InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Age ❯ Samples ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Claimer: I own what has to be the smallest fraction of Inuyasha possible. So small I can’t remember it. Heh, oh well. Moving on.

Summary: Meet Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She works in a recently developed portion of the Shroud Companies called “Metaphysical Understandings”. What she does is analyze and report the supernatural things she’s given, such as old Japanese Ofudas, Taro Cards, Crystal Balls and so on. And then she was assigned to the biggest discovery of the company: a demon-like creature recently uncovered in a deathlike sleep from under the surface of the Old World.


New Age

Chapter Four : Samples


The following day, when Kagome entered the lab and checked her agenda, she found that Mr. Bell had given her a list of things to do for the day and a note saying that they could leave when they finished, even if it was early.

The first part was a new blood sample. Apparently the last was misplaced and then lost. The second was a sperm sample. It came with instructions of how to get it.

She couldn’t believe the way they wanted her to get it. Oh, it didn’t involve any kind of physical contact. No, they wanted to get it using a syringe. She could just imagine the way Inuyasha would protest to it.

Didn’t they know he was awake? She mentioned it, she knew she did. This wouldn’t be such a big problem for her if he was unconscious. She supposed she could simply wait for Ayumi to get here and have her do it, but Kagome didn’t like that thought for some reason. Besides, if Kagome had a problem with it, then Ayumi would probably faint.

Okay, first just get the blood, she told herself. That’s simple enough.

She picked up a syringe and lowered the field. Upon seeing the syringe, however, Inuyasha. . .didn’t stay as quiet as he normally was.

“What are you -- what’s that for?” he asked, sharply.

“A blood sample,” she replied.

“Didn’t you already get one?”

“They lost it.”

He looked dumbfounded. “How do ‘they’ lose a vial of blood?”

She shrugged. “I’ll ask them next time I see one.” She knelt down and felt for the same vein she used before.

“You know, your touch is kind of soothing,” he said.

She paused and sighed. “You’re a pretty good distraction.” She noticed that he didn’t flinch while she drew out the blood, and that he didn’t look away from her. It was getting somewhat distracting.

“I should warn you,” she said as she went back to her desk, “they want me to get a sperm sample, too.”

“Great!” he said, grinning. “How are you going to do it? I kind of prefer. . .”

He trailed off because she lifted another syringe, letting him see it.

“You’re kidding.”

She set it down. “They want it taken directly from your. . .parts by use of a syringe. No jokes.”

He waited a full ten seconds before speaking again. “No, no, no. No way. No fucking way in hell.”

The Swear Detector was repaired, and now beeped and said its only programmed line, then spit out a slip of paper.

“You are not sticking that thing in my nuts. Uh-uh.”

It beeped again.

“Let me put it this way,” Kagome said, sitting down. “I have orders to get it using the syringe. Now if you can think of a better way -"

“Yes! I can!” he interrupted. “Come over here, unstrap me and work with me. It would be really nice for you, too, I promise.”

It sounded like a beg. “I wish I didn’t have to tell you this, but we don’t do things like that anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“Intercourse. We don’t do it.”

“How do you reproduce then?”

“Once married,” she recited, “the couple would decide upon when they wanted their first child and the gender of the child. They then go to a specialized lab which would take one egg and a sample of sperm, more if requested, and in vitro would impregnate the egg or eggs. The egg is then returned to the female’s body and in nine months she would give birth.”

“So there’s no sex involved in that whole thing?” he asked.

“No. Married couples may, but normally do not.”

“So basically, you women are mostly still virgins when you give birth.”

She blinked. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Wouldn’t that hurt worse?”

“We’re given a special dose of drugs which numbs the pain entirely.”

“Oh that’s great. Numb the pain so you have no idea what’s getting torn apart.”

She hadn’t thought of that, either. After a moment she narrowed her eyes. “We’ve been this way since the Fall and you are in no place to question our logic. How we do things is no concern of yours.”

“That’s funny considering I am stuck here now.”

“What would you prefer? Letting you out? Have you seen the outside world?” She stood up quickly and walked to the left wall. “Open.”

The walls drew back, showing a large window. AirCars zoomed by and skyscrapers were seen in every direction, eventually blocking out the line of sight. Kagome looked over at Inuyasha and saw that he was leaning forward as much as possible but likely not seeing much.

Knowing that it was against regulation didn’t stop her from releasing the straps and letting him up. He walked past her to the window and graced her a smile along the way. It faded as he looked out the window as saw nothing but metal.

Metal cars, metal buildings, metal antennas. A cloud of smoke hung halfway between this floor and the street, obscuring the view from both directions.

“It’s. . .monstrous,” he said. “Hideous.”

Much as Kagome knew that this was her world, she couldn’t find the words to disagree. “Lifeless,” she said. “I know. It’s why I’m so glad I don’t live in a city like this.”

At about the same time he turned to look at her, the door opened and the guards came in, weapons aimed and ready to fire.

“Return to the cell,” they said.

Kagome faced them. “It’s under control. You aren’t needed. Dismissed.”

“We have higher orders,” they said. “Return to the cell.”

“What are they saying?” Inuyasha asked.

“They want you to get back in the cell,” she told him, nodding towards it.

“Well, can you explain why?”

She sighed. “Shroud’s main unspoken law is that nothing is safe and secure until they make it so. They haven’t made you so, therefore. . .”

“I’m not safe,” he finished. He glanced out the window.

“What is it?”
“I keep hearing something,” he said distractedly. “It’s like those cars, but it’s not.”

“That could be a train, or a plane, or just about anything.” She looked out the window. “Can you show me where it is?”

He shook his head. “You wouldn’t be able to see it.”

“Return to the cell,” the guards chanted again.

“One minute,” Kagome snapped at them.

"No, don't worry about it," Inuyasha told her. "Just shut the window again." He turned, somewhat depressingly, and returned to the cell, sitting back in the chair.

Kagome said, "Close window," but it was done almost unconsciously. Inuyasha looked really disturbed, and for some reason, that bothered her. She went to the cell and pulled out the card, not bothering to strap him down this time. When she turned to face the guards, they were already filing out. One remained behind for a moment.

"We will report your tendency of letting him out," he warned her, before he left.

She narrowed her eyes. "Do whatever you want, it won't stop me," she muttered under her breath.

Inuyasha didn't say anything to that, and at first she wondered why. . . And then she remembered that she hadn't spoken in Old World Japanese. He hadn't understood her. She turned once more to face him and asked, "Would you like to know the language we speak?"

He glanced up under his bangs. "I already know seven languages; they've gotten confusing and I'd prefer not knowing another one."

The way he said that made her think that he wasn't paying full attention to her inquiry. Still, she nodded and returned to her seat, fiddling with this and that as she waited for Ayumi to show up again.

Sadly, the day didn't get any better when Ayumi showed up. If she was upset when she learned that Kagome had kissed Inuyasha, she absolutely flipped when she learned that Kagome let him out of the cell.

"What were you thinking?!" Ayumi yelled, half from disbelief, and half from panic. She was speaking their new language, not Japanese, making sure Inuyasha couldn't understand.

"She looks pissed," Inuyasha commented.

"Hush," Kagome told him before turning back to Ayumi. "Look, Ayumi, he's a lot more mellow now," she told her. "Now that he knows what outside is like, he's in no hurry to leave."

"That doesn't justify breaking the rules!" Ayumi snapped back.

"I know," Kagome said, keeping her calm demeanor. "I broke the rules time and again with him. . . I'm sorry for that, Ayumi, but something about him just. . . I don't know. . ."

"A challenge," Ayumi finished.

"What?"

"Oh, Kagome, don't tell me you've never noticed. You always rise to the challenge, and Inuyasha. . . he's a real challenge," this with a glance at him.

Kagome glanced at him, too, and met a steady, questioning gaze. "That's one way of putting it."

"Let me guess," Inuyasha interrupted, "you're talking about me."

"How perceptive."

He snorted. "Not like it was hard to figure out. You keep saying my name and looking at me."

Kagome rolled her eyes. Changing her language again, she spoke to Ayumi. "We have a bit of a problem. . ."

"What?!" Ayumi snapped later, when Kagome fully explained the day's objectives. "No, no, no, no way! I'm not - I can't - no, Kagome!"

Kagome sighed. "I don't want to do it, either. But we have to."

Ayumi looked like she wanted to cry, and she whimpered. "Well, there's no way I'm getting that close to him!"

"I can't do it alone!" Kagome snapped back.

"I can't do it at all!" Ayumi returned with a wild gesture. "He scares me to death and you know how. . . how shy I am!"

"And I'm any different?" Kagome asked, then paused. Yes, she was. . .

Ayumi voiced her thoughts. "Yes, you are! You don't look all that scared of him, and. . . And you seem to trust each other."

Kagome made a very unladylike snort. "That trust'll be gone the moment I pierce his danglies."

Ayumi's jaw fell and her eyes bugged. In return, Kagome blushed and covered her mouth with her hand. Ayumi said, "I can't believe you just said that. . ."

"Me neither," Kagome replied, dropping her hand.

And then, simultaneously, the girls burst out laughing. Once started, it was hard to stop, and they eventually ended up sitting on the floor facing each other. At least until Inuyasha made himself known again -- loudly.

"What the fuck are you laughing about?!"

Both girls jumped and Ayumi squealed. Then Kagome sighed and stood up, pulling Ayumi up by her elbow. "We," she said to Inuyasha, "were laughing at a particularly embarrassing thing I said just a minute ago."

"At my expense?" he asked. He looked very much unhappy, like every bad thing that had ever happened to him had returned all at once, leaving him very testy.

"In a sense," she answered, tilting her head slightly as she tried to figure him out. "Why do you ask?"

He looked away.

She decided to put it out of her mind. She and Ayumi got back to their daily duties, waiting for Sango and Miroku to show up so they could finish deciding what to do about the sperm sample. In the meantime she took a few more samples of Inuyasha, including sweat, hair, and chips of his nails. He didn't seem to mind all that much, but she wondered if it was because he trusted her or because he simply didn't care.

She didn't voice her question, however. She didn't want to deal with him if he suddenly decided to answer her with, 'It's because I trust you.' He's already made more than a few advances on her, and while it disturbed her, it also flattered her and excited her. It was times like now, when she sat at her desk and thought of this, that she found herself blushing and fidgeting.

She glanced up at Inuyasha as though willed to and noticed his gaze was directly at her. Her blush darkened and she wondered what he was thinking, if at all. Most of all, she wondered if he was reading her actions, or possibly her thoughts. She had no way of knowing if he was telepathic, which her research had proved existed three years prior; her very first project at the age of fourteen.

He kept staring at her, and slowly, she could feel a strange warmth in her body that was foreign but highly seductive. All at once she wanted to let him out of that cage and then let him do with her what he wished. . .

She looked down and shook her head, trying to clear the heat and the thoughts that had just gone through her mind, focusing on controlling herself. Just what did Inuyasha think he was doing, anyway? Staring at her like she was. . . like she was. . . his or something. That jerk. She should slap him.

Her anger seemed to only be making her more passionate, though. She'd never felt anything like this, let alone heard of it before! Her eyes lifted their gaze to Inuyasha again, finding that he was still looking at her silently. In her chest, she felt a flutter, like a flower opening before the sun. She felt her cheeks warm again and had to glance away before she swooned altogether.

What was it about him that got her so? Was it because he was different? Some unknown creature? Was it because he was so fit, so handsome, so exotic? Was it because he was sitting there in his chair, now strapped down again, behind that green barrier, practically under her control?

'Under control'. Yeah, right. He was entirely too wild to be controlled. He proved this time and again, by saying unruly things, doing strange things, suggesting unlawful things. . . Unlawful things. . . which were somehow appealing to her.

She couldn't allow herself to look up again. His gaze was too captivating, too alluring, too. . . Too what? Too exotic? Or maybe. . . too erotic?

She could have slapped herself. What was she thinking?! Erotic?! Of all the crazy, idiotic, ridiculous ideas. . . With how people dressed and acted these days, there was no 'erotic' anymore. The word itself exists only because it is part of the dictionary, in old stories and documentations. It had a specific feeling it describe and therefore needed to be known, but it didn't exist in the least.

Inuyasha is just so erotic. . . She looked up again with that thought and found that still he was staring directly at her. As she continued to look, she made a decision: She was going to let him out again, this time with orders to come to her home. . . where he could be away from this place, these tests; with her as her secret, and free. . . Certainly, her dogs would love him, right?

She just about stood when the door opened and the remaining two members of their team entered. They were talking deeply with one another and the sound of the door opening had made Kagome jump, so focused on her thoughts as she was.

She could have kicked herself for thinking such a thing. What had come over her, anyway? Inuyasha wasn't a prisoner; he was an unknown being whom they were struggling to understand so he could be let into the world without fear of being prejudiced. That was all, wasn't it? Unless the higher-ups were planning something sinister, which she highly doubted, that included Inuyasha and/or his blood and other assorted parts.

Still, he looked kind of like a caged wild animal the way he was, and he must be hating it, too. With nothing else to do for the time being, he was simply studying what was around him; that explained his stares, didn't it?

Ayumi was talking to Sango and Miroku, explaining about today. Kagome noticed it only when she heard her name and picked up that they were at the part when Kagome let Inuyasha look out the window.

She was going to be yelled at, but then, she was the head of this team; she had rights they didn't. She straightened her posture, waiting for the imminent snaps from her co-workers. When they turned to her with hard looks, she narrowed her eyes in response.

Sango spoke first. "You know it's against the rules to let him out, in any version of the word, Kagome."

Inuyasha heard her name and spoke up. "Higurashi-sama," he snapped. "Address her properly!" Being that only Kagome, Ayumi and Inuyasha could understand that, Sango and Miroku simply shrugged it off.

"I know that, yes," Kagome agreed. "But I don't see how you see him as dangerous. He can be, yes," she said before they disagreed. "But he hasn't shown any hostility at all yet. I don't believe he'll attack unless we give him a reason to."

"Your faith is well noted," Miroku replied, "but we can't be sure of that. We don't know how his mind works; we have to be careful!"

"Inuyasha is not a dangerous brute!! If you'd spend as much time here as I do -"

"We'd all go nuts," Sango interrupted. "He's entirely too unpredictable -"
"That doesn't make him dangerous, that makes him interesting!" Kagome argued fiercely.

They all looked at her for a moment, and then Ayumi said, "Listen to yourself."

Miroku nodded. "I think it would be best. . . if you resigned your position here."

Kagome's jaw dropped. "No way, I worked too hard for a chance like this!"

"You're smitten!" Sango snapped. "You do nothing but argue when he's around -- you argue with him, then with everyone else about him!"

"You're too close to him," Ayumi said, gently. "I hate to say it, Kagome, but they're right. You can't possibly keep working here when you act this way about him. What happens if, months from now, the two of you keep getting closer and end up wanting to marry, and then the Managers decide to terminate his life?"

"That won't happen," Kagome hissed.

"Which part?" Miroku pressed her.

She didn't know what to say to that. So looked over at Inuyasha a moment, who was glancing between them all and looking like he was struggling to understand. When he noticed her gaze, her looked at her in question, as though to explain what was just said. It occurred to her then that he didn't like being kept out of the loop, and it also occurred to her that she wanted to tell him.

Not out of courtesy or obligation, but because he was looking at her like that, he was asking her to explain, her above Ayumi. Did that mean. . . he really did like her somehow? She glanced away again, at the wall that was behind her. What was she to say, now?

Which part did she believe wouldn't happen? Getting involved with him, liking him, wanting to marry him, or his supposed death warrant? While she couldn't answer those yet, she did know one thing: If they so much as suggested that he might be considered for a Death Warrant, she was going to get him out of here, and not worry over where he went. She would gladly sit in a jail cell like the one he was in now, for the rest of her days, silently, if it let him be free again.

But since when did she care so much for someone she didn't know?

"It has to be his scent," she said to herself.

"Kagome!" Ayumi hissed.

She looked up at Ayumi and noticed that Ayumi was the only of the three with comprehension on her face. She'd spoken in Japanese unconsciously? A little worried, she looked at Inuyasha again, who was smiling faintly through the fuzzy green barrier.

He'd understood her. . .

Standing up, she straightened her lab coat and looked directly at her team. Without another glance at Inuyasha, she explained all about today's assignment and that she'd already gotten most of it done. As expected, Miroku was the only one who was willing to get the sperm sample, but he was obviously uneasy about getting that close to someone that strong and unpredictable. Nonetheless, that was the next stop. . .
The girls all stepped out of the room after Kagome explained to Inuyasha about what Miroku was going to do, and while Inuyasha still protested, he relented a little when she also noted that the spot was going to be doused in a numbing agent to keep it from hurting, which could not harm the skin and dissolves after thirty seconds. Miroku came out to get them when it was over, and each of the females were hard pressed not to look at the vial and see if it was white, as it should be.

Kagome did, however, look at Inuyasha. He looked rather like he was going to cry, or at least, the fuzzy way the barrier blurred his image made him seem that way. He was looking down at his lap, but Kagome didn't want to think of the why. Instead she typed in that they'd gotten the sperm sample and looked at the rest of the list.

The lab also wanted a sample of the fur on his ears, a few swabs of his saliva, and a peel of skin from his lips. She blushed as she thought of being near his mouth again, and in fact having to touch his lips, though she knew that contact -- if done by her, at least -- would make up for the drop of a scab he likely had on a testicle now. Still, she couldn't see herself getting up and close with him again, after she had been berated for letting herself get so close to him already.

She listed off the rest of the items and everyone looked at her. She understood, after a mere three seconds of that look, that they were all afraid of his fangs and if he had a tendency to bite. Being the only one without that fear, she was the only one capable of getting it done right.

She sighed. This job was almost too annoying, really. She got up and walked over to him again with the necessary tools and vials. She set them down, then sat down and listed off the last items she was to get.

He shook his head. "Don't you guys have enough of my DNA yet?!" he snapped at no one. "You pulled my hair out by the roots, you stuck a needle in my arm, you put a bag on my hand until it got hot enough to sweat and swabbed it up, you stuck a needle in my nuts and now you want to stick a swab in my mouth, rip skin off my lips and yank out the fur on my ears?! You guys should suck my d-"

"Enough!" Kagome snapped. "We didn't make the rules, alright?! We have to follow them or get new jobs, and for us, this job itself could get us higher up on the ladder! You should be counting your blessings that you have us right now, too!"

"Why's that?!" he snapped back.

"Because most of the researchers here are such mindless drones that they wouldn't have bothered with numbing your nuts or telling you what they're doing, let alone acknowledging that you're an intelligent, living being!! We're the nicest team you're going to get so at least be thankful for that!"

He narrowed his eyes. "If they're such mindless drones, then I don't see them ever yelling at me like you do," he retorted.

Her pride swelled and she narrowed her eyes in return. "You know you love it," she hissed at him.

He smirked like he chuckled silently. "So do you," he returned smoothly.

"Maybe I do, but that's not the issue," she countered. Lowering the field, she first lifted the swab. "Open your mouth," she ordered.

He grinned. "Is it just the swab going in, or can I count on your tongue, too?"

She blushed at the suggestion and stuck the swab in his mouth while he chuckled at her expression. Next she rather carefully tried plucking some of the furs off his ear, after numbing it first. She glanced at him only once during the plucking part and noticed that he looked a lot like he was in ecstasy, which made her hurry and make a note of being careful about his ears. She knew her dogs liked their ears scratched, but for it to be erotic. . ?

There was that word again. She shook her head and tried to concentrate on getting the skin from his lips then, which was extremely difficult for more than one reason.

The first was that the sight of his lips from close up was seducing her, coupled with that scent that was working on her defenses, lowering them and begging her to lean in closer and take another whiff. The second reason was that his were just moist and firm enough that she couldn't really find a good spot to start a peel. The third reason is that he was just letting her touch his lips and stare at them, trying to find that spot to begin. And the forth, and possibly most unnerving part, was that he just kept looking at her, as though he was waiting for her to lean up closer and kiss him. Or perhaps, he was waiting for the right moment to lean closer to her and kiss her. . .

Her cheeks were getting warm again. She ran a finger over his bottom lip once more and almost crowed at finally finding a piece she could pull off. With the tool in one hand and his lip pulled out a little in the other, she pulled the piece off and practically jumped back to be free of his spell. Having gotten all of the samples now, she pulled the keycard out of the cell and turned to face her team.

"That's it for today, we can all leave now," she announced, with more relief in her voice than she'd intended.

"What'd you say?" Inuyasha asked her as she went back to her seat and began putting her things away.

"The orders for today," she explained, "was to get all the samples on the list, and that's it. We're allowed to go home now that we're finished." When she glanced back at him, she saw him lick his lips. It was incredibly seductive, mainly for the point that he wasn't trying to look seductive at the moment.

"You're going?" he asked, sounding disappointed.

"I have no reason to stay," she replied, then bit her lip and hoped that wasn't harsh. "Besides," she added somewhat carelessly, "we're not allowed to stay past our hours. We get fined for staying after; it messes with the schedule."

"See you later, Kagome," Ayumi said as she stepped out.

Kagome stood and waved at Ayumi with a likewise goodbye, extending it to Sango and Miroku as well. "See you both tomorrow," she said as they left and returned to finish putting the things away.

"You have a message," her computer said.

She sat down and opened it. It read, "Thank you for your work today. We ask that the last person to leave the room please brings the samples down to Lab Floor 76, room O-17. --Management."

She tapped her fingers on the desk. This didn't add up. The message was sent to her computer. Yet the message itself was indifferent. She noticed it immediately and glanced up at Inuyasha as she reread the message aloud for him.

He had the same conclusion in his eyes, but for his credit, he didn't say it aloud.

She stood up. With a hint in her eyes, she said, "It won't take long to deliver this. I'll come after to feed you before I go for the day, alright?"

He nodded. "Just no more of that mixed-up supposedly-nutritious happy-smile-day shit," he said, ignoring the beep and whir of the machine.

She smiled. "Okay, no more mixed-up supposedly-nutritious happy-smile-day boxes." She went for the door and then the elevator, pressing the button to go to the correct floor. What was up with that message? There was never a time in her four years at this job where they asked her to deliver the samples she took. There was always someone to do that for her, someone who was paid to walk from point A to point B all day long, delivering and receiving.

She hoped Inuyasha understood her message, because she might just need him today.