood up.
Sango and Miroku looked on as InuYasha seemed to come to a decision inside himself and rose to his feet; briefly his eyes flashed red. Sango reached out and grabbed Miroku’s hand. They waited to see what he would do.
While it was true that InuYasha no longer transformed into a mindless beast when his youkai blood took over, if he gave into the rage that was threatening to consume him, it could still be a problem. To find Kagome they would need a plan and an InuYasha that could be reasoned with, not one who would tear the city apart, completely aware of, but not caring about the problems it would cause.
Slowly InuYasha’s eyes returned to their usual deep amber, though they were haunted by the shadow of his failure, and of his loss.
*****
Hikyuu walked down the crowed street to the apartment building that was his new home. All of his neighbors were youkai who, like him, had been rescued from the research facility. Words couldn’t express his gratitude toward the Inu no Taisho and his brother, as well as the younger lord’s mate.He was reminded daily that it was she who spared him the fate of the other youkai in his building, as the unnatural youki of those who had been altered brushed against his.
Hikyuu paused in opening the side door as he caught the scent of the very person to whom he owed his life. It puzzled him as to why she would have come to this place. He knew that she was going to try and set right the youki of all those in the building, but that was supposed to be done in a medical setting, not in their homes.
He at last shrugged it off as unimportant. Her mate did, after all, own the building, and who was he to say that she hadn’t come for that reason, or been called by one of the youkai, wanting to speak to her, or thank her. After all, several had spoken of their gratitude. One hawk youkai in particular told him how she had saved his life and given him hope that he would again be free. Surely it was nothing to be concerned about.
The following day when he left for the office where he was receiving his training for the job Sesshomaru had offered him, he detected no further trace of the Lady Kagome.
*****
Kagome came awake slowly but didn’t open her eyes. The last thing she could remember was using one final burst of her power to bring down a barrier that would purify any youkai that crossed through the door Kagura was being held behind.She tested her powers to see if they had been fully recovered by reaching out to see if InuYasha was near enough to hear her call for him. Kagome wanted to find out just how long she had been sleeping and whether or not the rescued Kagura safely. Instead of finding InuYasha though, she felt a strange youki.
“Awake at last, are we?” a smooth female voice asked. “No use pretending to sleep.”
Kagome opened her eyes and sat up. She found herself in a small room in which the single window was barred and the only furniture present was a bed, a side table, and the single chair occupied by the female youkai.
“Where am I, and who are you? Where is InuYasha?” Kagome demanded. “You better not have hurt him.”
“Or what, miko? You will use your power on me? I think not, seeing as how that rosary will not allow you to cast a barrier to protect yourself, or purify youkai,” the woman told her. “Now, Taiteki has instructed me to see to your wellbeing. You will eat, and then I will alert him that you have awoken at last.”
Kagome eyes the plate of food on the side table dubiously. Could she really trust food given to her by a strange youkai? Was the risk worth sating her hunger?
“There is nothing wrong with the food, I assure you,” the youkai said, as if reading her mind. “If Taiteki wanted you dead, then you would be so already.”
Kagome considered her words and realized that they were most likely the truth. Why bother to wait for her to wake up just to kill her? She took a single bite of the food, and after a moment with no ill effect, she continued eating everything on the plate.
*****
Despite his brother’s assurances that he had every available man and youkai searching for any trace of Kagome, InuYasha had still gone out on his own every day, for the last three days and searched for Kagome. He had to in order to keep himself from going crazy.InuYasha couldn’t sleep or eat. Even as a hanyou, the strain as he pushed himself beyond his limits, was beginning to show on his face and in his temper.
“Damn it, Sesshomaru!” InuYasha yelled. “Why the fuck did you call me here just to tell me you haven’t found her yet? As if I didn’t know that. You probably enjoy seeing me like this, torturing me, giving me false hope. You bastard!”
“I assure you, I take no pleasure in this,” Sesshomaru replied tolerantly.
InuYasha was lucky that Sesshomaru’s own pain at having thought his mate lost was still fresh, or else he would have found his brother much less amicable, through all his insults.
The taiyoukai had no doubt that InuYasha’s mate was alive and well, but it did no use to try and reason with an outraged hanyou. Had Kousotsu wanted the miko dead, he would have killed her at the first opportunity. No, she must serve some purpose in his plan. Sesshomaru even had his suspicions as to why there had been no word from her abductor.
Kousotsu would know that they would demand proof that Kagome was unharmed before they would even consent to speak with him, which meant that he had to wait for Kagome to recover her power and wake up.
InuYasha snorted and was headed for the door, to continue his own search for Kagome, when the phone rang. He turned back.
*****
Kagome knew him at once. There was no mistaking the youkai from her dreams.“Kousotsu,” she breathed.
He growled, and all at once, had her hair gripped tightly in his fist. “Never speak that name aloud again if you wish to keep the half-dog’s whelp you carry, is that clear?”
“Yes,” Kagome replied quickly, and to her relief, he released her hair.
“It has been along time since I was simply Kousotsu,” he told her. There was a certain melancholy in his voice, a hint of regret as he spoke those words. “Remain silent unless I give my permission for you to speak, or you will regret it. Is that clear?”
Kagome nodded.
She watched as he dialed the phone in his hand and waited.
*****
“Taisho Sesshomaru,” he answered.“So the great dog, deigns to answer his own phone,” a male voice sneered.
Sesshomaru had no doubt who was on the phone, and InuYasha, seeing the look on his brother’s face as he transferred the call to speaker phone, figured it out as well.
“Where the hell is Kagome you bastard?” InuYasha bellowed into the phone.
“Ah the half-dog is there as well,” Kousotsu said amusedly. “I supposed it is better this way.”
“Quit your fucking babbling and tell me where the fuck you’ve taken my mate,” InuYasha growled. “If you’ve so much as touched a hair on her head-”
“Now, now, no need for threats,” Kousotsu interrupted. “The miko is alive and unharmed. It would do no good to damage my bargaining chip.”
“If she is truly well, then let her speak to us,” Sesshomaru said.
*****
Kousotsu grabbed Kagome’s hair once again and held the phone to her ear.She gasped softly as he pulled sharply on her hair. “InuYasha?”
“Kagome, are you all right? Has he hurt you?” InuYasha asked quickly.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “He hadn’t done anything to me. InuYasha I - ”
Kousotsu snatched the phone away. “You see? She hasn’t been harmed in the least. Now listen closely, because if you ever want to see her alive again, you will agree to all my demands.”
Kagome wished she could’ve had just another moment to speak to InuYasha. She had wanted so badly to tell him that she loved him, to let him know that she wasn’t afraid because she knew he would be coming for her. She listened raptly to Kousotsu’s demands.
“You will gather all the clan leaders to a place of my choosing at a time of my choosing, to bear witness when I challenge you to a battle,” Kousotsu said. “When I defeat you in the fight, you will hand over your title of Youkai Lord to me, and both you and your brother will swear allegiance before all to the new Youkai no Taisho. If you chose not to accept my offer, I will send her back to you in pieces. I will give you one hour to decide.”
Kagome gasped. What he was demanding was impossible. She would never expect Sesshomaru to give up so much simply for her life. She would have to try and find a way to reach InuYasha and let him know where she was, so that he could rescue her.
As soon as Kousotsu left the room, followed closely by the female youkai, Kagome reached out with her power. Almost at once she realized where she was. She could feel that many youkai were in the same building as her and all of them had unnatural youki.
She expanded her power further, ignoring everything else, until she felt a familiar youki that was perhaps less five kilometers away. She let her aura convey a sense of desperation and prayed fervently that he would recognize it for what it was.
*****
Hikyuu was supposed to be listening to his employer as she explained the basic duties he would perform every day, but when he felt the tingle of spiritual power, he became distracted. He concentrated on what he was feeling wondering what the mate of the younger Lord Taisho would be doing reaching out to him, and more than that, it felt like she was trying to tell him something.He debated with himself whether or not he should call the taiyoukai and ask after the miko. Had he not caught her scent only days before, he would have been likely to dismiss what he was currently feeling. Just as the feeling left him, he came to his decision.
“Please excuse the interruption, Takamori-san,” Hikyuu said, coming to his feet. He offered no explanation as he exited the room.
He pulled out the card given to him by the Inu no Taisho that listed the number of the phone line in his personal office.
*****
Sesshomaru and InuYasha stared at each other for a few long moments upon hanging up the phone from their call with Kousotsu. It was clear what both were thinking though neither wanted to voice it. Sesshomaru could not give up his position, not even to save his brother’s pregnant mate. There was simply too much at stake.Just as Sesshomaru was about to attempt to broach the sensitive subject. The phone rang again.
“It can’t be him already,” InuYasha said.
“Taisho Sesshomaru,” he answered.
“Please forgive me, Sesshomaru-sama. If I am wasting your time, may I apologize in advance, but I had to call,” Hikyuu said. “I mean no offense and am not trying to overstep my bounds, but I must know: the Lady Kagome, is she all right?”
Sesshomaru once again placed the call on the speakerphone. “Why would you ask such a thing?”
“A couple of days ago, I thought I detected her scent in my apartment building, and just now, I am positive I felt her touching me with her power,” Hikyuu replied. “Separately, I would have thought nothing of the incidents, but that they would happen so close together, they gave me pause.”
“When you felt her power, was she close?” InuYasha asked urgently.
“I would almost say she was at my apartment building if I didn’t know better,” Hikyuu offered.
“Stay where you are, my brother will meet you there,” Sesshomaru told him.
“So then, something has happened?” Hikyuu asked.
“Yes, but speak of this to no one,” Sesshomaru replied.
Sesshomaru hung up the phone and turned to InuYasha. “We must use this to our advantage. You will go to Hikyuu and speak with him. Do not go to his building but remain nearby watching for any sign of Kousotsu or of your mate. I will agree to his fight, and once he has left to meet me, you can retrieve her. I will stall Kousotsu, and when you arrive, we will defeat him.”
“Right,” InuYasha said. “This bastard is going to regret ever messing with us.”
*****
Kagome sighed. InuYasha must be somewhere too far away for her to reach him, leaving her to depend on the perceptiveness of a teenage inu youkai. Still, she was hopeful. Hikyuu had shown before that he could be depended upon.The door opened once again admitting Kousotsu, or Taiteki, whichever one it was he wanted to be called. “Soon we will see just how much you are worth to your mate and his brother.”
Kagome remained silent, thinking it better not to give away anything, than risk saying the wrong thing.
“I find myself curious… You have never seen me before yet you know me, how is that?” he asked.
Kagome didn’t see any harm in telling him about her dreams. Maybe she could even make him remember the little boy who had played with his mother and asked for stories about his father. Surely there must be some good left inside him. “I dreamt about you.”
“Tell me about your dreams,” Kousotsu demanded.
“In one, I just saw your eyes, and felt the hate you carry in your heart because of what was done to you,” she explained quietly. “In another, I saw what they did to you through your eyes. I felt the pain you felt as K47. I wondered along with you how the hanyou guards could allow such a thing, when one of their own parents was a youkai. It is the reason Sesshomaru sent me into investigate the research facility. The last dream I had was the one where I learned of who you were before...” Kagome paused, not knowing if he would be angered if she said any more after the way he reacted after she spoke his name.
“Then it was because of you that I dreamed of my mother for the first time in five years,” he said distractedly. Kousotsu came to his feet and headed for the door. At the last instant, he turned back. “I thank you for that, and hope for your sake that the dogs accept my offer.”
Kagome didn’t know what to think. It wasn’t in her to hate her captor, when deep down, she had glimpsed more than his hate. She knew that beneath the rage, there was a staggering depth of pain and sadness within him. He had been abused and changed into something wholly unnatural by no fault of his own.
While she knew that he could not go unpunished for his crimes - for choosing to seek vengeance against all for the crimes of a few, instead of trying to prevent what happened to him from happening to other youkai - she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, and what he had suffered.