City Night by akane342
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and all its associated characters. Property of Rumiko Takahashi.
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Sesshoumaru Taisho was sitting in his armchair, staring out his window. It was late and outside was dark but his high office tower gave him the best view of the bright city lights. Documents were neatly stacked in piles on his mahogany desk. It was almost time to leave. He called his chauffeur and grabbed a few files before he made his way to the elevator. As he walked out of the office he saw the cleaning lady. She gave him a friendly smile. He frowned back in return. He would not lower himself to be acquainted with such people. It was too degrading. They were beneath him. Their presence around him was enough to make him gag. He walked towards his secretary’s desk and instructed her to fax a few documents to his house and walked towards the elevator. He walked in as the doors open and as the doors closed his thoughts then drifted to his father.
His father, owner and founder of Taisho-Corp was the largest oil company, was retiring soon and it was his duty as the first-born son to take over the company. It was a big responsibility but he didn’t mind it. He was already vice president of the company and has the pleasure in being superior to others. He was already known to be one of the most ruthless businessmen around. The elevator came to a stop and the doors to the lobby opened revealing the grand entrance of his father’s office building from the inside. He made his way towards the building entrance scanning around looking for his chauffeur. He noticed his car driving up to the lobby entrance before he caught a glimpse of a figure in the back seat o f his car. He recognized the figure. It was his fiancée, Kagura. His engagement to that woman was merely an arrangement by their parents. She was the only daughter of a wealthy businessman. He only agreed to the engagement to please his parents. They have been engaged for two years now and he couldn’t see their relationship head anywhere but downhill. She was too dull, too materialistic for him. Always spending money on futile items and never having to work in her entire life as her parents has and always will provide all her pointless wants and needs. She, on the contrary, was infatuated with him and constantly clinging to his side. He doesn’t blame her for being clingy though. Who wouldn’t be? In his mind he was the finest human male specimen alive, the epitome of male perfection. It would be surprising for him if she didn’t like him. He gave out a long sigh as he turned and walked back inside the building not wanting to confront her for the time being. He walked towards to back entrance of the building and out towards the dark city streets leaving his fiancée and chauffeur waiting for him at the lobby.
He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket as he walked out the building. He pulled out a bent cigarette before lighting it while inhaling deeply, appreciating the nicotine rush before he exhaled. All of a sudden it came to his mind that he has not been out on the city streets in many years. His chauffeur drove him anywhere he needed to go in his limousine with tinted windows so there was never a need to walk. As he walked further down the streets he became increasingly aware of his surroundings and recalled why he never liked the city streets. He could smell the waft of trash in the air filling his nose, the honks of vehicles on the streets were ringing in his ears. Paper wrappers, bottles and cans could be seen by the side of the filthy streets. His face scrunched up into a tight frown again for the millionth time today as he quickened his pace. His penthouse apartment building was seven blocks away. He would make it back there in twenty minutes, max.
Walking up the street he was starting to get aggravated by others. They were very unrefined, so coarse and such vulgarity. On his right he could see and bunch a kids loitering by the bus stop across the street. All dressed in dark outfits. The girls were scantily dressed and the boys were wearing make-up. It was disgraceful. It was highly noticeable their parents did not know how to raise proper children. On his left he saw a scruffy old man with clothes that were tattered and dirty, white hair and bearded down to his shoulders, and protruding bones, an obvious beggar. It was a revolting sight. As he walked past the beggar, he inhaled his cigarette deeply as he walked regretting that he didn’t take the limousine instead. Further up the street he saw a couple arguing and shamelessly shouting immoral words to each other. He hated the city atmosphere. People were uncouth, offensive and boorish. It was evident that the modern society lacked civilization. He would rather be stranded on a deserted island with crabs as company for a year than spend another five minutes on the city streets. At least it wouldn’t be filthy there.
Inhaling his cigarette again, he watched with rapt fascination as it burned until there was nothing left to inhale but the filter. He then flicked the cigarette butt onto the grass and noticed that the sky was getting dark. He walked up the streets hoping for his apartment block to appear soon. Being distracted by the city streets, a sudden bump brought him to a halt. Looking down, he sees a mass of black hair. A teenage girl had bumped into him. He noticed her filthy clothes, her dirt-filled dark hair and her jutting collarbone. She reeked of garbage. She should be around her late teenage years judging from her appearance. The girl looked up at him with big brown eyes and gave him a wide grin and her hands still holding onto his crisp ironed pants.
“Hey, you’re that famous guys that’s always on telly!” she exclaimed with a beaming face as she helped herself up. “I’m Kagome by the way. It’s an honor to meet you Mr. Taisho.” She added with a brighter smile and gleaming eyes.
His face immediately scrunched up as the thoughts of infections and parasites this girl could pass on to him entered his mind. He quickly pushed her to the side, dug up a crumpled fifty dollar note from his pockets and threw it to her, afraid she would follow him home if she didn’t receive money. City beggars were known for following people. Without looking if the note was in her hands or not, he tripled his pace walking up the street continuing his journey to his penthouse apartment.
As he reached a junction into an alley he felt a sharp pain on his left foot. He brought his foot up and saw on there was a thumb tack on the bottom of his shoe. As he bent down to remove it, he saw a tall shadow walking up covering his own. Before he could turn around, something hard hit the back of his head and everything went dark.
There was an intense pain at the back of his head as he became conscious. It was cold and everything felt foreign to him. He tried to rub the pain but couldn’t, his hands were tied at the back of him. His senses were immediately alert and his eyes snapped open as he recalled the incident earlier. He thought he was going to panic but instead he was oddly calm. He was leaning against a dumpster and noticed he was still in the alley, further away from the main street but at least he knew where he was. There were two figures further up front. Both were wearing ski masks covering their faces. One of them was holding his wallet going through all his notes and cards and they have not noticed that he was conscious. He heard a shuffling movement at the back of him and glanced back behind the dumpster. It was the girl he pushed away earlier. It was evident that his plan of disposing her failed. She placed her index finger on her lips indicating him to be silent. He frowned again. She obviously thought he was dumb enough to think that he would actually try to attract attention to himself. She came up to his back and tried to untie the ropes that bind his hands. He could feel the rope loosening and leaned back swiftly against the dumpster a little too hard making a slight noise as the dumpster shifted.
Both men glanced back towards him at the noise. However, they did not seem to have noticed the girl. She must have quickly hid behind the dumpster. The man with both arms attached came up to him. He could see the beady black eyes that the ski mask did not cover. He quickly moved back moving towards the back of the dumpster, hands still kept behind his back. He felt a long solid object being placed into his hands. The girl must have found something to use as a weapon. He mentally thanked her before he swiftly stood up and gave the man a good hard whack on the head. He looked to see that the weapon was a broken chair leg. He heard a forceful crack as the chair leg hit the man’s forehead and moments later there was a loud thump as the man fell to the ground. He could see blood pooling by the side of the man’s head. The man was dead.
The other man quickly drew out a gun and aimed it towards his chest. He instantly froze. Panic started to take over his mind. His hands started to fidget by his side as he dropped his own weapon. He needed a cigarette now. Nicotine would do him good. There was a sudden gunshot, he immediately closed his eyes tightly awaiting the pain that would come. He waited. . . but he heard another loud thump instead. There was no pain. Confused, he opened his eyes and saw the young girl lying on the ground beside the dead man. Her eyes and mouth were wide open and there was a hole in her throat where the bullet went through. Thick blood was rapidly oozing out the black hole. The blood looked black in the dark. He felt his heart tighten at the sight. She must have jumped in front of him and took the shot. She didn’t even scream. Nonetheless, it was a foolish act. He quickly scanned the area and noticed that the shooter was gone. The coward must have run away with his wallet. There was a good thousand dollars in there.
He heard sirens and the police and ambulance arrived a few minutes later. They closed up the area with yellow tapes. Someone must have heard the gunshot and called the police. He was pulled into the ambulance by the paramedics and while they were cleaning his head wound the police questioned him about the occurrence. He filled them with the details. After he told them all he knew informing them about the other man that managed to escape, his thoughts drifted to the dead girl as the paramedics started bandaging his head. She took a bullet for him. He was very grateful for that as he did not want to be her now. It was an ugly sight. Two bodies lying side by side in an alley. He could see the fifty dollars he gave her sticking out from her pocket. He wouldn’t want to die in such an undignified way; it would bring shame his family. Nevertheless, he could not help but feel remorseful about her death.
A week after the incident the shooter was apprehended for attempted robbery in a diner much to his satisfaction. Kagome, as it turned out, was a regular teenage girl working at the animal shelter and was heading back home, the infamous Higurashi shrine, before she bumped into him. His father retired leaving the company in his hands as initially planned. He called off his engagement much to his fiancé’s and parent’s dismay. Most of his days, he would walk back to his penthouse apartment after work regardless of his extreme dislike towards the city streets. Passing by the same alley of the incident every evening he would recall how his wealthy but monotonous life would have ended if it weren’t from help from a teenage girl.