An Entirely Different Kind of Cheating
folder
InuYasha › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
9
Views:
6,586
Reviews:
75
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
InuYasha › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
9
Views:
6,586
Reviews:
75
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.
Chapter Six
A/N: Alright, in advance, I’m sorry that this chapter is unusually short, but I said what needed to be said, and it made the chapter more dynamic to not dally around.
This is it! This chapter should answer all your questions. Well…maybe not all of them, but almost all.
Responses!!
817: Uhh…well, I hadn’t thought of a place for Rin, but you’re about to see why. With the character I’ve created for Sesshoumaru, I can’t see how she would fit in. I’m so sorry, but thanks for the review!
KireiChan: A new chapter is what you want, and a new chapter is what you’ll get! Those questions should be answered in this chapter, so I hope you like the result! Thanks for the double review!
Drew: Wow, someone complimenting my lemon-writing skills! Now that is cool. Nah, I didn’t think you were calling my lemon funny, but I am glad that you cleared that up anyway! Haha. I’m really glad that you were thinking about Kagome’s time limit. I was too, and biting my nails over whether or not to play it out like I did. Alright, I was extremely impressed with your guess, and you were the first person to guess what you did. I can’t say whether it was right or not, but you’ll find out soon enough. Thanks so much for your great reviews!
Fallenangel7538: Yeah, Kouga’s reaction was a little over the top, wasn’t it? Fortunately, I feel that I won’t disappoint on this one, and I have a particularly fun plot twist in mind, which you will discover pretty much as soon as you start reading the chapter! Haha, I love playing with my readers’ minds, by throwing in something like that nightmare of Kagome’s. *Huge sigh of relief about the cliché-ness* I was really worried on that one! Oh, and I would definitely say that I agree: Kouga IS a baka. Then again…the fact that he’s only there to promote Inuyasha’s protectiveness makes it all worthwhile! As always, thanks for the excellent review!
Hillary: Yeah, the thing with Kouga seems a little pointless and annoying, but it serves its purpose, I promise. Glad you’re enjoying it and thanks for the review!
Moving on!
This chapter: This will be a serious (short) chapter, but it’s the one you’ve all been waiting for. The truth comes out!!!! They say it will set you free, you know.
I don’t own “Tiny Dancer.” Elton John does. Clear enough? *grumbles “not that it really matters”*
And because I know I’ll forget later, happy Easter/Purim/whatever-other-holiday-it-is at the moment!!! Okay, so I’m a little late for Purim and a little early for Easter, but better early/late than never, right?
$~$~$
*****
$~$~$
Chapter Six
“You have failed.”
Kouga did his best to swallow. It felt like every bone in his body was broken, and he was weak as hell. The only bits of his skin he could see through the rips in his clothes were mottled deep browns and sickly yellows. What that miko bitch hadn’t affected, the hanyou had taken care of shortly thereafter. He could barely hear the man because of his busted eardrums which were scabbing over by now.
The wolf youkai wasn’t sure where he was. The last thing he remembered was swinging at Kagome, striking her face, and then flying through the air and hitting the wall.
And now he was here, in a huge, cold room, wire binding his hands and feet and holding him to a folding chair.
Kouga glared at the man in front of him with his one good eye.
“I gave you the opportunity to have everything you could possibly want; money, power, and you blew it all to chase after some miko. I gave you men- no, I gave you a fucking army, and you managed to fuck even that up.”
The man strode over and leaned face to face with the captive. His pristine white hair swayed annoyingly in Kouga’s face. “I gave you an easy way into that casino and I armed you with fifty men and a hundred guns. And, even with that, you couldn’t take out one lowly hanyou. What were you going to do with the miko after you’d captured her? Gloat over your prize in front of the hanyou? That’s what makes you unprofessional and weak. You value petty emotions over victory and precision. You are a disgrace.
“However, this is fitting. I suspect that you tried to use me just as I used you. In fact, I would go as far as to say that you only agreed to this little mission to satisfy your own ulterior motives of both conveniently killing Inuyasha, reclaiming your honor after Inuyasha disgraced you in front of hundreds of people by banning you publicly from his casino, and having that woman for your own. You thought you were smart enough to take what I gave you and use it for your own purposes. You shat in the face of my gift with your stupidity.”
Kouga wanted to spit in the man’s face, but there was duct tape over his mouth.
“And now look at you. Prince of the wolves: beaten senseless and tied to a chair, at the mercy of anyone who happened to stop by; devoid of any semblance of honor or dignity. Best of all: it’s wholly your own fault. Do you know what I’m going to do to you now?” he asked.
Kouga did know. He would beat him, torture him, and leave him to die.
“I’m not going to do a damn thing.”
His head snapped up to stare at the man.
“Do you know why?” There was a pause. “I asked you a question, you arrogant fool. Do you know why?”
He shook his head to the negative, his mind full of shame.
“I’m going to leave you here because in about five minutes, Inuyasha, the very hanyou you were sent to kill, will be coming down here to take care of you personally. So how does it feel, you fucking wolf? Because of your weakness, your failure, your life is now in the hands of a dirty half-blooded hanyou. Because you failed to kill Inuyasha, he will now be the one to take your life. And to think, if only you hadn’t been so foolish, Inuyasha would be dead, you would be a free man, you’d be richer than you were, and far more powerful, and there’s a good chance that you would have actually gotten that miko bitch for whom you sacrificed everything.”
With that, the man left in a flurry of silken silver hair and immaculate attire. Within seconds, he disappeared into the shadows encompassing the corners of the room.
$~$~$
Inuyasha was having a bit of a hard time controlling himself.
Actually, that was an understatement. His hands were shaking with want to strangle the bastard sitting pathetically, helplessly in front of him.
“Do you know,” Inuyasha asked coldly, but calmly, as he knelt in front of Kouga, “what you have done?”
Kouga made no move to answer.
Inuyasha reached forward and ripped the tape forcefully off his mouth. The wolf made no vocal sound, but Inuyasha could hear the gnashing of his teeth.
“No? You don’t? Allow me to tell you. You returned to my casino after I made it clear that you were not welcome. You brought in your wolves with their pitiful weapons. You’ve killed a large number of my guests. You injured my mate. And you pissed me off. Now, because of your actions, you’re here, at my mercy, and your wolf companions are all dead.” Inuyasha leaned forward. “All of them.”
Kouga’s head stooped in shame.
With a sigh, Inuyasha righted himself and dragged a chair noisily from a corner of the room, appreciating the horrid screeching noise the legs made against the concrete floor. He casually unfolded it and sat down startling the back.
“My associates didn’t even ask me, really. What wolves were left alive, they dragged into this very room. They lined them against the wall, chained them to that pipe over there,” Inuyasha pointed at a pipe hanging low, parallel to the ceiling, “and they shot every last one of them straight in the head. At the time, I was busy taking care of my mate. You remember her, right? The one you dared to touch; the one you hit? The one who zapped the shit out of you? Nearly killed by a human. Some wolf-prince you are.”
Kouga jerked violently in his chair, but Inuyasha knew that by struggling the only thing he was accomplishing was making the wires binding him drive more tightly into his skin. Then again, Kouga obviously wasn’t the quickest wolf in the pack.
Inuyasha took Kouga’s neck in his hand and clenched tightly. “I should kill you for what you did to her.” He dug his claws into the skin below his powerful fingers, repaying Kouga cut for cut for what he’d done to Kagome. He forced himself to pry his hand from Kouga’s neck. “You know, I really didn’t think you were stupid enough to pull something like that, Kouga. I must have overestimated you. Pity. If you had been just a little smarter, you might never have crossed me again, and then you may have lived to an old age.”
Inuyasha wanted so badly to kill the bastard; to make him pay for what he’d done to Kagome. But that was exactly where the problem lay. He thought of Kagome, lying right that minute asleep in his bed, safe and unaware of what Inuyasha was doing. He could picture her face if she found out what he’d done. Even though the bastard had hurt her, even though he had had countless others, humans and youkai alike, killed mercilessly in Inuyasha’s casino, Kagome wouldn’t want his death to add to the number of fatalities. And she wouldn’t want him to die in her name.
Inuyasha rolled his shoulder uncomfortably, wincing at the pain in the arm Kagome had so carefully bandaged. It wasn’t too bad. He had other things which merited his concentration.
However much he wanted Kagome to be happy, however much he despised that look he’d seen on her face when she realized what his business entailed, however much he loved her; he couldn’t spare Kouga’s life. Kouga had murdered his customers, he’d had human beings gunned down in cold blood, and they were human beings who would otherwise be contributing money to the casino. Once again, Inuyasha was protecting what was his.
With a growl, Inuyasha placed his foot on Kouga’s chest and gave a sharp shove. The chair went toppling backwards and Kouga yelped when his weight and the metal of the chair landed on the hands tied to the back of the chair, snapping his wrist.
“You know, I can’t even enjoy killing you,” Inuyasha spat angrily. “You’ve taken even that away by involving my mate in this. Sure, I want more than anything to rip out your heart for what you did to her, but I can’t in good conscience kill you for what you did to her, simply because she wouldn’t want it.”
Kouga raised his eyes to Inuyasha’s. “You…you’re sparing me?” he asked, voice quivering incredulously.
Inuyasha barked out a cruel laugh. “Not a chance, wolf. I’m just saying that I’m not going to enjoy this nearly as much as I should, even though it’s something I want to do. Because of your stupidity, I can’t avenge that which your stupidity caused. That’s another reason right there why I should kill you.” Reluctantly, Inuyasha pulled a gun from under his belt and aimed it at Kouga’s head. “This is it, Kouga. You’ll never disrupt my business or touch what’s mine ever again.”
The trigger was pulled, and Inuyasha deposited his gun safely back into his belt, turned on his heel, and left the room.
“Clean up the mess. I want it spotless,” Inuyasha told the men standing outside, guarding the door. They bowed respectfully, and entered the room.
Inuyasha closed the door behind them and grabbed the towel waiting for him alongside a change of clothes on the desk. He dried quickly wiped down his face and hands where some blood had spattered, and grabbed the spare clothes. He moved to the conjoined bathroom and quickly showered and dressed in the clean clothes, leaving the dirtied ones on the floor for his employees to take care of.
Then he was striding up the stairs from the basement, down the hallway, and into his office, then through to his room. He locked the door behind him, pulled off his shoes and shirt, and slipped into bed. Only minutes before, he’d killed a man, and now he used the same hands to pull close his mate and stroke her hair as she fluttered between sleep and consciousness, before relaxing against him. He would always protect her, and he would always avenge her, whether he could admit it or not. His deadly hands would care for her.
$~$~$
“Kagome…tell me about your father.”
Kagome’s eyes shot open. “What?”
“Your father. Tell me about him.”
Suddenly, she was wide awake. Damn. She’d been in such a wonderful state of semi-consciousness, lazily lying in Inuyasha’s arms as he ran his claws through her hair. This, however, was an unexpected, and rather unpleasant wake-up call. “Where did that come from?”
“You were having a nightmare right before you told me about the situation with Kouga. You woke up and yelled ‘Daddy’.”
Kagome’s eyes widened. “I did?”
She was horrified to see his nod.
“I…” she shook her head. “What is there to say? He…well, when I was little…we were always together. He called me ‘Tiny Dancer,” you know, like the song? That was kind of our song. We’d go on picnics and listen to it. Sometimes Miroku or Souta would come with us, but usually it was just the two of us.”
Inuyasha kissed her forehead softly. “What happened to him?”
Kagome sighed and stared down at her feet. “We found out too late that a tumor had been growing in his brain for close to four years. Soon after we found out…everything changed.”
“He died?”
“He did.”
“Is that why Miroku is so protective of you? Because your father died?”
An unhappy grin flittered over her face, thinking entirely of the irony of the question.
$~$~$
Sango looked up from her book as she felt Miroku’s added pressure weighing down the bed.
“I thought you were going to go look for Kagome?”
Miroku had only been gone a couple minutes. Sango set her book on the bedside table and turned over to her back. She propped herself on her elbows to look at him better.
Miroku’s hands came around her waist, gliding over the material of her tank top and wrapped around her back. He pressed a kiss sweetly to her lips. “We both know where she is. There’s no point in repeating what’s already been done. I’ve failed to protect her from that bastard, that’s all.” He pressed kisses down the line of her throat.
Sango sighed, not sure if she even wanted Miroku to find Kagome and bring her back. She wasn’t sure anymore where her best friend’s loyalty lay. Kagome had seemed so apathetic when Miroku had gotten hurt, caring only about Inuyasha. Maybe it was an unfair assessment, but not once had she tried to help her cousin. And after all he’d done for her.
“Maybe it’s for the best,” Sango said quietly.
Miroku looked at her in surprise, then dropped his head softly to her stomach and sighed heavily. “I don’t know what you mean,” he admitted.
“I mean that you’ve been too protective of her for too long.”
“Sango…Kagome’s faith in humanity has always been unreasonably high. Even after…after what happened, she never thought any less of people. She still assumed that everyone was a good person, whether they showed it or not. She’s always been so childlike in her assumptions that if you show a kicked dog enough love, the bites and scratches it gives you won’t matter because it will eventually come around. But sometimes…”
“The bites are too bad?” Sango finished for him.
He raised his head and nodded. “Sometimes I feel that there’s nothing I can do for her. It’s like…it’s like five years ago she hardly even wanted to be saved. Not because she was depressed or anything, but because…she felt that that sacrifice was worth it if only…”
Sango shook her head distainfully and lowered herself onto her back. Miroku moved with her and pulled her onto her side, to snuggle to his chest. “You know,” she said, “from the moment I met him, I never trusted Naraku.”
She saw Miroku raise an eyebrow. “You’re kidding. Everyone I’ve ever known who met him has said that he was the model image of a wonderful human being. Up until the end, that is.”
“No way. That man…there was always something about him.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean, something about him, something I can’t really explain, always set me on my guard. To see how easy Kagome was around him always struck me uncomfortably.”
“That man…he was very, very sick.”
“In more ways than one,” Sango agreed. “I hate him, you know.”
“Sango…don’t say that.”
“Why the hell not? You and Kagome like to pretend that he was some saint who had a momentary lapse of reason. Why can’t you see him for what he did? Why can’t you see that Naraku was a disgusting son of a bitch who didn’t deserve Kagome’s or your trust?”
“It wasn’t his fault, Sango. His judgement was impaired by reasons beyond his control. You know that.”
“I know that you like to believe that. Okay, I acknowledge that he was sick. I understand that. But…Christ, Miroku, think of what would have happened if you hadn’t protected Kagome! Think of what it would have done to her, and think of what she would have been like!”
“But that didn’t happen,” Miroku ground out, now pulling away from Sango. “Sango…I can never possibly forgive myself for what happened, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
“That’s what I don’t understand, Miroku. You did the right thing. In the eyes of the law, of society, and god knows in Kagome’s eyes, you were forgiven.”
Miroku chuckled without mirth. “That is what Kagome would have you think. But she has never forgiven me, and both she and I know it. I accepted that long ago.”
“Why do you constantly blame yourself for doing something just?”
“I killed him, Sango. I’m not saying I shouldn’t have, but I did, and the possibility that I could have stopped him without doing so is what haunts my sleep every night.”
“Why is it that I’m constantly the only voice of reason between the three of us?”
He turned so his legs feet were touching the floor and his back was facing his girlfriend. “Sango…we have what we have. I have you, and I have Kagome. But Kagome doesn’t have me because she’ll never again fully trust me, and I really feel that Kagome doesn’t truly have Inuyasha because I doubt strongly that, beyond that blissful façade, she could ever fully trust someone who noticed her body at all. That, and Daishyo is a bastard.”
“Miroku…Naraku was evil. I’m sorry to have to say it, but he was. He was a sick, disgusting bastard who was too stubborn to let himself be taken care of, and because of it, Kagome was hurt and so were you. You and Kagome grew up with him, I understand that, and I understand that it must be painful to admit that in the end, it was him who caused you so much trauma, but for crap’s sake, at least admit that he had other options! You know as well as I do, if not better, that he could have prevented what happened. He refused to go to the hospital, Miroku, or did you forget that?! And just because of the tumor, you and Kagome make believe that it’s all okay, that nothing was his fault! Well it was all his fault! He destroyed your conscience, he blew Kagome’s mother’s and brother’s lives to smithereens, and he tried to rape Kagome. How much more of a sick fuck does a guy have to be in order to merit a little guilt?!”
Miroku’s hands were clenched, sheets bunched in them, and his shoulders were tense. “Sango,” he said quietly, and turned to look at her seriously, suffering in his eyes. “I know you can’t understand, but I must ask you not to speak of my late uncle that way.”
$~$~$
*****
$~$~$
A/N: Well, I hope you liked the various plot twists! Please (and please a couple more times) review and tell me your opinions.
~Schrodinger's Cat
This is it! This chapter should answer all your questions. Well…maybe not all of them, but almost all.
Responses!!
817: Uhh…well, I hadn’t thought of a place for Rin, but you’re about to see why. With the character I’ve created for Sesshoumaru, I can’t see how she would fit in. I’m so sorry, but thanks for the review!
KireiChan: A new chapter is what you want, and a new chapter is what you’ll get! Those questions should be answered in this chapter, so I hope you like the result! Thanks for the double review!
Drew: Wow, someone complimenting my lemon-writing skills! Now that is cool. Nah, I didn’t think you were calling my lemon funny, but I am glad that you cleared that up anyway! Haha. I’m really glad that you were thinking about Kagome’s time limit. I was too, and biting my nails over whether or not to play it out like I did. Alright, I was extremely impressed with your guess, and you were the first person to guess what you did. I can’t say whether it was right or not, but you’ll find out soon enough. Thanks so much for your great reviews!
Fallenangel7538: Yeah, Kouga’s reaction was a little over the top, wasn’t it? Fortunately, I feel that I won’t disappoint on this one, and I have a particularly fun plot twist in mind, which you will discover pretty much as soon as you start reading the chapter! Haha, I love playing with my readers’ minds, by throwing in something like that nightmare of Kagome’s. *Huge sigh of relief about the cliché-ness* I was really worried on that one! Oh, and I would definitely say that I agree: Kouga IS a baka. Then again…the fact that he’s only there to promote Inuyasha’s protectiveness makes it all worthwhile! As always, thanks for the excellent review!
Hillary: Yeah, the thing with Kouga seems a little pointless and annoying, but it serves its purpose, I promise. Glad you’re enjoying it and thanks for the review!
Moving on!
This chapter: This will be a serious (short) chapter, but it’s the one you’ve all been waiting for. The truth comes out!!!! They say it will set you free, you know.
I don’t own “Tiny Dancer.” Elton John does. Clear enough? *grumbles “not that it really matters”*
And because I know I’ll forget later, happy Easter/Purim/whatever-other-holiday-it-is at the moment!!! Okay, so I’m a little late for Purim and a little early for Easter, but better early/late than never, right?
$~$~$
*****
$~$~$
Chapter Six
“You have failed.”
Kouga did his best to swallow. It felt like every bone in his body was broken, and he was weak as hell. The only bits of his skin he could see through the rips in his clothes were mottled deep browns and sickly yellows. What that miko bitch hadn’t affected, the hanyou had taken care of shortly thereafter. He could barely hear the man because of his busted eardrums which were scabbing over by now.
The wolf youkai wasn’t sure where he was. The last thing he remembered was swinging at Kagome, striking her face, and then flying through the air and hitting the wall.
And now he was here, in a huge, cold room, wire binding his hands and feet and holding him to a folding chair.
Kouga glared at the man in front of him with his one good eye.
“I gave you the opportunity to have everything you could possibly want; money, power, and you blew it all to chase after some miko. I gave you men- no, I gave you a fucking army, and you managed to fuck even that up.”
The man strode over and leaned face to face with the captive. His pristine white hair swayed annoyingly in Kouga’s face. “I gave you an easy way into that casino and I armed you with fifty men and a hundred guns. And, even with that, you couldn’t take out one lowly hanyou. What were you going to do with the miko after you’d captured her? Gloat over your prize in front of the hanyou? That’s what makes you unprofessional and weak. You value petty emotions over victory and precision. You are a disgrace.
“However, this is fitting. I suspect that you tried to use me just as I used you. In fact, I would go as far as to say that you only agreed to this little mission to satisfy your own ulterior motives of both conveniently killing Inuyasha, reclaiming your honor after Inuyasha disgraced you in front of hundreds of people by banning you publicly from his casino, and having that woman for your own. You thought you were smart enough to take what I gave you and use it for your own purposes. You shat in the face of my gift with your stupidity.”
Kouga wanted to spit in the man’s face, but there was duct tape over his mouth.
“And now look at you. Prince of the wolves: beaten senseless and tied to a chair, at the mercy of anyone who happened to stop by; devoid of any semblance of honor or dignity. Best of all: it’s wholly your own fault. Do you know what I’m going to do to you now?” he asked.
Kouga did know. He would beat him, torture him, and leave him to die.
“I’m not going to do a damn thing.”
His head snapped up to stare at the man.
“Do you know why?” There was a pause. “I asked you a question, you arrogant fool. Do you know why?”
He shook his head to the negative, his mind full of shame.
“I’m going to leave you here because in about five minutes, Inuyasha, the very hanyou you were sent to kill, will be coming down here to take care of you personally. So how does it feel, you fucking wolf? Because of your weakness, your failure, your life is now in the hands of a dirty half-blooded hanyou. Because you failed to kill Inuyasha, he will now be the one to take your life. And to think, if only you hadn’t been so foolish, Inuyasha would be dead, you would be a free man, you’d be richer than you were, and far more powerful, and there’s a good chance that you would have actually gotten that miko bitch for whom you sacrificed everything.”
With that, the man left in a flurry of silken silver hair and immaculate attire. Within seconds, he disappeared into the shadows encompassing the corners of the room.
$~$~$
Inuyasha was having a bit of a hard time controlling himself.
Actually, that was an understatement. His hands were shaking with want to strangle the bastard sitting pathetically, helplessly in front of him.
“Do you know,” Inuyasha asked coldly, but calmly, as he knelt in front of Kouga, “what you have done?”
Kouga made no move to answer.
Inuyasha reached forward and ripped the tape forcefully off his mouth. The wolf made no vocal sound, but Inuyasha could hear the gnashing of his teeth.
“No? You don’t? Allow me to tell you. You returned to my casino after I made it clear that you were not welcome. You brought in your wolves with their pitiful weapons. You’ve killed a large number of my guests. You injured my mate. And you pissed me off. Now, because of your actions, you’re here, at my mercy, and your wolf companions are all dead.” Inuyasha leaned forward. “All of them.”
Kouga’s head stooped in shame.
With a sigh, Inuyasha righted himself and dragged a chair noisily from a corner of the room, appreciating the horrid screeching noise the legs made against the concrete floor. He casually unfolded it and sat down startling the back.
“My associates didn’t even ask me, really. What wolves were left alive, they dragged into this very room. They lined them against the wall, chained them to that pipe over there,” Inuyasha pointed at a pipe hanging low, parallel to the ceiling, “and they shot every last one of them straight in the head. At the time, I was busy taking care of my mate. You remember her, right? The one you dared to touch; the one you hit? The one who zapped the shit out of you? Nearly killed by a human. Some wolf-prince you are.”
Kouga jerked violently in his chair, but Inuyasha knew that by struggling the only thing he was accomplishing was making the wires binding him drive more tightly into his skin. Then again, Kouga obviously wasn’t the quickest wolf in the pack.
Inuyasha took Kouga’s neck in his hand and clenched tightly. “I should kill you for what you did to her.” He dug his claws into the skin below his powerful fingers, repaying Kouga cut for cut for what he’d done to Kagome. He forced himself to pry his hand from Kouga’s neck. “You know, I really didn’t think you were stupid enough to pull something like that, Kouga. I must have overestimated you. Pity. If you had been just a little smarter, you might never have crossed me again, and then you may have lived to an old age.”
Inuyasha wanted so badly to kill the bastard; to make him pay for what he’d done to Kagome. But that was exactly where the problem lay. He thought of Kagome, lying right that minute asleep in his bed, safe and unaware of what Inuyasha was doing. He could picture her face if she found out what he’d done. Even though the bastard had hurt her, even though he had had countless others, humans and youkai alike, killed mercilessly in Inuyasha’s casino, Kagome wouldn’t want his death to add to the number of fatalities. And she wouldn’t want him to die in her name.
Inuyasha rolled his shoulder uncomfortably, wincing at the pain in the arm Kagome had so carefully bandaged. It wasn’t too bad. He had other things which merited his concentration.
However much he wanted Kagome to be happy, however much he despised that look he’d seen on her face when she realized what his business entailed, however much he loved her; he couldn’t spare Kouga’s life. Kouga had murdered his customers, he’d had human beings gunned down in cold blood, and they were human beings who would otherwise be contributing money to the casino. Once again, Inuyasha was protecting what was his.
With a growl, Inuyasha placed his foot on Kouga’s chest and gave a sharp shove. The chair went toppling backwards and Kouga yelped when his weight and the metal of the chair landed on the hands tied to the back of the chair, snapping his wrist.
“You know, I can’t even enjoy killing you,” Inuyasha spat angrily. “You’ve taken even that away by involving my mate in this. Sure, I want more than anything to rip out your heart for what you did to her, but I can’t in good conscience kill you for what you did to her, simply because she wouldn’t want it.”
Kouga raised his eyes to Inuyasha’s. “You…you’re sparing me?” he asked, voice quivering incredulously.
Inuyasha barked out a cruel laugh. “Not a chance, wolf. I’m just saying that I’m not going to enjoy this nearly as much as I should, even though it’s something I want to do. Because of your stupidity, I can’t avenge that which your stupidity caused. That’s another reason right there why I should kill you.” Reluctantly, Inuyasha pulled a gun from under his belt and aimed it at Kouga’s head. “This is it, Kouga. You’ll never disrupt my business or touch what’s mine ever again.”
The trigger was pulled, and Inuyasha deposited his gun safely back into his belt, turned on his heel, and left the room.
“Clean up the mess. I want it spotless,” Inuyasha told the men standing outside, guarding the door. They bowed respectfully, and entered the room.
Inuyasha closed the door behind them and grabbed the towel waiting for him alongside a change of clothes on the desk. He dried quickly wiped down his face and hands where some blood had spattered, and grabbed the spare clothes. He moved to the conjoined bathroom and quickly showered and dressed in the clean clothes, leaving the dirtied ones on the floor for his employees to take care of.
Then he was striding up the stairs from the basement, down the hallway, and into his office, then through to his room. He locked the door behind him, pulled off his shoes and shirt, and slipped into bed. Only minutes before, he’d killed a man, and now he used the same hands to pull close his mate and stroke her hair as she fluttered between sleep and consciousness, before relaxing against him. He would always protect her, and he would always avenge her, whether he could admit it or not. His deadly hands would care for her.
$~$~$
“Kagome…tell me about your father.”
Kagome’s eyes shot open. “What?”
“Your father. Tell me about him.”
Suddenly, she was wide awake. Damn. She’d been in such a wonderful state of semi-consciousness, lazily lying in Inuyasha’s arms as he ran his claws through her hair. This, however, was an unexpected, and rather unpleasant wake-up call. “Where did that come from?”
“You were having a nightmare right before you told me about the situation with Kouga. You woke up and yelled ‘Daddy’.”
Kagome’s eyes widened. “I did?”
She was horrified to see his nod.
“I…” she shook her head. “What is there to say? He…well, when I was little…we were always together. He called me ‘Tiny Dancer,” you know, like the song? That was kind of our song. We’d go on picnics and listen to it. Sometimes Miroku or Souta would come with us, but usually it was just the two of us.”
Inuyasha kissed her forehead softly. “What happened to him?”
Kagome sighed and stared down at her feet. “We found out too late that a tumor had been growing in his brain for close to four years. Soon after we found out…everything changed.”
“He died?”
“He did.”
“Is that why Miroku is so protective of you? Because your father died?”
An unhappy grin flittered over her face, thinking entirely of the irony of the question.
$~$~$
Sango looked up from her book as she felt Miroku’s added pressure weighing down the bed.
“I thought you were going to go look for Kagome?”
Miroku had only been gone a couple minutes. Sango set her book on the bedside table and turned over to her back. She propped herself on her elbows to look at him better.
Miroku’s hands came around her waist, gliding over the material of her tank top and wrapped around her back. He pressed a kiss sweetly to her lips. “We both know where she is. There’s no point in repeating what’s already been done. I’ve failed to protect her from that bastard, that’s all.” He pressed kisses down the line of her throat.
Sango sighed, not sure if she even wanted Miroku to find Kagome and bring her back. She wasn’t sure anymore where her best friend’s loyalty lay. Kagome had seemed so apathetic when Miroku had gotten hurt, caring only about Inuyasha. Maybe it was an unfair assessment, but not once had she tried to help her cousin. And after all he’d done for her.
“Maybe it’s for the best,” Sango said quietly.
Miroku looked at her in surprise, then dropped his head softly to her stomach and sighed heavily. “I don’t know what you mean,” he admitted.
“I mean that you’ve been too protective of her for too long.”
“Sango…Kagome’s faith in humanity has always been unreasonably high. Even after…after what happened, she never thought any less of people. She still assumed that everyone was a good person, whether they showed it or not. She’s always been so childlike in her assumptions that if you show a kicked dog enough love, the bites and scratches it gives you won’t matter because it will eventually come around. But sometimes…”
“The bites are too bad?” Sango finished for him.
He raised his head and nodded. “Sometimes I feel that there’s nothing I can do for her. It’s like…it’s like five years ago she hardly even wanted to be saved. Not because she was depressed or anything, but because…she felt that that sacrifice was worth it if only…”
Sango shook her head distainfully and lowered herself onto her back. Miroku moved with her and pulled her onto her side, to snuggle to his chest. “You know,” she said, “from the moment I met him, I never trusted Naraku.”
She saw Miroku raise an eyebrow. “You’re kidding. Everyone I’ve ever known who met him has said that he was the model image of a wonderful human being. Up until the end, that is.”
“No way. That man…there was always something about him.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean, something about him, something I can’t really explain, always set me on my guard. To see how easy Kagome was around him always struck me uncomfortably.”
“That man…he was very, very sick.”
“In more ways than one,” Sango agreed. “I hate him, you know.”
“Sango…don’t say that.”
“Why the hell not? You and Kagome like to pretend that he was some saint who had a momentary lapse of reason. Why can’t you see him for what he did? Why can’t you see that Naraku was a disgusting son of a bitch who didn’t deserve Kagome’s or your trust?”
“It wasn’t his fault, Sango. His judgement was impaired by reasons beyond his control. You know that.”
“I know that you like to believe that. Okay, I acknowledge that he was sick. I understand that. But…Christ, Miroku, think of what would have happened if you hadn’t protected Kagome! Think of what it would have done to her, and think of what she would have been like!”
“But that didn’t happen,” Miroku ground out, now pulling away from Sango. “Sango…I can never possibly forgive myself for what happened, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
“That’s what I don’t understand, Miroku. You did the right thing. In the eyes of the law, of society, and god knows in Kagome’s eyes, you were forgiven.”
Miroku chuckled without mirth. “That is what Kagome would have you think. But she has never forgiven me, and both she and I know it. I accepted that long ago.”
“Why do you constantly blame yourself for doing something just?”
“I killed him, Sango. I’m not saying I shouldn’t have, but I did, and the possibility that I could have stopped him without doing so is what haunts my sleep every night.”
“Why is it that I’m constantly the only voice of reason between the three of us?”
He turned so his legs feet were touching the floor and his back was facing his girlfriend. “Sango…we have what we have. I have you, and I have Kagome. But Kagome doesn’t have me because she’ll never again fully trust me, and I really feel that Kagome doesn’t truly have Inuyasha because I doubt strongly that, beyond that blissful façade, she could ever fully trust someone who noticed her body at all. That, and Daishyo is a bastard.”
“Miroku…Naraku was evil. I’m sorry to have to say it, but he was. He was a sick, disgusting bastard who was too stubborn to let himself be taken care of, and because of it, Kagome was hurt and so were you. You and Kagome grew up with him, I understand that, and I understand that it must be painful to admit that in the end, it was him who caused you so much trauma, but for crap’s sake, at least admit that he had other options! You know as well as I do, if not better, that he could have prevented what happened. He refused to go to the hospital, Miroku, or did you forget that?! And just because of the tumor, you and Kagome make believe that it’s all okay, that nothing was his fault! Well it was all his fault! He destroyed your conscience, he blew Kagome’s mother’s and brother’s lives to smithereens, and he tried to rape Kagome. How much more of a sick fuck does a guy have to be in order to merit a little guilt?!”
Miroku’s hands were clenched, sheets bunched in them, and his shoulders were tense. “Sango,” he said quietly, and turned to look at her seriously, suffering in his eyes. “I know you can’t understand, but I must ask you not to speak of my late uncle that way.”
$~$~$
*****
$~$~$
A/N: Well, I hope you liked the various plot twists! Please (and please a couple more times) review and tell me your opinions.
~Schrodinger's Cat