InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Oracle ❯ chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

"Too bad for them, eh?" the man's laughter echoed through out the empty hall.

Kikyo ignored the heavy Russian man beside her. And what reason would she have to speak with a man like that? He was only there to translate for the Russian diplomat they were meeting.

"Which way, tovarich?"

Kikyo waited, the only way she could answer was if-

There, she had felt the pulse. Kikyo didn't know where the source came from, but that's what she was there to find out. And what ever it was it was very close, judging by the intensity of the pulse.

"Kikyo? Tovarich, which way?"

"Down this way."

The man soon became nervous as they went further down the hall way. He had obviously figured out that they weren't going to the diplomat's apartment.

"I don't believe this is the way to Nikolai Bogin."

"It is not."

They walked further in silence until Stepan heard something.

"I hear the crying of a child."

Kikyo had already noticed because the pulse had become especially strong.

"It's in there."

When given the order Stepan threw open the door. And as he stepped inside something fluffy came flying at him. Stepan looked ready to soil himself.

"It is only a chicken."

"Uhem… I was only trying to warn you if there was any danger."

Kikyo however had already forgotten about the man who was giving her a longing look.

"Open that door."

Stepan obediently opened the door.

"Hallo? Is anyone in-"

Stepan became pale and started shaking uncontrollably.

Kikyo brushed the dyeing man aside just as she felt the next pulse.

With that pulse Kikyo was doubled over with pain, a pain that was threatening to kill her.

But Kikyo would not have it and returned that pulse back towards the girl with her miko powers.

The girl then shuddered once and sat still. There were no more pulses and Stepan could soon get his breath.

"Take her. And do not let her regain consciousness, unless you wish to die."

Stepan took one moment to consider this and rushed after the receding Kikyo with the girl slung over his shoulder.

But neither of them were aware that someone had seen them kidnap the girl. And this person was very curious…

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Almost 50 years ago humans and youkai had decided on one thing, that hanyou's were unfit for this world. So with both humans and youkai coming after them little more than 1% survived. And these hanyou's were never able to go outside and so half of the hanyou's left died of starvation. And many others died just from old age or some kind o f sickness.

But there were a few that survived, like one named Inuyasha for instance.

He had survived because he could go get food every new moon when he turned human.

And the night the girl was kidnapped was a full moon.

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Inuyasha had only a few hours to go and get any supplies he needed. And he had already slept through the first hour.

He wasn't thinking as he took his normal route down to the first floor.

But this night wasn't going to be like the rest, this night he would begin his long and painful search for the girl that could save his life.

As Inuyasha was coming to a turn he heard strange voices. He cautiously peeked around the corner and tried to use his near useless human eyes to see what was going on.

"Take her. And do not let her regain consciousness, unless you wish to die."

A man picked the girl up roughly and hurried after the woman. If Inuyasha had been himself he would have attempted to save the girl, he didn't understand yet but he felt possessiveness over the girl.

Inuyasha turned his attention to the apartment the strangers had probably kidnapped her from. Slowly he slid the door open.

As Inuyasha passed the window he could just make out a car leaving, and with a really weird license plate too: PULSE8. He decided it couldn't be that important.

Inuyasha moved towards the small bedroom, since there was no where else to go.

When he entered it the smell of decaying flesh, the smell that accompanies death.

"I've got to get out of here."

But he didn't get a chance; he passed out before he made it out of the bedroom.

拳

*Where am I?*

All the hanyou could see was empty black surrounding him.

Then something appeared in front of his eyes, a girl.

*Who are you?*

When Inuyasha didn't get an answer, he tried to walk towards the girl.

But he couldn't move it was like someone had tied him up with something.

Then the first blow came, and it left a bleeding hanyou in its wake.

*Why...?* was all the hanyou could think.

Another wave of pain went up his side, and more of his blood was shed.

And pain kept coming as the hanyou lost more and more blood.

The whole while the girl had slowly been lifting her head, something making her want to see all the blood as it grew in size. And her lost soul trying to hold her back.

But before the last blow was given Inuyasha looked up, up into the girl's lifeless eyes. The soul was no longer there, only the body.

*The Oracle.*

And that was the last thing the hanyou saw before he died.

拳

Inuyasha woke panting from his disturbing dream to find that he was once again his regular self. Which also meant that he had his sharper senses back.

He almost passed out again before his nose caught a new scent, blood.

Looking down Inuyasha found that his nose had been bleeding, and still was.

Focusing on that scent he was able to move around the room, and catch another scent this time it was the girl's. Or more accurately, the Oracle's scent.

The Oracle that he had been searching for since he was a child. Funny how it turned out she had been living only a few floors down from him.

Inuyasha started towards the door when he remembered that if a human or a youkai found out a hanyou was running around they would definitely kill him on the spot.

"Only one way to get out there."

The hanyou turned the knob and first checking if the hall was empty, ran back up to his apartment. Luckily this building only housed old guys who looked at porn and freaks that always wrote fan fiction.

When he got to his room Inuyasha went to his bed and searched beneath the mattress to find a long forgotten gift.

He felt the sheath and tried to pull it free, and it came loose easily.

As Inuyasha attached the sword of his father's tooth to his haori he remembered why he had been given the sword.

"To protect yourself against whatever may come."

Those had been his father's words and the last before he was executed for loving a human woman.

*I need to forget about those things.*

So following the girl's scent and holding the Tetsuiga he ran off.

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When Inuyasha ran out of the building he could only follow the trail as far as the place where the girl was pushed into a car. And while hopelessly trying to find her scent people were starting to stare.

But someone was watching over the hanyou that day because along came his miracle.

"Hey, over here you're going to be late again!" Inuyasha looked up and saw a man seemingly trying to get him to go over there. Since Inuyasha didn't want to make anyone suspicious he walked over to the man.

"Come on, I can help you find whatever you're looking for. But don't talk now, people are already uneasy about you not being at the stadium."

"The stadium?"

"All the youkai are there, watching their comrades die for their sport."

"Who are you?"

"Shut up, I'm you're friend from poker alright?"

Inuyasha just stared at the man, what the heck could this man be thinking? And what was he? Definitely not a human scent, but it wasn't youkai either. Whatever this guy was he had to know that Inuyasha was not a youkai, so why hadn't he killed him yet?

"We're here. Now my equipment is set up over there, all I ask is a small fee."

"What kind of equipment?"

"What kind do you need?"

Inuyasha tried to remember anything about that night.

"I want to find out who owns a car by license plate."

"OK, just the matter of payment and you'll be on your way."

Inuyasha dug into his haori and found the money for supplies still there.

"I've got $200"

The guy grabbed the money and led Inuyasha to one of three computers.

"This program will be able to locate any car for you by license plate, as long as it's in Japan."

Inuyasha quickly set to work. (AN: Inuyasha knows how to use a computer because he learned how when he was a kid, and that's how he's been trying to track down the Oracle.)

After about 5 minutes Inuyasha found out that a man named Stepan Ossip Gnedich had recently bought the car. Bought about a day before the girl was kidnapped.

The man had returned from pouring coffee, and stood peering over Inuyasha's shoulder.

"I know that guy! I played poker with him once; he still owes me 450 dollars. I could give you his address for an extra little something."

"How's $20?"

"You're in business! Now let me see, I know I put it on one of these computers... Here it is, I'll just print it out and- SHIT!"

"What?"

"The printer's jammed, not to worry I'll just get you his driver's license."

*This guy's got to be crazy.*

"Here. Now you better hurry up."

"By the way what the hell are you?"

"An imp and my name is Jaken. And don't feel bad, my kind was almost completely wiped out in the last war, which was about 60 years ago. So you wouldn't know an imp's scent."

Then the man transformed into the ugliest little toad thing that Inuyasha had ever seen. And he had an urge to whack the thing on the head. But by the time Inuyasha had decided to do that he was already outside.

Looking at the driver's license Inuyasha found out it was only about 2 months old.

*Where did that imp get this?*

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Ever since that encounter with the girl Stepan had been very jumpy. And he just knew that he was going to get what was coming to him for helping that devil woman Kikyo.

And two days after that night Stepan had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was coming to him today.

Stepan had just gotten home from work and was relaxing by watching some football. Near the halftime mark he thought he heard an upstairs window slam shut.

"Probably just that idiotic cat again, I'll have to shoot it soon. Heh heh heh."

After about 20 minutes it was halftime.

Stepan had already drunk the six pack he had at the beginning of the game and it hadn't satisfied him very much. So he decided to get some real Russian beer.

When he was going to the fridge a figure silently moved out from behind him and gripped Stepan's neck from behind.

Stepan now knew why he had been jumpy all day.

"What did you do with the girl?"

"I couldn't do anything! She'd kill me if I didn't help her! It was a choice between my life and- and"

"And hers?"

Stepan tried to nod only to have his captor tighten his death grip.

"Where's the girl now?"

"I don't know, you'd have to talk to Miss Kikyo about that."

"Kikyo?"

"She works at Above And Beyond as one of the on site negotiators. It's about 35 miles away from here, when you head towards downtown."

Stepan felt his captor turn him around so he could see his face.

"You're a youkai!"

Inuyasha smiled and told the man the last words of his life.

"Actually I'm a hanyou."

拳

"Miss Kikyo, there's been a terrible incident concerning the Russian translator Stepan Ossip Gnedich."

Kikyo only nodded at the old messenger.

"This morning when one of his neighbors dropped by to… do things, he found Stepan dead on the floor of his kitchen."

"Is someone investigating?"

"Yes, they think it may have been a youkai because of the single handprint on Stepan's neck, the hand that left that print probably strangled him. Since Stepan was considered very big in size it would be near impossible for a human to strangle him with one hand. And there were no signs of a struggle either."

"This news breaks my heart, please inform me if there is any news on who might have done it."

"Yes miss." with that the small man practically ran out of the office.

"I wonder who could have known our little secret. Don't you, Kagome?" Kikyo stood and walked to her `closet'.

Kagome didn't move or make a sound to show that she was even alive.

"Kagome have you been giving someone visions?"

No response.

"Who is it Kagome? All I want to know is who you're talking to?"

Still Kagome acted dead to the world.

"Well I know you won't make any sounds if I leave you here tonight, right?"

Kikyo turned to the door,

"And if you try to talk to that youkai again, I'll be able to feel the vision come through this barrier I put up yesterday."

A wicked smile distorted Kikyo's features even more.

"Don't think that he'll actually be able to save you anyways, because I can kill someone with the flick of my wrist and I'd be happy to demonstrate on your youkai."

That night after Kikyo left a single tear escaped from Kagome.

拳

(Kagome's dream)

`Why don't you help Miss Kikyo?'

`She wants to kill him.'

`But you could be friends, don't you want more friends Kagome? Just like you used to? Remember?'

`I want to die.'

`No! You must do whatever it takes to keep yourself alive.'

`I would only cause pain and suffering, why should I agree to that?'

`No, you would make so many people happy. Why should you have to die at the hands of a filthy hanyou when you can make people happy?'

`He's a hanyou…'

The voice hadn't heard what she said and kept on about how she would make people happy if she just obeyed the voice.

`I will do as you say… but tell me what the hanyou I must kill looks like. So when I see him I can kill him before he can stop me from making people happy.'

The voice was too pleased to realize that Kagome had just fed him a string of lies.

`He has long silver hair, golden eyes, dog ears and has all the features of a demon except that he cannot be as calm as a demon always is. This is because he is a hanyou, half demon and half human. If you killed him in public no one would try to kill you, so go out and search for him if you must and kill the hanyou Inuyasha!'

`His name is Inuyasha then. I must remember.'

Once again the voice had gotten so lost in its own ranting that it forgot that the girl was with him.

`But how am I to get past the barrier?'

`I will grant you all of your miko power, and then you will be able to pass it without being noticed. And there will be no chance for the hanyou to survive. But now you must sleep you are very exhausted.'

Kagome closed her eyes and planned out how she would find the hanyou, so she could finally be rid of this horrible curse.

`I will find you… Inuyasha.'

拳

Kagome opened her eyes and guessed about how much time she would have to get out of here.

After guessing that she probably only had an hour or so she focused her newly restored miko powers on the barrier keeping her from the one person (hanyou) that she knew could relieve her.

Kikyo's barrier, when it felt Kagome's power go through it, thought that it was Kikyo's own because Kagome had masked her power to feel like Kikyo's. This had been relatively easy since Kagome had all her power back it was much more powerful than Kikyo's and much more forceful.

Kagome knew that if she was to go unnoticed she desperately needed a change of clothes.

Since she didn't have any money she would have to think of something else.

A few girls were walking towards her and she noticed that they all were wearing identical uniforms. An idea formed in Kagome's head.

"Excuse me, but I'm new to the school and I already lost my uniform. Could you tell me where I could get a new one?" Kagome was surprised at how normal she sounded; after all she hadn't spoken to anyone for at least 3 years.

The girls looked sympathetically at her baggy sweat pants and sweat shirt and probably decided it was an emergency.

"Of course, we'll take you there if you want."

"Sure, I don't really know my way around yet."

"Well my name is Rin and this is Kei and Midori."

"I'm…Kikyo." Kagome mentally scolded herself for being able to lie so easily.

"Nice to meet you Kikyo! How long have you been here?"

"Not very long, maybe a few weeks."

Rin nodded satisfied while the other two had already turned the conversation towards boys. The time it took to get to the school they had done nothing but giggled at what certain guys were doing for girls and other pointless gossip.

Kagome only wanted to get away before she started to remember how things used to be for her.

"Okay there's the school, we'll have to go in the back way. Cause those clothes look really awful."

Kagome nodded and kept walking.

After a running around for awhile they got to the small storage closet where the school kept all the girls uniforms.

"I think this should be your size, you might want to go check it out in the bathroom. And when you're done you just put the payment in there. Sorry we have to get to class though; maybe we'll see you at lunch."

"Yeah, bye"

"Bye Kikyo!"

Kagome looked after them for a while until she realized that she would look very odd just standing in the hall while she was supposed to be in a class.

*I better put this on and get out of here.*

Kagome hadn't noticed that the girls hadn't said there was anything strange about her eyes. The girls had looked right into them and they hadn't said anything. But that could only mean that something had sparked some life into the once living dead Kagome. Or maybe it was someone.

拳

Kikyo stepped into her office and was about to go to the closet when another annoying messenger scurried into the room.

"Miss Kikyo, there has been some word on how the youkai got in the house."

"Well you can write it down on your report, now leave. I have a horrible head ache and need to be alone before I get snappish."

"Yes Miss Kikyo."

After the thing had left Kikyo opened the closet and found Kagome sitting there like a good little girl. Though there was something… wrong about her. But Kikyo hadn't been lying when she had said she had a head ache. And she didn't want to try to figure out what might have changed about the girl overnight.

"You were a very good girl last night, Kagome. You didn't even try to contact your demon. But I'm wondering Kagome, is it because you're trying to protect him from me? Well he's already going to pay for trying to get to you, why don't you just tell me where he is so I can kill him faster?"

Kikyo's vision was blurring and she couldn't see the wig fall off the hanyou's head. Or see his smug look.

"You think you could kill me miko? You're pathetic, you couldn't even figure out who you were trying to keep locked away. But I won't kill you while you're delusional. I'll just leave you here to figure things out yourself, and don't try to come after her again or else I'll personally kill you."

Kikyo collapsed when all of his words had ended, and was left to stare at his quickly retreating form.

"I must remember silver hair. I'll kill them both when I find them. Then…" Kikyo couldn't finish for she had lost all her strength and had fainted.

拳

(That night)

*Damn, if she's not there then where is she?*

Inuyasha couldn't help but blame himself for not getting there faster and maybe protecting the girl against whatever bad omen she was always followed by.

*That woman had called her Kagome…*

As the night air soothed him into a restless sleep Inuyasha made a promise to the girl.

"I'll find you Kagome, and when I do I'll never let you get away again.

拳

Kagome's attempt to get out of the school was terribly ruined when one of the teachers had found her wandering the halls. The teacher had forced her to tell him her name. Then dragged her to the principle's office.

Kagome had yet again been forced to lie about her name and told them that her name was Rin.

"Well since you're so eager to go home then I'll just have to ask you to stay there until next week. I'll be calling your parents to tell them what happened, and I'm sure you would be happy to have some school work for the week. I'll send it to you by one of your classmates."

Kagome could only hope that Rin wouldn't get into too much trouble because of this.

"I understand."

The principle glared at Kagome giving her a look to get out as fast as she could…. Or risk getting an even worse punishment.

*Thank Kami.*

As Kagome stepped into the bright sun shine of the day she felt as though she had been reborn.

*I forgot how good the sun feels, and mmm, is that ramen noodles?*

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