Across the Ages

Hey everyone, sorry for the delays. Monsters and Angels will be updated soon I promise!


Chapter Twenty Four

Sesshoumaru stared at the sun as it descended behind the mountains and into the sea. The day had been peaceful enough and that should have pleased him. It did not. She was not here with him. Kagome had not been entirely pleased to learn that her mate had vanished through a magically cursed mirror to steal weapons. She'd put it behind her however and did her best to soothe the lord.

Sesshoumaru supposed that he worried for no reason. Inuyasha was with her and she was a capable fighter therefore it was unlikely that harm could come to her. She had promised to come back to him, and Inuyasha would nno doubt make certain of it. Did she want to return to him? Or had these happy days merely been the machinations of a clever mind seeking freedom? His answer would come with the dawn.

Time and again he found himself staring up at the tower, resisting the urge to go and sit before it, waiting. Kagome sensed his restlessness and he felt her miko powers swell gently to stoke against his youkai, trying to lull the beast. To some level it worked, he had not ripped up his gardens or knocked down his forests in his upset.

He said nothing of his thoughts and she didn't either. She worried inside of the dangers they might be facing on the other side of time. Ayeka's world was vastly different from hers, people lived in a sphere of fighting and death. Her people were armed. She suspected Sesshoumaru understood that too. All if Inuyasha's demon powers would do little with a well placed bullet.

On the other side the rippling mirror, Inuyasha lounged on the couch flipping through channels. Ayeka had called a friend she trusted implicitly. Joan Brimhall. "Oh my god!" Joan cried through the phone, "Where ahave you been?" Ayeka took a deep breath, "I'm ok. I just need to know what's going on in the unit".

Joan was a quick thinker and once the initial panic had died down, she'd forged a leave form for Ayeka. It was dated and signed with the commander's signature. Conveniently placed in his office while he was out. That explained where Ayeka had gone. He didn't remember signing it, but things had been hectic since the return from the war. She was good at things like this, she and Ayeka had learned that life was so much easier when you just bent the rules.

The odd occurence of a man in white appearing and demolishing half the parking lot was also written off. Lighting, the report said. Lightning had struck the trees and parking lot causing the damage which was neatly repaired. The other, well that was easy. Mass hallucinations. Bodies too worn out from fighting, brains fried from too many hours of stress, chemical levels in the blood too high from all the vaccines and medicines given during the deployment.

Human beings were excellent at writing off that which was hard to explain. Good thing too, Ayeka thought. She'd hoped that it would be somewhat like this. However, this was far better than she could have expected. No one was looking for her, no one thought anything strange had happened. For all they knew, she had gone home on leave.

"Thank you Joan, I don't know how to thank you" she said into the phone. The other end crackled with laughter. "Don't thank me. I was only doing it because I wanted you anime collection. If you were AWOL they would have locked it all up. Purely selfish motives I assure you".

"So," the voice asked, "Are you back now?" Ayeka sighed, "No. I just came to get a few things and then I am leaving. I won't be coming back". Joan nodded unseen on the other end, "I guess if I had a guy like that I wouldn't come back either. He's a dog isn't he?"

Ayeka dreaded this part, "Yes", she whispered, knowing that her all too human friend could not possibly approve, "He's a dog demon". Joan giggled on the other side of the line, her friend needed her love not her censure and she wasn't about to second guess anything that could make Ayeka happy. "Well, what man isn't a dog ya know?" she asked.

Ayeka felt the hot wetness gather in her eyes. "I love you Joan" she told the other woman. The companion that had helped her through the tears of her bad relationship, the terrors of war, the harsh realities of life. She'd never found anyone like her in the world and knew that she probably never would.

"I love you too. I want you to be happy. Stop worrying about everyone else Ayeka, you have to live for you." Joan told her, "And hopefully one day you can show up on my doorstep with a smile and cute kid and we can visit". She hoped but she wasn't going to hold her breath.

The conversation ended shortly afterwards and Ayeka stared at the phone for a long while. She'd done it. She'd just written off life as she knew it. There was no turning back now. Would Sesshoumaru show his true colors now that she was trapped to him, or had he been showing them all along?

She hated doubts. Doubts clouded the mind and caused unneeded worries. She'd had all the worries and confusion she cared to. She thought long and hard about her life, well her lives and how happy she had been. Had she ever been really all that happy? She'd fallen in love a dozen times at least and had nothing to show for it but a slightly bruised heart that was held together my emotional scotch tape.

Through it all one many had loved her. One inhumanly beautiful man. She had forgotten about him so many times and yet he always came. Did they have the chance to be happy? Really happy? Sesshoumaru was a caring and considerate lover, he was strong. He wanted her with him. This is what she had been looking for wasn't it?

The sun was setting. The shadows growing more dominant in her home. A few more hours and it would be full dark. She glanced over to where Inuyasha sprawled. He was nervous and so was she. They had to keep it together long enough to get this done. She suddenly found herself wondering why they were even here? Did they really need the weapons that badly. No, this wasn't about her, it was about them. The men.

Inuyasha seemed to sense when the time came. They said nothing but retreated to different rooms to pull on the dark uniforms she had. Inuyasha tied his hair back in a low ponytail. He would not be wearing those damn boots. He hefted a coil of thick rope over his shoulder for use later.

Ayeka stepped from her bedroom, and looked at him. She barely looked like herself to him. Her hair was pulled up in a tight bun and her small form was swathed in the more mannish guise of modern soldiers. He didn't like it. She shrugged at his disgruntled face. "What can I say?" she asked, "They want me this way"

Without another word, Inuyasha pulled the black beanie down over his ears and followed her outside. She'd stuffed the two large duffle bags in the back seat of her car earlier that day. Inuyasha grumbled as she stuck him in the trunk but he quieted down soon enough.

The drive wasn't a long one, but Inuyasha knew that he never wanted to drive with her again. She went way too fast. When she heard his muffled complaint, she laughed, something about being 'too fast, too furious' . Whatever the hell that meant.

He felt the car slow and she hushed him. A minute later the car stopped and he heard her speak.
"Hey Jake, what's up?" she was saying.
Who the hell was Jake?
"Oh you know how it is, weekend duties always comes to me", a man said.
She laughed, "I'm sorry to hear that. Hey we should go get a beer when you have time" W
as she FLIRTING?
"I'd really like that Ayeka. Here just write your number down here"
she WAS flirting!
"Have a good night Jake"
"Night Ayeka"

The the car was moving again. "I heard all that!" Inuyasha told her. She smiled, "Good for you" she replied. "You were SO flirting" he went on. She sounded shocked, "I was not. I was just being friendly". She could hear him grunt from the trunk and grinned.

She drove down the familiar rode, made the needed turns. "Are you sure you know how to drive this thing?" he demanded. "Yeah I'll have you know that I am an excellent driver. Now be quiet we are almost there". He rolled his eyes in the dark of the trunk. "Okay Inuyasha come on" she said and he fumbled in the dark to find the little latch that made the back seat go down.

He rolled into the back seat and then she opened the door for him. He looked up at the large brick building. There was very loud music coming from it. He looked at her, just as they heard voices coming towards them. Ayeka noticed that the staff officer was making his rounds. Rotten luck. She did what anyone else would be doing in the snowy parking lot at night.

Inuyasha didn't have time to react. Ayeka grabbed him, pushed him against the door of the car and plastered herself to him. Dragging his face to hers and kissing him. His eyes went wide, but he sensed her reasoning and wrapped his arms around her. To all the world they looked like lovers in a passionate embrace. In fact they were two very uncomfortable people with smashed lips.

The staff officer paused a moment to look and then moved on, muttering about the strange fashions of the german youth these days. Ayeka listened a moment longer before she pushed away from her bewildered brother in law. Inuyasha stared at her like she'd grown two heads. "I had to do something, you look different ya know" she defended. He raised his hands as though to show he was making no argument.

She was already opening the large glass and metal doors of the company area. "Hurry! In here!" she hissed to him. Inuyasha hurried after her. "This is it?" he asked, staring the monstrosity of the door before them. She nodded, peeking around the corner, "Be quiet, there are people on cq over there."

Inuyasha had no clue what that meant but he gleened the important bits. People over there. So he moved quietly. Ayeka was so glad that the company commander had agreed to store some c-4 for the demolitions team. Hopefully it was still here. She fitted the key into the lock and the metal grate swung open. Inuyasha caught it before it could make any noise.

She flipped up the key pad and typed in the code to disarm the security system. The little light turned green and she did a silent victory dance. Then she opened the vault door and stepped inside. There, before them were the neat and tidy racks of rifles, the cases of ammunition. Yes, in the corner the blocks of c-4 and the reams of det cord.

Taking her large backpack from her shoulders, she carefully and quietly placed the explosives inside and zipped the det cord in a separate compartment. Then she motioned to Inuyasha to come closer. She pointed to a large green crate. Inuyasha read the stenciled- AT-4 on the side. His eyes went wide. This was a boom!

She saw his smile and nodded. He hefted the box onto his shoulder and she grabbed the round. One was hopefully all they'd need. She couldn't afford to try and sneak two launchers out. She nodded and Inuyasha followed her back to the car. Luckily no one was around and they got it all in the trunk. Ayeka ran back inside and locked the vault back up.

It was then that raised voices drew her attention and she peered around the corner. There was a soldier, apparently too drunk to know better. He stood glaring down at the personnel on duty. He slurred something about wanting to leave and they told him to go back upstairs and sleep it off.

That seemed to fuel the fire of his rage and he reached into the waistband of his baggy jeans. In his hand was a pistol. He cocked it and aimed. Ayeka had to do something. "Hey guys what's up?" she called. The armed man spun to face her, nearly falling as he did so. Her eyes locked on the weapon, "Hey, that's pretty nice. Can I see it?" she asked.

He didn't buy it. Oh well, it was worth a shot. He glared at her, his blue eyes painfully bloodshot. "Hey I know you" he said. She smiled, no he didn't but she'd go along with that. "Yup you sure do. How about you put that down and we can talk about what's bothering you?" she asked. He shook his head, pointing the gun at the others again.

"They are a bunch of assholes, they won't let me leave" he told her. She nodded. "Well ya know it's kinda not their fault. They just have to sit here, that could be you" she reminded him. He seemed to think about that for a moment. "No." he said.

From the corner of her eye she caught the red and blue flash of the police vehicle. Someone must have heard the racket. This could get ugly fast. "Hey the MP's are right outside. Why don't you just put that down and go upstairs?". He shook his head, "Fuck them". She was worried he'd say that.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, he shot. Not once but several times. He shot the floor, the walls, the coke machine. The others flung themselves to the floor but Ayeka was not so lucky. A sharp burning pain covered her shoulder and she looked down to see the black material of her shirt grow glossy with blood.

"Well just fuckin great." she muttered, clapping a hand to it. She had to get out of here. If they caught her, she'd never get back before dawn. She took a staggering step back from the way she came. MP's burst through the doors and were wrestling the man to the ground. She took this as her chance and fled.

She heard them calling after her, "Inuyasha start the car!" He jumped inside and turned the key like he'd seen her do. He flung the door open and she all but fell into the seat. The scent of her blood filled the car and he stared at her. "What the hell happened?" he demanded. Men were pushing out the doors towards them, she threw the car into reverse and then took off.

The red and blue lights followed them through the gates. "What went wrong?" he wanted to know. She growled, her shoulder was on fire and she gritted her teeth. She stared at the growing glow just beyond the forest. No, Dawn was coming. She blew through the gate, manuevering through blocking vehicles.

She even went off roading a bit, but then back to the main road as she struggled to stay awake. Too much blood, she was losing too much. She gasped as spots swam before her eyes. She had to hang on. Inuyasha noted the pallor of her flesh and frowned. Something was definitely wrong with her.

"We have to get to the barrier." she told him, "We don't have much time. It's almost dawn. I've taken too much time. I won't make it back in time. What will he think?"Inuyasha pointed behind them, "What about them?" She closed her eyes and forced them open again.

"They are bad Inuyasha and we can't get caught ok? I am going to drive the car right to the barrier." she told him. He stared at her in confusion, "This ain't gonna fit" he told her gesturing to the car. She nodded, "I know, I am gonna get close, you use your sword and we'll start tossing it in ok?"

He grunted. This had been way too easy. He should have expected something like this. She was hurt, and he'd heard those strange popping sounds. Now, they were running from her people. This was not good. He'd have to move fast. He could do that.

Up ahead the air shimmered indicating that the barrier was present. She pulled up on the emergency brake and the car spun to a halt the rear of it facing the barrier. "NOw Inuyasha!" she cried as she flung the door open. They had precious minutes if that. He swung the glowing blade and barrier sparked and vanished.

He picked up the rope looping it through the handles of the long wooden crate and shoved it through, then the duffles. He turned to see the many trailing vehicles appear. Men with weapons got out and stared at them, "Inuyasha," she said quietly, "Back towards the portal slowly."

His ears flickered at the weakness in her tone. "What?". She leaned against the open door, "Go Inuyasha, get away, get back to Kagome" she told him. He noted the fine sheen of sweat on her brow. She smiled wanly at him,"Tell him I love him." Inuyasha growled at her, his ears not missing the clicks coming from the armed men. "Get down on the ground!" a loud voice boomed.

"Tell him Inuyasha, tell him that I'm sorry." she said then. He shook his head, "To hell with that. I ain't leavin you." he snarled, catching her hand in his. The men were aiming at them, shouting orders. He'd be damned if it all ended like this. He held fast to her, dragging her with him, as he pushed through the portal.

Before the eyes of a stunned audience, the two strangers vanished into thin air. Ayeka cried out at the force of the winds. Inuyasha held fast to her wrist and slowly drew her to him. He wrapped his arms around her and held tight. Her blood was all over, his nose burned from the scent.

It filled his mouth and he could taste it. Her grip on his clothes was failing. "Don't you faint on me!" he growled. Too late, her eyes rolled back and she was gone. He felt the rope burn against his palms. He hoped that the ride was nearly over, he hoped that everything and everyone made it through. Sesshoumaru was going to kill him.