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Nikanaru
By : Koday
Category: InuYasha > General
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Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.
Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
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Illustration

www.deviantart.com/view/21930765/

Ouch. I hope this helps exemplify just how much that hurt,
cause it comes up a lot in this chapter.

Nikanaru

Chapter 6:

Black Blooded
Trail

Or

Further Ways of
Embarrassing Oneself Before Dying.

It�s really
funny, some of the thoughts that can go through your head while you�re running
for your very life. Ideally, you�d be devoting your all of your cognitive
powers towards the subject of your pursuer�how to avoid her� where a good
hiding place might be� how to move faster despite clutching your bullet-ridden
gut in agony� and if there were any way you could turn the tables. Strategic
things like that.

Another
kind of thought process that one might expect from this kind of situation was
along the lines of panic. Fear. Desperation. Those kinds of things. Logically
speaking, those where less desirable than the former, but perfectly
understandable under the circumstances.

And then
there was Max, who, with a maniac chasing after him with a gun, couldn�t help
but figure the following:

I can�t
believe I fucking pissed myself! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Why did I have to
have a Coke right before I got shot?!

************

10 Minutes Ago

As he lay
on the office floor, almost completely paralyzed by the rippling sensations of
blazing pain tearing through every inch of his being, all Max could do was
fearfully stare at the woman who had done this to him while struggling to
remain conscious.

Max wasn�t
human. And although This �Naraku� didn�t resemble him, she clearly wasn�t
either. It was more than her just being inhuman, though�something about her
oozed of an unnatural aura. Where there should be white in her eyes, there was
instead an almost luminescent violet. Under her partially transparent white
skin were hideous, thick dark veins he could actually see pulsing.

But what
was sealing the deal on the judgment was her hand. The way she raised it before
him and herself, observing it almost in bemusement. Dangling her fingers
around, Max saw those same dark veins seen all over her body begin to �crawl�
underneath the skin in her hand, like vines rapidly growing around a trellis.
They made sickening sounds of flesh churning and squishing as the thick veins
pushed them aside, making their way through her fingers. At last, they reached
the fingertips, but that was not the end of this sickening display. Sickening
more so was the way they pushed at the skin on top of her fingers until at last
they popped right out. Several tiny little tendrils were now squirming from
broken flesh out of each digit on her hand.

She turned
her attention from it to look back down at Max, and her smile only widened when
she saw that the look of pain on his face now replaced with that of stunned
horror. As if to spite him, she playfully dangled her fingers around more, the
tendrils waving disgustingly in motion.

�No fear.
This won�t hurt.� She mockingly comforted him as she coiled her digits into a
claw-like grip. �Well, not physically anyway.� Max instinctively bore his fangs
at her, although with his crystal still on, he could only bare a set of flat,
pearly whites at her. For that matter, the bleeding that Max was doing from his
abdomen was invisible to the naked eye as well. In addition to hiding his
demonic features, the Toku crystal also rendered his blood invisible. However,
he was bleeding so profusely that the blood eventually dripped off of him, out
of the range of the crystal magic, and appeared on the cold office floor. His
own blood was dark, a much darker shade of red than human blood, appearing
almost black at a careless glance.

�Wh..ar��
He inhaled his next breath carefully to make sure he could complete the
sentence without wincing in pain. ��what are you?!�

�I thought
that much would be obvious.� She paused her approaching hand a moment. �I am a
demon. Like you.�

�Bullshit!�
He snarled at her. �You don�t look a�Arggh!!�a damn thing like me!� Her
eyebrows raised in surprise.

�Are you
honestly this ignorant. Nikanaru?� She laughed at him. �Pathetic. How long did
you expect to stay hidden with such utter lack of basic knowledge? You think
one Toku crystal was all you needed to stay hidden?�

�Hiding??�
He went on, his breathing now evening out a little. �I wasn�t hiding!�

�Oh?� He
flinched a little when she raised her gun to him again. However, she simply
tapped at his crystal with the muzzle. �Then what purpose does this serve?�

�For�� He
stopped himself before he went on. The young demon may not have had half a clue
as to what the hell was going on, but there was no way he was going to reveal
personal details to a person who�d just shot him, let alone, someone who was
now menacing him with grotesque fingernail extensions. Instead, he just hissed
out a groan as the next wave of pain flashed through him.

Wait a
minute�did it just�?

�It makes
no difference.� She scoffed at his silence. �In any event, I found you. And now
we can both leave this miserable place.� Her hand began moving closer and
closer to his face, the dark tendrils at the ends wiggling in anticipation of
contact. Max had no idea what was going to happen if those things touched him,
but every inkling of common sense he had in him screamed that he wasn�t going
to like it. She was going right for his face, and his eyelids began twitching
reflexively as they came within centimeters of them.

Another
wave of pain went through Max�s body. This one far less intense than the last.

Yes, it
IS!

Surprise belonged to Naraku this time, as Max�s fist
suddenly sprang forth from the wound it was clenching and connected with all of
its might to her shocked face. She went flying back into the desk, the sheer
momentum of her body sending both the desk and her slamming into the adjacent
wall with such force that it shattered the window.

Instantly
was Max making an effort to push himself back up, although not without a lot of
difficulty. In its last few waves, the burning pain that had, seconds ago, been
so unbearable that he couldn�t move at all� had subsided significantly. Not
nearly so much so that attempting to move again hurt like a bastard, though.
And beyond that, there was still the wrenching gunshot wound in his abdomen.
One hand still on the injury, he managed to get to his feet, breathing heavily.
Looking over at the body of Naraku, his ragged breaths were, for a moment, was
the only sound coming from anywhere.

Is she
dead? In his
panicked bid for survival, Max had lashed out against her with all of his
might�the blow he had rendered upon her would have been about enough to kill
any human, even despite that he�d been severely weakened. He�d literally felt
the bone in her face cave in against his knuckles. For Max, the notion that
he�d actually killed someone was almost as horrific as the terror he�d been facing
a few seconds ago. Carefully, oh so carefully, he approached her limp form. He
wanted to tell himself that he�d had no choice, but that didn�t make the idea
of him having actually ended another person�s life any less mortifying for him.

Luckily, he
didn�t have to worry about that too long. When he stepped a few inches short of
where she lay, her purple eyes snapped open and her hand grabbed at his foot.
Max didn�t even have time to gasp before he hit the ground hard after she
pulled his own leg out from under him. A howl of anguish hurled from his lungs
when the impact painfully reminded him about his wound. While he scrambled to
get on his hands and knees, she was crawling away from him. Looking ahead, he
saw that she was heading for the gun on the ground. Making rare use of his
invisible tail, he swatted the gun away as he struggled back onto his feet.
Instead of still going after her weapon, though, Naraku returned her attentions
to him. Cold, pale and unbelievably powerful hands clamped around his neck with
vice-like strength, shocking him further. He was lifted off of his feet
entirely and thrown harshly against the wall, granite cracking under the
collision. With him now shaking off the blurry vision that such an inhuman
battering had given him, Naraku made an uninterrupted grab for the berretta. By
the time Max�s eyes refocused, he was staring at Naraku across the room, her
gun pointing straight at him. Wisely, he froze in place.

�How�how
can you still be moving??� She growled at him. �That was a miko bullet!� He
didn�t have an answer for her. Both because he wasn�t daring to move, mouth
inclusive� and also because he seriously didn�t know. �Answer me!� She yelled,
cocking the gun as a threat.

�Lady�� He
panted back in labored huffs. ��you are operating�under the mis�mistaken
impression that I have�the slightest fucking clue what the�hell you�re talking
about.� They stared each other down, his golden orbs locked dead on to the
purple pupils of hers. She searched him for any sign of deceit, which was all
but impossible given that he was already trembling and practically
hyperventilating. But despite that every other physical sign on him indicated
that he was terrified, Max�s eyes locked with hers, showing a defiant,
uncompromising glare. Unusual, but not a sign of bearing false witness.

�No
matter.� She finally stated. That was the only warning Max got before he saw
the muscles on her arm begin to constrict. He moved and she fired, but a
split-second too late. A flash of bright pink light once again accompanied the
zip of the silencer and a bullet flew across the room, leaving a trail of
dissipating energy in its wake. Although Max avoided the actual bullet, he was
close enough to feel the excess energy singing at his skin like the licks of an
errant fire. Knowing that he had less than another second before she could fire
again, he used his current momentum to hurl himself right for the broken
window.

Max had
jumped immense heights before, but never under any sort of life-threatening
pressure, and never with so serious an injury. Despite the fact that he managed
to twist himself in mid-air so he could land on his feet, he still stumbled and
fell upon hitting the ground. This time he managed to collect himself and get
back up much quicker, and was off as fast as his limping form could allow,
heading for the school gates. Given that Naraku apparently had superhuman
physical capabilities as well, he expected her to jump right out after him.
Tossing a quick look behind him to see how close she was behind him�he saw
nothing.

Much to the
relief of Max�s bleeding internal organs, he stopped. Brief confusion struck
him, followed by realization� he�d just left school� left hundreds of
innocents� left principal Nagasi with an extremely dangerous and demonstrably
psychotic woman inside.

What was it
Sakura had told him? �Measure the risks, then determine if it�s really worth
it.� Well, going by that credo, this situation right now was about the single
most dangerous situation Max had ever been in. Never before in his life had he
actually been afraid of dying, and now that he was, his most basic survival
instinct was screaming at him to run like hell. An yet�

And yet�

And then
there was that same feeling he�d had last night when he was about to watch two
people die, and found himself unable to simply sit back and watch it happen
when he could have done something about it. The same sort of feeling was
present here as well� there were people in that school, to say the least of his
friends, who were presently in huge jeopardy with that woman in there. Both his
desire to do the principled thing and his instinct for self-preservation
clashed as Max was presented with this dilemma� but that battle was over long
before it began. He knew damn well what he had to do.

Sorry,
Grandma.

But just as
he took a step back toward the school, Naraku finally came flying out the
window. Despite the three-story drop, she landed perfectly on her feet, much
more elegantly than Max had managed.

Oh!
Well, good to have that little dilemma solved. Internal conflicts ended insultingly fast as
his heel ground into the dirt and twisted himself around, instantly heading off
in the other direction again.

************

Present

It was a bizarre scene for people on the streets when a
tall, silver haired young man came limping down the sidewalk�only he �limped�
at a speed that matched a marathon runner�s. He was grasping at his stomach as
if there were something wrong with it, but there was no sign of injury. There
was a dark stain on his jeans, though, looking as if he�d wet himself. Was this
some sort of joke? There were even what looked like spots of dark-red ink
leaking out of him from somewhere.

Moments after that young man rushed by, a young lady came
chasing after. The sight of a gun in her hand made it clear then to any
bystanders that something serious was indeed going on.

At some point while rapidly hobbling away from the school
and tending to his invisibly bloodied gut, Max had taken notice to a distinct
wetness riding down his left pant leg. At first he had thought it might have
been his own blood, a prospect that horrified him. Then he actually smelled
urine, looked down at his leg, and realized that he may have pissed himself, a
prospect that mortified him.

Cripes, the crystal hides my blood, but not my piss?
Where�s the flipping logic in that??!

It had
almost been enough to make him forget that Naraku was chasing after him,
liberally firing in his direction� well, actually no, not at all. Despite that
his wound was severely hampering his mobility, Max was still running faster
than most any human could. Naraku, however, had already proven that she
possessed superhuman strength, so it came to no surprise that she also
possessed superhuman speed, and could not be outran.

While the
people in the streets did look at the scene with curiosity at first, they ran
screaming for cover when they realized someone was shooting. It occurred to Max
that someone would probably be hit by a stray bullet if he kept himself a
target out in the open, so he at first tried to bound up to the top of a small
building. When he actually attempted to jump, though, he yelped in pain and
could only bring himself to jump a few meters in the air, very nearly slamming into
the wall of the building he was trying to get on top of. Instead, he scrambled
into the alleyway between in and the next edifice as another shot rang out
against the brick meters from his head.

Christ,
Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ!!! If you�re listening, HELP!

Maybe
someone up there was listening, because in the road on the other side of the
alley, he saw his answer �or some twisted version of it anyway: an open manhole
flanked by city workers. Max may have lost his ability to ascend as well as he
usually could, but the forces of gravity assured that he could fall down just
as well as he ever could. Crashing through the yellow tape and ignoring the
angered shouts of the maintenance workers, Max dove right into the hole. It was
clumsily done, as he scrapped against the sides of the vertical tunnel on his
way down and slammed harshly into the shallow pool of sewage at the bottom.
Still, instinct kept the pain from stunning him too long and he was soon on his
feet, speeding down the dark, dank tunnels.

The sewer was nothing at all like those old Ninja Turtle
cartoons had mislead him into believing. It absolutely reeked down there, which
was doubly painful for him given his superior smelling capabilities. It was
also much darker, and much narrower than he�d expected, meaning that in his
haste he�d have no choice but to step in raw sewage. And despite the fact that
he was running for his life, it still irritated him that he was messing up his
new sneakers.

On the
other hand, the stench of bodily excrements all over the place was a good way
of covering up the fact that he�d gone in his own pants. Not that he exactly
had anyone down here to impress, besides the lunatic presently trying to
ventilate him with sparkling bullets.

Well, if
I am going to be die today, I could at least die knowing everyone else thinks
that I overcame wetting myself when I was five.

One thing
the sewers were, though, which he had been counting on, was complex. As he ran
down the tunnels, he was presented with a new passageway or a new direction to
flee into practically every five seconds. He zigzagged through them speedily
and randomly, the echo of his footsteps ringing throughout the tunnels. It did
seem like the perfect place in which to lose someone while running around like
a scared ninny. Echoes of other footsteps besides his own were thundering
throughout as well, though, leaving him no chance to doubt that she had indeed
followed him down here.

�NIKANARU!�
Came a raging roar, ringing deafeningly though hundreds of pipes and
passageways. There was no question now that Naraku was some unnatural
being�gone now was the vaguely seductive yet disturbing feminine voice she�d
possessed when they�d first met, now replaced entirely with a rough, dark,
distinctly masculine voice. The voice brought Max to a stop, and he listened
carefully for any sort of sign that she was close by. He did hear footsteps,
but they echoed just as unclearly as his had. The sewer was a double-edge sword
in that it hid his position, but made his enemy�s equally difficult to
determine.

Although never having been in a cat-and-mouse, life-or-death
situation before, he knew full well that just standing in one spot was a bad
idea. Trying to keep his breathing level, his feet moved as quietly as possible
down the tunnel, making sure to peep around the corners and listen as carefully
as he could before moving on. There was perhaps a chance he could stealthily
sneak away.

�Do you
understand the utter futility of all this?� Her voice commandingly tore
throughout the sewers. �It�s blatantly obvious you don�t know what you�re
doing. You fight like an amateur, and you flee like a coward.� The anger
perceived in the tone soon changed when a glint of humor boomed throughout. �Ridiculous�
After all this time I spent hunting you down, it seems a bit anticlimactic that
all you turn out to be is a meek little demon content to emulate the pathetic
traits of the humans you masquerade as.�

Blow me
dry, you raging sack of insanity! He had to keep all reprisals to her comments to himself. If he could
manage to stay quiet and sneak off, put enough distance between the two of
them, then he could find another manhole and escape entirely. Then�

�then what?
What was he going to do?

�Where�s
your pride, Inu-Demon? You would not come out to face this Naraku, even though
all I possess is a mere human priestess� body?� Although they echoed dominatingly around him,
he ignored her words as much as he could. If she tracked him down and knew his
identity, then there was a big, fat chance that she could just do it again.
Only this time, she might attack him at his home�endanger the lives of his
family. That was out of the question. Could he go to the police? Warn them that
a raving psychotic was chasing after him, and maybe they�d protect him and his
family? After all, she may be strong, but he doubted that she could
single-handedly take on an entire S.W.A.T. team. �Is this truly the last in
the great legacy of the Inu?�

Wait�isn�t
she a cop? No, that
couldn�t be. While any knowledge he held of police was limited to the cop
dramas he�d occasionally watch, he was pretty sure it was against policy to
shoot a high-school student in his chair and then fire randomly into the
streets. No, between that, her youth, and her plainclothes, the claim that she
was a police officer had obviously been a lie she�d used on Ms. Nagasi in order
to pull Max out of class and reveal him to her. So maybe it stood to reason
that he could find some real police officers and get protection from them.

�What
are you even fleeing from? Perhaps you believe you can hide from me again?� That was a risky notion, though. She
seemed like the kind of super-villain from the movies that ate nondescript
policemen for brunch until the heroic supercop came along to defeat her. Lives
could very well be lost if he tried to involve someone else in this. �Quite
wrong. I�ve seen your face. I�ve felt your blood. You leave a trail a mile
wide. You could run to the furthest reaches of this world and never escape your
fate.�

But
they�re cops, for Christ�s sake! It�s not like they didn�t know the job was
going to be dangerous. They�re supposed to risk their lives for innocent
citizens like me! Still,
involving himself with the authorities was one of the things he tried to avoid
as much as possible. He didn�t want to attract the attention of government
officials who might dig a little too deeply in his partially falsified
background. Once again, it came around to the possibility of Max being publicly
outed as a non-human. That is, assuming Naraku hasn�t already tipped other
people off. Who�s to say that she wasn�t part of some group with other members
who might come after him, even if she was taken out?

�If you truly insist on acting like a coward and not
fighting, then you could at least be logical, show yourself, and accept your
fate. A fate which, I assure you, is inevitable.�

Oh, for
God�s sake, you jackass, stop thinking so much! He scolded himself as he snuck into another
tunnel. Just focus on the now. The person presently trying to kill you takes
priority. When you�re rid of her, then you can worry about what�s going to
happen next.

Several dozen minutes passed as Max snuck from passage to
passage, hoping to be putting enough distance between himself and Naraku.
However, no matter how far he fled, the sounds she made, and her booming voice
never seemed to die off in the distance. He couldn�t seem to lose her. She
rambled endlessly on and on about his cowardice, and kept making references to
�Inu� something or other. Dogs? Why the hell was she rambling on about dogs??
Maybe he�d have found whatever she was alluding to somewhat intriguing in any
other scenario, but survival was of the utmost priority. He was managing to
stay ahead of her, it seemed, and he couldn�t let himself get distracted by
questions. What did really get on his nerves was that she seemed to have no
problem blabbing on endlessly after this had been going on for an entire hour.

By then, Max had no idea where he was or where he was going.
Most of the sewers looked the same to him, although he was sure he must have at
least doubled back in a few tunnels given that he could find faint traces of
his own scent as well as hers, and saw spots of his own blood. That was
probably why he was having such a hard time losing her. Luckily Max could now
move a little bit faster, since he was in much better shape than he had been an
hour ago. His flesh healed fast, though he still felt the bullet inside him
whenever he moved too much, like a piece of ice lodged in his internal organs.
His right hand maintained a firm place on the spot, both because it was less
painful if he kept pressure on it, and because he was trying to keep the
bleeding to a minimum. And he still felt lingering traces of the burning
sensation that �miko� energy had given him. By now, though, it didn�t actually
burn. Not painfully, anyway. It had died down to just�hot. Sweaty. The feeling
was more akin to a hot flash, or a fever. And once again, despite the danger he
was in, the subject caused Max�s mind to wander.

That�s weird. In this lesser state, Max realized that
the effect the holy energy had on him was�familiar. He knew that sensation.
He�d experienced it many times before in times past�of course, those times before
had been much, much less intense than even what he was feeling right now, but
whatever the degree it was at, Max knew the feeling was of the same kind�

This�it feels like I do whenever I get sick. Quite
ironically, further thoughts on the subject were interrupted by a lack of
interruption. Max now noticed that things had gone quiet in the last few
minutes. Not quiet, as sewer sounds were still abundant, but portents of
Naraku�s presence had gone silent. Maybe he couldn�t hear her because he�d lost
her, but also possibly because something may have been drowning her out; there
was the sound of water rushing, running, like a waterfall.

For lack of a better plan, Max decided to follow that noise.
It�s not like he had exactly been making any sort of progress by fleeing.
Besides, whatever was causing that noise was dampening any sounds he made and,
if there were an exit nearby, Max could make his escape. He continued on
through several sewer mains, cautious still, following the sound as it got
louder and louder. He also began to notice that the water flow beneath him was
becoming stronger as he went on.

Sure enough, he rounded a final corner and found the tunnel
coming to a cutoff into a large, circular drain room. Several other drainpipes
and tunnels were converging here, dumping wastewater down further into a lower
level pool several stories down, where it was being drained down. When sending
sewage to the water treatment plant, most sewers were designed to send water
flowing downward so that gravity did most of the work getting it there rather
than expensive bilge pumps. And as brilliant a strategy as that may be with
regard to efficient sewer design, it didn�t help Max out one bit. He needed to
go up, not down. Looking around, he saw no exit leading upwards. All he could
do was scoff in frustration and turn around�

Face to face with the business end of a Beretta M9.

Max screeched as he instinctively jumped back, arms raised.
When he almost lost his footing on the ledge of the tunnel, he found himself clumsily
struggling to maintain his balance, eventually resulting in him falling to a
kneeling position in the flowing sewage. That action painfully reminded him of
the lead lodged in him, and he was forced to lower a hand to once again clutch
himself.� Naraku stood there, victorious
smile on her face and obviously amused by her prey�s show of weakness.

�On the other hand...� She had to shout in order to be even
audible over the rushing water. ��it would have been far too boring if you�d
have submitted too easily. I suppose I should thank you, Nikanaru.� Immense
fear and anxiety were coursing though him, but Max�s anger still managed to get
the better of him. It had been one of those days, after all.

�Why the Christ do you keep calling me that?!� He demanded
in a snarl. The arrogant smirk remained unmoved.

�It�s your name, is it not?�

�NO, you lunatic! It�s MAX!�

�Hmph.� Eyebrows raised, she regarded him condescendingly.
�Seems I overestimated you quite a bit. �

�Cunt��

�Yes�I did. Perhaps your rejection of me really did have
more so to do with that well�s energies.� Anger turned to shock as Max digested
those last words.

��what??�

�The well. The one we used to come here. I assume you know at
least that much.� Max regarded her with a stunned stare that seemed to have her
answer. �Yes. Good.�

�You�re from�the past?� His tone now betrayed a genuine
curiosity mixed in with his great fear. A whole rush of feelings he wasn�t used
to, individually or collectively.

�In a manner of speaking, yes. And no.� She dared to
approach him a by another step. �I was there with you when we entered this
world. And I know that you knew I was there.�

�I was� I was a baby when I came trough it.� He growled at
her, frustrated by the apparent lack of logic. �And I�m pretty sure someone
would have told me if a psychotic bitch had been there, too.

�Let�s get one thing perfectly clear.� She spoke, sudden
annoyance apparent. �I am a man.� Conversation with this Naraku
character seemed to have a tendency of catching Max off guard, be it from the
sudden appearances of firearms, her knowledge of his secrets, or the
daytime-talk-show style revelations.

�Well� my hat�s off to whoever handled your sex change
operation.� He muttered, unable to really think of anything else to respond to
that with.

That�s right, Max. Keep being a smartass when you�re
about to die.

�This is merely the body I was forced to infest. It was
supposed to have been yours.� She�or he replied, narrowing his eyes in
anger. He cocked the gun and took a step toward Max. �And now it will be.�

�What?� Defensively, Max took another step back, careful to
not go over the edge again. He had to think of something. He had to buy himself
some time.

She�he likes to talk. Maybe if I can stall her�uh, him�

�What do you mean, �infest�?� He shouted. Unfortunately,
Naraku wasn�t going for it.

�Enough. You will understand everything when we are sharing
a mind.� He/she trained the gun�s aim from Max�s head to his stomach� Max�s
eyes went from focusing on Naraku�s feminine face to the feminine finger around
the not-so-feminine gun�s trigger. �And seeing as how you seem recover from
miko energy unnaturally fast, I won�t hold back this time.�

His heart jumped when he saw the muscles of that finger
begin its first constrictions around the trigger. It was as though at that
precise moment, Max knew he was going to die.

The whole world seemed to slow down around him�the sounds of
the water flowing became low and distant, the air around him seemed to still
and stagnate, and his own breath stopped cold. In that instant, his entire
world was nothing but that single index finger on the trigger, watching as it
moved agonizingly slowly, fraction of a millimeter by fraction of a millimeter,
pulling the trigger back.

A feeling of a rush of adrenaline shivering up his lungs
then hit him. It seemed to snap him out of his trace and he looked back up at
the face of Naraku, then back down at the gun, which still hadn�t fired.

What the�? It was ethereal�Max could literally see
the finger in microseconds as it was moving�and so could he the flowing water
around them. It was� it was like those times people claimed time seemed to slow
down during catastrophes... no, it was even beyond that. Max could actually see
the things going on around him in slow motion as his mind digested the
information at what felt like a normal pace.

Whatever the rate of time, though, that finger was getting
awfully close to pulling the trigger all the way back. Max made a split second
decision then�

�RRRAAAA-AAAAAAAIIIII-IIIEEEEEEEE!!!!�

Naraku�s blood curdling scream brought time screechingly
back to its proper chronological frame of pace. Max hadn�t meant for his claws to
shred right through his/her arm, but had been horrifyingly surprised at how
easily they did. The scream emanating from Naraku was equally horrifying, as it
seemed to switch pitches every split second between that of a roaring male and
a screeching female. It was as though the two pitches fought for dominance of
the scream. Either way, Naraku stumbled forth in shock, clutching his new
stump. Red blood oozed from it horrifyingly, but even more disturbing were
traces of dark, purple oozes tinted in with the crimson. Max barely registered
any of this as he leaned over to the side of the tunnel, dodging Naraku�s
convulsing body as it staggered foreword, the shock of his decapitation
disorienting him. Before he/she could regain his proper senses, his momentum was
already sending him over the edge of the pipe. Max could only watch aghast as
Naraku made a final attempt to reach the ledge with his remaining good hand,
fail, and fall several stories below to the drain pool, making one haunting,
final call:

�NI-KA-NAAAA-RUUUU!!!!� Max had had to turn
away before he saw his body hit the water. A few seconds passed where he waited
for any other sounds. When the echoes of Naraku�s screaming stopped bouncing
off the walls, nothing remained but the familiar rushing of water. Max
eventually peered over the edge again and saw nothing of any trace of his
enemy.

The danger seemed to have passed, and the panic that Max had
held back in the heat of the moment had now caught up with him. His breathing
was coming in quick and short bursts as he rested himself against the circular
wall of the tunnel. Reflexingly clenching his fists in and out, he was only
reminded that the right one was now sticky with the red blood it had soaked in.
Gurgling in disgust, he lowered it into the flowing stream, uncaring of the
wastewater, scrubbing it as frantically as he could.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

Pulling it out for inspection, he saw that most of the red
was gone, although his hand was still filthy with whatever dirt had been in the
flow. He gave it a few final shakes before grimly deciding that it would be
sufficient.

What the fuck am I supposed to do now?? Jesus, she�s
dead! I�I killed someone!!! He gave another peek over the edge to find
nothing still emerging from the pool. Given the rushing of the water going down
into the water main, Naraku would surely have been pulled down and drowned by
now, even with his superior strength. Yes, Max had indeed caused the death of
another living being. The notion wasn�t sitting at all well with him. If he had
had any contents remaining in his stomach, he may very well have vomited them
out by now. Violently turning away from the scene, Max marched away, forcing
his legs to work despite the state of self-actualized terror his mind was in.

Well, what choice did I have?! She was going to shoot me!
I mean� argh! Growling in utter frustration at his inability to justify it
to himself, he just kept going. Besides, I didn�t kill her! I just
dismembered her. The fall and the drain killed her! It was her own Goddam fault
for being a fucking homicidal transsexual maniac! But there wasn�t much
else he could do but continue to debate his actions with himself as he wandered
aimlessly. After another fifteen minutes, he at last came upon a manhole exit.
With no particular feeling of victory or accomplishment, he climbed the ladder
and opened it.

Lifting the heavy manhole was no problem, since the effect
the miko energy had on him was all but gone. However, peeking through the
cover, Max saw that it was in the middle of a fairly crowded, mildly trafficked
street. As if appearing out of a manhole wasn�t suspicious enough, there was
also his ebony hemorrhage. The crystal did do a good job of hiding the blood
whose dark stain contrasted starkly with his white shirt, though Max just had
to make sure that it was no longer bleeding off of him. He�d kept pressure on
it with his own hand for over an hour now, so that hopefully gave the blood a
chance to congeal. Lifting his hand away from the wound, he waited a few
moments to see if anything would still come out. After biding for a few
moments, he satisfied himself that the hemorrhaging had stopped.

Okay. So just real casual�real nonchalantly, lift up that
cover, climb out and walk away. After peeking again to make sure that the
road was clear enough, he shoved the cover off and at last reveled in a breath
of refreshing air that blew around his face. Pulling himself out, he was
pleased to see that there were only about three people on this street at the
moment, all of whom were giving him curious glances. Paying them no mind, he
pulled the cover back over the manhole and walked off. Although his wound was
no longer bleeding, he still kept one hand on it just to make certain, and to
keep some pressure on the pain. To any onlooker, he just looked like some guy
with a wicked stomachache.

Now where the hell am I? It took a little while for
Max to get his bearings. This was a part of Tokyo he wasn�t too familiar with,
but upon walking down a few streets he began to recognize a few notable
landmarks. It was enough to give him a general idea of which direction he
should start to head in.

This is all going to be a hell of a thing to explain to
Grandma. Their worst worries had been unveiled. Someone had indeed
recognized him on the evening news, and had come after him�violently. There had
been times throughout his life where Max had really wondered if it would be all
that bad if certain people knew about him�his friends for example. Even Souta
had refused to let Asaki, the woman he was engaged to be engaged to, know the
truth about Max. Had absolute secrecy been necessary?

Well, if today was of any indication, then the answer was a
big, fat, giant, neon, glow-in-the-dark YES. Yes, he should keep his true
nature hidden from anyone and everyone outside of his family. Clearly, there
were people out there who would come after him and try to hurt him, just for
being what he was. Lord knows why�granted Naraku had been some sort of
psychotic, but the world had plenty of those on hand. And who knew if Naraku
had only been one member of a particular group? Maybe someone else would come
after him as well!

Furthermore, there were the odd things that Naraku had
known�namely, about the well. Strange, though, that if he�d been hunting Max as
he�d claimed and had simultaneously known about the well, that he wouldn�t have
just come directly to Max�s home. The fact that the Higurashi Shrine had the
Bone Eater�s Well wasn�t at all a hidden fact. It was even advertised just as
any other historical exhibits they had there were. Furthermore, if Naraku had
indeed come from the past�

It�s too fucking eerie. He knew too much to just be some
escapee from an asylum for the criminally insane. I�ARRGHH!

Although Max, in addition to many other superior qualities,
had superior healing capabilities, that didn�t change the fact that the bullet
lodged in his gut still hurt like crazy. After all that running down below
ground, his insides felt raw, like someone had been rubbing them with a cheese
grater for the past hour. Just walking still hurt, and Max eventually had no
choice but to lean against a wall and take a rest.

Goddammit, I need to get this thing OUT.
Theoretically, he could dig into himself with his claws and extract it, but
that would reopen a gash and blood would spill all over�not a wise thing to do
in broad daylight.

Maybe I can just ride the bus? No, Max hadn�t renewed
his bus pass this month. To save on money, he�d taken to rooftop leaping to get
to places. That, obviously, was no longer an option. And neither was the bus,
as he�d already spent what money he�d had on cafeteria lunch earlier today.

Wait�isn�t this place�? Taking a moment to look
around at the street he was on, he felt some sense of familiarity. Yeah, it
is! This was not too far off from where Al lived. He could hopefully borrow
her phone and call for Grandma or Great-Grandpa to come pick him up.

With a deep breath, he once again bit back the pain as he
headed over to the apartment complex on 32^nd, Shinjuku Street. He�d
never actually been to her home before, but he�d seen her go into the building
several times. It was 4:21 now, so she should be home.

Not like she�s got friends to go out with or anything. He
thought with some degree of pity. Entering the lobby, he searched for the
Tanaka name on the index board and punched in the corresponding number. The
speaker rang once�twice�three times.

C�mon, be home, be home, be home� Finally, there was
a click on the other end.

�Yeah?� Came a bored reply.

�Al!� He exclaimed in relief. �Hey, it�s Max.�

�Oh.� Her reply seemed a little surprised. �Uh�what
d�ya want?�

�Listen, can I come up for a few minutes? I need to use your
phone.�

�Uh�� There was clear hesitation in her reply. �Actually,
now�s not a good time��

�Al, please!� He tried not to sound too pathetic, pleading
as he did. �I really, really need to make a call, and I don�t have any change
for a phone booth or anything.� He waited eagerly for her reply. A few seconds
passed before she sighed.

�Just�stay where you are. I�ll bring you my cell.� A
mechanical click ended the conversation, and Max sighed a semi-victorious sigh
as he carefully sat down on the bench. Clearly, she didn�t want anyone else up
there with her. Strange on its own, but not by her standards. Who knows, maybe
she had something like a drug-lab up there. Pushing that thought aside, Max
just thanked God that a phone was at least coming his way. Drumming his fingers
patiently against his jeans, he watched with some passing interest as a couple
and their kid entered the lobby. Wanting to be as inconspicuous as possible, he
gave them a polite wave, which they returned.

�HOLY SHIT!� Both his and their attentions were snappily
diverted to Al, as she�d opened the lobby door and stared agape at Max. �What
the hell happened to you?!�

�U�Uh?� Her stare was of wide-eyed horror. Max wondered what
on earth could be so shocking to her. �Oh! I, uh, got a little dirty. That�s
all.� He explained, hoping that she was referring the filth he�d rolled in
underground.

�No, I mean THAT.� She shouted, pointing directly at his
stomach. Panicking, Max looked down and saw�nothing. The bloody stains on his
shirt were still invisible�weren�t they? He looked back up at Al, who still
looked aghast. He then turned to the other people watching the exchange�they
appeared just as confused as he was. �Is that blood??� She demanded.

What the Christ??? Max looked again to check his
shirt. Then at his reflection in the glass door�nothing. The crystal was
working! So what the hell was Al seeing?

�There�s nothing on�� He had intended to firmly deny what
she was getting at, but was interrupted when he unexpectedly went into a
coughing fit. Grimly, Al put the cell phone into her pocket and pulled him up
by his sleeves. �Hey�OW!�

�God, come on up�I�ve got some of my dad�s medical stuff
here.� She left no room for argument, and Max wasn�t in the kind of condition
where he could offer much resistance. If he hadn�t been so perplexed with
everything going on, he might have noticed for the first time how posh this
apartment complex was. The elevator he was shoved into had mirrored doors, so
Max could once again conform that his blood was NOT showing up. So why was Al
staring at it like it was?

�Where did that come from?� She inquired.

�Where did�what come from?�

�The blood on your goddamed shirt!� She yelled at him. As if
to exemplify her point, she dared to jab a finger at it. Max instantly winced
in pain. �Are you delirious from blood loss or something??�

�I�� The elevator dinged and the doors opened before Max
could further stutter. More gently this time, she led him by his hand down the
hall and to her apartment door. Her I.D. card swiped across the scanner, a
green light indicating her success, and the door clicked open.

Woah. As if he didn�t have enough distractions coming
from every which direction today, when Max entered Al�s home, he became privy
to one of the most finely furnished places he�d ever seen. Her place looked
exactly like the perfect photos in those furniture catalogues�spotless white
walls, leather couch, a T.V. with a screen almost as wide as his room, and a
stereo system that looked like it could power a KISS concert.

�Here.� She manoeuvred him over to said leather couch. He
may have protested that his blood, not to mention the filth all over him,� was going to ruin the upholstery, but that
would mean admitting that he was bleeding at all. Unable to think of anything
else, he just allowed himself to plomp down onto the pleasntly comfortable
cushions. �Hold on. I�ll be back in a second.�

I just wanted a phone. A Goddam phone.� Why does everything today have to be so
difficult? Her return was heralded with the contents of the kit in her
hands clanging around.

�Okay, take off your shirt.� She instructed as she kneeled
down in front of him.

��what?�

�Your shirt.� Whatever sympathy she had had not long ago had
been quickly replaced with her more characteristic annoyance. �Take if off.�

The moment became one of curiosity for Max, then. Staring at
his reflection one more time in the screen of that obscenely huge television,
he assured himself that the crystal was hiding his blood from plain sight.
After a moment�s hesitation, his curiosity got the best of him and his overcoat
was shrugged off. Still staring at Al, gauging her reaction, Max carefully
pulled the shirt off himself, making sure the crystal didn�t get pulled off as
well.

Her reaction was a wide-eyed gasp when his chest was
exposed.

�Oh God!� She cringed as she readied a moist towelette.
�That looks pretty bad.� Max looked back up. Reflection? Still nada on the
injury. �Okay, lean back against the seat and just relax your stomach. This
might sting a little.� Gently as she could, she began wiping away at his
abdomen. It did sting, but he grinned and bore it all the same. What was more
interesting to him, though, was the way her towelette seemed to be wiping at
nothing, and then when she pulled it away from him, a dark, rusty substance
appeared on it.

No effin� way.

Max had to be sure of something. His tail, previously
nestled behind him as he sat down, shimmied out from his back and carefully
manoeuvred it between himself and Al. He observed the focus of her eyes
carefully as he pointed its tip a few inches from her face. She stopped what
she was doing and pulled her head back a little. Experimentally, he swished his
tail gently from side to side.

Her eyes followed it.

You have GOT to be fucking with me.

�Al?� The words came slowly out of his mouth, as if he were
afraid of breaking something with them. �What�what do you see when you look at
me?� She stared back at him right in the eyes. Her hesitation was equally
evident.

�I�m�uh, pretty sure I don�t see what everybody else does.�
When she saw his surprise, she turned away almost shyly.

�What do you mean?� Insistently leaning in closer, ignoring
the sharp ache that entailed, he had to be sure of this. �Exactly what is it
you see?� She stared back at him a moment before she stood up and went over to
her backpack. Pulling out one of her sketchbooks, she kneeled back down in
front of Max and flipped through the pages. Arriving on the desired one, she
offered it to him.

�I see this.� Max grasped the book and glanced at it.

�and looked right at a pencil sketching of himself in full
demon form.

Well, this has been just about the most peculiar day of
my life.

**********

A/N: �and it�s going to get even worse. HA!

Serious action scenes are much tougher to write than I
initially expected. And because there are going to be a few more of those along
the lines, I�m thinking I need to do some research�study the greats. Just going
�He grabbed his�and the she kicked him in the�� feels horribly monotonous. Ick.

Also, while I do like to keep things well researched
instead of just making up bullshit about things I don�t fully understand,
chances are I did fuck up a fact or two with regard to sewers. I did research,
but there�s so much fucking variety in between one city�s sewer system to the
next, I could almost throw anything out there and be right. And given that I�ve
seen a Tokyo subway system map, which is fucking crazy complicated, I�m willing
to bet the sewage system is as well.

Tschuess, folks.

Koday.
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Nikanaru	By : Koday Category: InuYasha > General Views: 3209 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Nikanaru