frozen

frozen


by kittie le sabre


Part Thirteen


The walls of the room were all stainless steel, including the doors. There were no windows. In contrast, the furniture was all white leather, with plush white rugs covering the dark varnished wood floors. There was even a television and entertainment center.

Several armed men hovered around the room; some talking on cell phones, a few watching the monitors that were still working and the remaining four or five taking turns playing with PS2 or Xbox.

One of the panels opened, and the tall dark-haired man dressed in a 3,000 dollar suit sauntered in, trailed by four men. A sneer crossed his thin mouth as he took note of the woman sitting alone on a chaise on the opposite side of the room. She was studying the salt water fish in the 500 hundred gallon tank that was mounted into the wall.

Naraku slammed the folder down in front of Kikyou. She did not blink or budge at the sudden motion or his voice.


“You will translate these figures for me. They don’t make any sense and they are not adding up.”

Kikyou sat with a stoic expression on her doll-like features, unmoving. Nor did her eyes shift as she observed the fish swimming and playing. If only she had the freedom to swim out of this hell hole.

She tuned him and the others out. It was as if she was a mannequin.


There was no way she would inform Naraku that the numbers were bogus. He would kill her and the others.


“Kikyou, it’s not going to be that easy for you.” Naraku smirked. “Your brother owes us a great deal of money with interest that you have not paid in full. You owe me.”


She tried not to let his words about her brother sink in. Kohaku had gone straight and gotten help for his gambling but the debt he owed posed a threat over them. What could she do? Everything was different now. She was engaged and pregnant. It was no longer just about her and her younger brother anymore.


Kikyou decided to stall for time. An idea popped in her head.


She snatched to folder from Naraku. Pretending to peruse it for several moments, she glanced up and informed him of a few facts.

“The accountant used a coding system for the figures. This file must have been for their own personal use instead of for the accounting department.” She could feel his deep sinister gaze burning into her. “It might take me about an hour to decode this.”

“Thirty minutes,” Naraku ordered, walking away, calling an order over his shoulder. “She has thirty minutes; if she’s none bne by then, kill her.”

One of the men on the cell phone called out, “Boss, the other girl got away.”

Naraku narrowed his eyes and almost growled. “Who was guarding her?”


“I think it was Goshinki.”


“Kill him.”

“Already done. The “cleaning crew” took care of him.” He waited for Naraku to continue and moved away from him when he did not after a cautioning glance from one of his cronies.


Absorbing all of this information, Naraku paused, and one of his men rushed up with a hand-rolled cheroot and a lighter. Once he’d taken a few puffs, he announced, “Begin Project B. We’re leaving. The rats are getting to closer to the center of the maze. Make sure everyone is out of the building in fifteen minutes. Then lock it up. No mistakes.” He continued walking towards the panel, directly addressing another one of his henchman.

“Get the copter ready.”

Kikyou was alarmed. “Project B’ ”? Did that mean? What she suspected? He was evacuating the building in less than half an hour? A cold chill went through her entire body but she managed to contain her composure.

Then it clicked.

Naraku was planning on destroying the entire warehouse. He had bombs set to go off!

What could she do? How could she warn Inuyasha? And everyone that she cared about?

But she could try and buy time with her lie about decoding the bogus numbers. It was the best she could come up with. For now.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Sesshoumaru dropped the bloodied and heavy corpse in a heap. The body fell to the floor like wet solid meat striking the ground. He stepped over the refuse and gestured for Moutan to follow.

They were in a narrow hallway when he had encountered the guard on one of the landings. It had been easy to make short work of him.


Sesshoumaru paused, noticing a distinct sound from a distance.

“Let’s go, Moutan! I hear a helicopter on the roof!”

They raced to the top, skipping countless stairs. Aware that Naraku was making his escape and that Kagome could be with him-

Or worse.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


“Inuyasha, why are all the halls empty? Where did everyone disappear to?” Kagome was stunned that they were now walking in the open and had not encountered anyone for the last ten minutes.


Inuyasha frowned. “Don’t know, Kagome. Something tells me this ain’t good though.”


Suddenly, a loud ear shattering siren started going off. A computerized female voice announced with lifeless calm,(“Evacuation sequence started. Countdown beginning in five minutes.”)

“Does that mean what I think it does?” Kagome asked, a look of anxiousness etched into her eyes.

(“Ten.”)


Inuyasha let out a “keh” and then his phone rang. He frowned down at the er. er. It was Hal.

“What’s up?” He asked answering it and trying to sound lighthearted in the face of his dread.

(“Seven.”)

“Man! Hurry up and get the fuck up out of therry try to make it to the ground level! Now!”

Inuyasha scoffed. “Hal! There’s no way out to the ground level! What in the fuck are you yelling about?”

(“Five.”)

Kagome screamed behind him. He turned to tell her to shut the fuck up when he noticed that a bit steel door came slamming down to hit the floor, blocking them from going out behind them.

“Shit!” Inuyasha cursed. “Hal! What the fuck is going on? Where did that door come from?”

(“Four.”)

“Yash! The building has a self destructing mechanism somewhere! Everything is being automatically closed off and shut down!”

“Can you get us out of here?”

He could hear Hal typing frantically away on his keyboard. “Fuckfuckfuckfuck. Inuyasha! Move now before that door closes!”

“What motherfucking door?” Inuyasha exclaimed. And then he saw it, on the other side of the hall, closing down to cut them off and keep them trapped.

(“Three.”)

Inuyasha grabbed Kagome’s hand and began racing towards the opposite end of the hall before another door locked them in. She didn’t ask what was happening but went with him, glad that she had worn her sneakers to class.

Together they dived and rolled under the door and it slammed shut behind them.


“Shit!” Inuyasha cradled his phone. “Hal? Hal are you there?” There was a lot of static and then the hacker’s voice came back on.

“I thought I lost you guys. Keep moving. There’s one door on the 20th floor I can open for you. It leads to the roof. Try to make it up there while I call the police and the fire department!”

“How much time do we have?” Inuyasha and Kagome were running up the stairs as he talked.


“Fifteen minutes!”

“Kami! Kagome! Move your ass!”


She didn’t have to be told twice.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sango and Miroku were pulling up to the warehouse with the police already outside.

Everything was in chaos when they arrived.

Plainclothes detectives and uniformed cops were arresting the men who were running out of the building. They both looked at one another wondering what the hell was happening.

“Do you see Kikyou anywhere?”

“No strangely enough, but at least it wasn’t a false alarm,” Miroku dryly quipped. “I think that’s Inuyasha’s car over there.”

“We don’t have time to make sure. Nobody is sitting inside of it anyway!” Sango said noticing a great deal of commotion at the entrance of the warehouse.

Just then, they looked over and recognized celebrity actress and talk show hostess Rin Todo with a camera crew interviewing several people. It had become a full fledged circus!

A large van came to a violent halt a few feet away and about twenty people dressed from head to toe in black came rushing out. One man began shouting orders and gesturing wildly.


“Miroku, I wonder who those guys in black are?” Sango queried with a frown on her pretty brow.

Miroku blinked and he didn’t know if he had the heart to tell her. He’d seen those men when he’d been assigned to care for casualties at a site where a terrorist had planted grenades with timers inside of a public building. One of the men noticed him and marched over with a greeting.


“Houshi! I just saw you a few months ago!” The man was short but heavily muscled underneath his black clothing and the Kevlar vest he was wearing. His piercing gray eyes missed nothing and he nodded politely over at Sango.


“Hey Takeda! How’s it going?” Miroku exclaimed clasping the offered hand.


“Not so good. I hope you’re here just in case there are casualties,” Lt. Takeda said before adding to Sango, “This guy saved a lot of lives when we had a major disaster back in April!”

“Oh, Lt. Takeda, this is Taija Sango. Sango, Lt. Marcus Takeda.” A quick introduction would help him stall for time. In the meantime, he continued to ignore Sango’s questioning look.

“Nice to meet you, Lt.,” Sango said, shaking Takeda’s hand, momentarily distracted.

“A pleasure. Always a pleasure to meet a beautiful woman even if we are here on a bad job.”


“What do you do, Lt.? I take it you are in charge of a specialist unit which is how you know Miroku?” She changed the subject to suppress the blush staining her cheeks and Miroku’s naughty smirk at her reaction.

“Yes, we’re a bomb squad, ma’am.”

“Bomb squad?” Sango squeaked aloud and felt like someone had just hit her in the stomach.


“Yeah, someone reported from Mr. Onigumo’s office that a bomb had been planted in this building and was about to go off.”


“B-but our friends are trapped inside!” Sango exclaimed.

Takeda grimaced. “Damn. Civilians trapped? I better send some men in to scout the upper levels. The building has been locked down and we were assured it was evacuated.”

“They lied,” Sango informed him.

“Well, some of these men are being arrested because they have warrants. We’ve been keeping an eye on this Onigumo character for a while now.”


Takeda glanced down at his radio and picked it up to listen and talk. He gave them both an apologetic wave and moved off saying, “It was nice meeting you, Miss Taija. Later, Miroku. Stay put, we might need you!”


Sango suppressed her tears but Miroku saw it anyway. He reached over and hugged her and she clung to him, letting the tears soak into his jacket. After a few moments, she felt a warm hand caressing her bottom. Sango reared back and slapped him hard.

“Hentai!” She screeched and stormed away.

Miroku rubbed the inflamed hand print on his face and murmured, “Well, it took her mind off her troubles for a moment. At any rate, it was well worth the pain.”


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kouga and Ginta were trapped inside one of the rooms on the lower level. They had been stuck in the same room for over 20 minutes after losing track of Inuyasha and Dean.

“How in the fuck are we supposed to get out of here?’ Kouga snarled, kicking the steel door. He winced at the impact and Ginta wandered around the room for several moments looking for an outlet of some kind.

“Kouga!”

Kouga peered over at him in annoyance and wondered what the hell could be so exciting since they were trapped.

“What the fuck is it now, Ginta?”

“I found an old dumbwaiter!”

“You found a dumb what?”

“C’mon! I’ll explain later!” Ginta rolled his eyes thinking, ‘Man, what a dumb shit!’ He should have listened to his older brother Hakkaku and never gotten involved with Kouga again!

Kouga rushed across the room and peered into the closet and at the small elevator with disdain.

“You expect me to climb in there? It’s rusted and the fucking thing could break at any moment!”

“If you want, I’ll go first,” Ginta suggested, all too aware that the building was rigged to blow up. Why else were they trapped and the place had been evacuated? But there was no point to explaining that to a hothead like Kouga.

“You calling me a coward, asshole?” Kouga snarled, and pushim aim away from the dumbwaiter. “I’m going!”

Ginta could only watch him as he climb in and the little apparatus began going downward into the dark shaft. He crossed his fingers. If Kouga made it out, then his chances were better than he thought. At least he had found out it was still sturdy!

Maybe he should not mention that they were here to save Kagome? Nah, bad idea. Once they were safely outside where he could run away, then he would tell Kouga that they’d forgotten about Kagome! And of course, Naraku.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“We’re here, Hal!” Inuyasha exclaimed into the cell phone, completely out of breath. “Hello? Hello?” He looked down at the phone, ignoring Kagome’s worried look.

“What’s wrong, Inuyasha?”

“Fuck! The phone just died! How are we going to get through this door?”

“What’s that noise?” Kagome yelped. “It’s coming from the other side of the door.”

“Maybe this is not a door. It’s not as solid as the others and it’s more like a panel,” Inuyasha observed running his hands across the assimilated steel. Just then his phone came back on.

“Hal! What in the fuck just happened, man?”

“Hold on, Yasha! There was a block, some kind of electromagnetic interference that kept me from reaching you. The door should be coming up. Right?”


“Hell-” Inuyasha paused as the door slid open and revealed a room that was littered with mangled and bullet riveted bodies everywhere. Kagome gasped and starting running across the room before he could stop her.


“Kagome!”


“It’s about time you made it up here. What took you so long?” Moutan exclaimed walking up to him. “We had to wipe these bastards out after we got in here.”

“We?” Inuyasha repeated and looked across the room to see his brother passionately kissing Kagome.

“Hey we don’t have time for that shit! Kikyou is in danger!”


“Kikyou?” Inuyasha repeated. “She’s in the car downstairs!”


“Inuyasha!” Sesshoumaru crossed the room with his arm around Kagome. “Naraku has Kikyou. He needs her to interpret the numbers in that file.”

“Keh! How in the fuck do you know?”

“He disappeared behind one of these panels in the room. They have a copter waiting for them on the roof.”


“Let’s go!”


Sesshoumaru silently stood there staring at him for a couple of seconds. Kagome almost felt sorry for him. Almost.


“Hal!” Inuyasha screamed into his cell phone. “Find the right door leading to the roof!”


“Man, I’m way ahead of you! You are paying me some nice cheddar for this job!” Hal was typing furiously and then he yelped. “Whoo hoo! Get ready, my peeps! I can only override the system for seven seconds and that asshole is about to board his copter!”


One of the middle doors started rising upwards and Sesshoumaru picked up Kagome and rushed towards it with Inuyasha and Moutan hot on his heels. The door slammed with a metallic clink behind them. When their eyes adjusted, they could see the stairwell leading up towards the rooftop.


This was it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Naraku struck Kikyou hard across the face. The blow sent her staggering backwards.

“Get inside the helicopter, you stupid bitch! It’s bad enough I had to come back for your worthless hide!”

Kikyou continued to fight him. Her plan to stall for time had wo in in the end since Naraku believed he needed her. In the middle of his threats and interrogation, Sesshoumaru and Moutan had infiltrated the room where she was being held, slaughtering the remainder of Naraku’s men that had been posted to keep watch while he forced her to escape with him through another door.

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” Kikyou scratched him across the face, drawing blood. The wind from the blades of another helicopter above them separated them as Naraku’s pilot yelled for them to hurry.

“C’mon! It’s the police!”

Naraku snarled in rage. He did not have time to waste on Kikyou. The building was about to self-destruct and now the police where here! The file and the girl were a liability!

“Useless tramp! This is not over!” He walked toward Kikyou who faced him off with stoic defiance.


The police’s bullhorn resounded over the rooftop.

“Freeze, Onigumo! Our bomb squad is now in the building! Surrender now!”


Naraku sneered at them and turned to make a run towards his helicopter. Later for the girl. He signaled for his men to fire at the police. If they lost their lives, it would buy him more time to make his get away.


The rooftop door swung open with a loud crash, and Sesshoumaru was charging towards him with a large black gun in his hand. Naraku was unsettled by the deadly gleam in his eyes. Behind the silver-haired man were his impudent brother, another male and Kagome.


Yes, it was time to be on his way. His men were nearly wiped out.


He began nimbly climbing up the ladder of the copter, when someone seized his legs to yank him down. Naraku found himself staring down into the face of Sesshoumaru. He lashed out, kicked at the man but could not get him to release him.

They tumbled to the ground and the helicopter took up as the police gave chase.

The two men fell to the ground hard, and rolled with Naraku attempting to shove Sesshoumaru off of him. Sess struck him across the face with the gun, knocking him into the wall. Naraku grimaced in agony but took the time to retrieve his knife.


He staggered to his feet, pretending to be more grievously injured than he was. With a deft and nimble move, he lunged towards Sesshoumaru, slicing him across the torso. Sesshoumaru doubled back, managing to avoid most of the attack due in part to his quick reflexes and speed. The cut wasn’t deep but it stung and pissed him off even more.


Kagome watched in mounting terror from the sides as Moutan and Inuyasha engaged the remainder of Naraku’s men. She stared in horror as Kikyou staggered back, a brilliant spot of red appearing on the front of her dress.

“Kikyou!”


She raced out into the open to reach the other woman as she fell to the ground. Kagome had not thought to her own safety. She had to save Kikyou, but it would prove to be her undoing.

Naraku came be her her and snatched her, holding her with the knife at her throat.

“Call my helicopter back,” he commanded, “we’re leaving.”

Sesshoumaru glared at him but said nothing. The knife edged dangerously close to Kagome’s throat, leaving a thin mark there.

“I won’t repeat my demands,” Naraku murmured with a vicious smirk.

“The building is about to blow up in 45 seconds, you bastard. You will release her. Now.” Sesshoumaru advanced towards him.

Behind them, Inuyasha had reached Kikyou after killing the remainder of Naraku’s men in a rage when he saw that his fiancée had been shot. She opened her eyes and stared at him, reaching up to touch his face.

“Don’t worry…”

“Kikyou,” he groaned, clasping her and fighting to keep from screaming. He opened her dress to see if the bullet was lodged in her . Sh. She was bleeding heavily and he prayed that she would survive because there was no way he’d want to be with her.


The bomb team charged onto the roof with Takeda leading the way and Sango and Miroku following close behind.

“Kagome!” Sango yelled seeing that Naraku was holding her with a knife to her throat.

“Call for an ambulance,” Miroku instructed on of the bomb squad, “That woman has been shot!”

A woman with a radio hastily complied as Miroku and one of the men rushed over to assist Inuyasha and Kikyou while Naraku was distracted.

“Let her go, Onigumo!” Lt. Takeda shouted, his features fused with anger at the sight. His team had barely managed to dismantle the bomb system the fucker had set up. If it had gone off, it would have leveled the entire block and killed thousands of people. As far as he was concerned, Naraku Onigumo was a terrorist.


Naraku laughed, unaware that the bomb system he’d planted was not about to go off in twenty seconds-or at all. Behind him, someone yanked his long hair, causing him to topple and fall to the ground with Kagome who promptly rolled out of reach.

Moutan snickered at his trick and grinned at the gleam of thanks in Sesshoumaru’s eyes as he made a lightening swift dive in Onigumo’s directiong.

Before Naraku could move, Sesshoumaru was sitting on his chest and beating the shit out of him until he was unconscious. The silver-haired man leveled the barrel of the Jackal at the oblivious man’s temple and was squeezing the trigger when two delicate hands reached out to grab his wrist.

“No, Sesshoumaru! Don’t do this!” Kagome yelled with tears rushing down her face.

He did not hear her. Nor did he notice the police or his friends all crowding in and around him. All he could see was his prey, lying there at his mercy. The piece of shit was going to die.

Naraku tentatively opened his eyes, and it was almost arousing to see the terror in his eyes. Sesshoumaru’s smile was the worst thing any of them had ever seen and he was focused on his intentions to shoot this scum who’d taken his woman. It didn’t matter if they all died in the explosion, Naraku would go first.

“Sesshoumaru!”

He could hear Kagome’s voice calling him from far, far away. Where was she? He could smell the sweetness of her, and he recalled when he had seen that she was safe with his brother and how his heart filled with blood and renewal at the sight of her. Before he’d been so cold and he regretted ever making her unhappy.

He loved her.

She called his name again and she watched his eyes shift from Naraku and towards her. He looked down at her hands on his wrist, and the humanity flooded back into his gaze.

“Kagome,” he said her name, and she knew he loved her becait eit encompassed her name and his melodious voice throbbed with it. He lowered the gun, and seized her in a strong embrace.

Naraku stared up at them, attempting to move away, but Sesshoumaru momentarily pulled away from his lover and kneed him in the solar plexus and he blacked out again.

“Scrape this turd up off the ground,” Takeda ordered his men. “Get him out of here!”


Sango ran over to Kagome and the women were both crying and embracing. Sesshoumaru silently looked on. He made his way over to Inuyasha and the injured Kikyou to inquire after the young woman. Miroku had not only located the bullet and determined the extent of damage, but he’d also managed to stop the bleeding and he reassured the couple that their baby was safe.

Inuyasha peered up at his brother briefly but said nothing. The paramedics arrived moments later and he, along with Miroku followed them out after they had attended to Kikyou.

Police and news media were en masse when they finally made it outside. Rin rushed up to Sesshoumaru and hugged him. He almost smiled when she whirled on her own crew and several others to demand that they not take any footage of him and the others. In fear of their lives, they surprisingly complied.

The remainder of the day and night was filled with being questioned by the police and calling in a few favors. By the time everyone made it home, it was in the wee hours.